Brewers take Brick Nat'l Cal Ripken playoffs
BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI Staff Writer
Ayouth baseball team with 30 home runs usually prevails. But there was more to it than that for the Brewers in the Major Division for 10- to 12- year-olds and star power slugger Nick Zbranak: they led wire to wire and won the Brick National Cal Ripken Tournament playoffs as well.

"We had a lot of pitching and power," said manager John Brower, whose team went 16- 5 and won seven of its last eight games to the championship finale, including a sweep of the championship series over the Braves.

It was a sweet sweep for Brower, whose team lost in the league championship series last year to the Mets and three years ago to the Dodgers.

"But this is our first 50/70 champion at Brick National," Brower said.

The league changed the distances for this season with the move last season to the Cal Ripken League. In the past, the program went by Little League rules of 46 feet from the mound to home plate and 60 feet along the base paths.

Zbranak carried much of that load with 16 home runs, just shy of the league record of 18 set 20 years ago, and also bolstered the defense with his play at shortstop when he wasn't pitching. Brower said Zbranak also handled the pressure well when he got off to a great start with five home runs in his first six at-bats. He also dealt with the frustration of being pitched around, even in the inter-league games against Brick American teams when word about his hitting prowess got around the township.

"He responded well," Brower said. "He played well from day one. He got a lot of respect from other teams. People have said that he's one of the greatest hitters they've seen. And he's a good leader."

And it wasn't easy for Zbranak, who saw a lot of waste pitches. But Brower said the young star "learned to be patient" waiting for a good pitch to hit.

Zbranak, who batted .667 with a phenomenal on-base percentage of 1.300, didn't do it alone. Nick Moglia saved his best pitching for the end of the season and hit four home runs and drove in nine runs from the cleanup spot in the two championship games. Moglia also played first base when he wasn't on the mound.

"If there was an MVP in the tournament championship, it would be Moglia," Brower said. The Brewers beat the Braves, 8-3 and 15- 1, as Moglia pitched two scoreless innings of the opener and four innings of the clincher on June 15.

It was a big turnaround from the regular season, when the Braves handed the Brewers their only losses in the league, 19-8 and 5-4.

And there were others who helped the hitting attack, including third baseman Tim Cardosa, who slugged three hits for two RBIs. Catcher Chris Kimbiz drove in three runs with two hits from the No. 5 spot in the order.

The Brewers took an early 3-0 lead, and Moglia made it 5-1 with a two-run homer. Cardosa broke open a 7-2 lead in the fourth with a two-run single.

Moglia knocked in five runs in the championship clincher, and center fielder Antonio Garcia did a lot of damage from the lower part of the lineup, belting a three-run homer and having three of the 17 hits the Brewers collected.

"We knew we would do well in the playoffswhenwewent 5-2 in [interleague] games against some good Brick American teams," said Brower, whose team beat the Brick American champion Yankees, 4-3, in the regular season and suffered their other two losses to the Brick American runner-up Mariners, 12-11, and the Royals, 7-2.

The Brewers and Yankees had a rematch in the Mayor's Cup on June 19, as the Yankees got revenge in a 2-1 victory in a briskly played game that took only a little over an hour to complete. Zbranak pitched a three-hitter in that game with 10 strikeouts and three walks and had two of his team's four hits in the loss, including a home run to center field with one out in the fifth inning that tied it.

The Yankees' star player, Kyle Cala, lined a double in the top of the sixth and scored on a passed ball, and then pitched a scoreless home sixth inning when Brick National could not execute a suicide squeeze.

Many of the players are getting ready for the District 2 All-Star games that begin this week in Waretown. The 12-year-olds from Brick National and Brick American collide in their opening game on Saturday at 4 p.m. Brick American's 11 also play at 4 p.m. there against Point Pleasant.

But for now, Brower, who also coaches the Brick National 9-year-olds that started on Tuesday, June 23, against Brick American, is savoring his long-sought championship.

That included the play and hitting of second baseman Tom Costanza, who played second base, as well as outfielders Rob Agento in left and Pat Jones in right. Ed Perrine played at third base and in the outfield, where Frank Giacolone also saw some action. Ken Cashman was another third baseman.