Pitching the key for young Green Wave team
BY DOUG McKENZIE
Staff Writer

SCOTT PILLING staff Long Branch sophomore Brain Gough fires a pitch to the plate during the Green Wave's loss to Matawan in Matawan on Friday.

The Long Branch High School baseball team has done nothing to surprise its coach thus far.

Now in his 10th year at the helm, V.J. Muscillo had a pretty good idea of what to expect from his Green Wave squad, which returns just five starters from last year, and only one pitcher among them.

The early results have been predictable, with the team struggling a bit early on to keep opposing offenses in check en route to the Wave's 0-3 mark entering the week.

"We're not playing as poorly as our record shows," the coach said. "We've got a pretty solid defense and some good hitters on this team.

"It's been tough on the pitchers, because every day we've played it's been in bad weather."

While Long Branch returns some varsity players, it's the development of its newcomers that will ultimately determine the team's success.

"We're kind of a mix," Muscillo said. "We lost some key seniors, but we return some solid juniors, too."

Junior third baseman Marcus Jackson bats lead-off for the Wave in his first year of varsity ball. He's followed by senior center fielder Josh Weiss, who hit .340 last year, and junior shortstop Shawn Brown, a .410 hitter a year ago, in the three hole.

Batting clean-up is senior catcher Dave Stone (.345 a year ago), followed by junior second baseman Ryan Kirsch, who hit .375 last year.

Then comes the team's rising star, sophomore Bryan Gough, a pitcher and first baseman, who has impressed Muscillo with his bat early on.

Senior Devin Cousins also plays first base and is the team's lone returning pitcher after going 2-5 with a 4.25 ERA last spring.

Sophomore Randy Rodriguez, an outfielder, bats eighth, followed by seniors Richie Topham and Chris Zuidema.

Along with Cousins, Muscillo expects seniors James Kosta and Chris Menkin, as well as junior Jon Melendez to see the most mound time, and is hopeful that the pitching staff improves, and quick.

"That's our story right now," the coach said. "We really need these guys to pick it up quickly. We've got the two juniors who are very solid with the bats, and Bryan Gough has been on fire recently.

"There's been no real surprises so far,"

he added. "I expected us to play good defense and we've done a nice job of that. I think we've been a little unfortunate at the plate, because we've hit the ball hard, just right at people. Brown in particular has hit a lot of line drives right at people.

"And I kind of expected that I'd have to work a lot with the pitchers."

With a busy week on tap this week ("We play four games this week. We've got to get them in," Muscillo said), Long Branch hopes to get in the win column and methodically climb the ladder toward respectability.

"I'd like to climb back to the .500 mark. I think that's realistic for us," the coach said. "And if we can do it early enough, we can qualify for the state playoffs.

"By season's end I would like us to be a .500 ball club. With the amount of new players we've got, I'd be happy with that."

While the weather has been playing games with all of the local baseball teams, a handful of local squads have managed to jump out of the gates and play their way into their respective divisional races.

The Class B North race was expected to be a battle this spring, and the early results show that will likely be the case.

After entering the season with the highest of expectations, Ocean Township has struggled a bit early on with its consistency, but climbed back to the .500 mark on Saturday with a 1-0 win over Southern Regional. Senior Eric Hinkle gave the Spartans just what they needed - a dominant pitching performance (seven innings of one-hit ball) - while Keith Weincofsky's double knocked in Kyle Norman with the game-winning run in the top of the eighth inning. Norman got the win in relief, pitching a perfect bottom of the eighth.

It was a much-needed win for Ocean, who needs to keep pace with Monmouth Regional and Wall Township, both of whom are playing well with 4-1 starts.

Monmouth looks strong once again, as head coach Ted Jarmusz's squad knocked off Freehold, 14-4, on Saturday, as senior catcher Pat Gaughran and senior outfielder Cole DeAngelis knocked in four and five runs, respectively, to pace the attack.

Freehold Borough, at 2-2, is still a talented enough team to be a factor in this divisional race as well.

The Class A Central race is shaping up to be another dogfight, with Rumson-Fair Haven (4-0) and St. John Vianney getting the early edge. RFH is rolling behind their ace Ben Miller (3-0), with their latest win coming on Saturday over North Brunswick, 11-3. Senior Steve Giordano homered and doubled to lead the offensive attack.

The Lancers beat a feisty Red Bank Regional team, 2-1, on Saturday behind a strong pitching performance from senior Matt Wiley, to improve to 5-1 on the season.

Raritan, the preseason pick to claim the A Central title, is 2-3 thus far, having dropped a 5-4 contest to Manasquan on Saturday.

Red Bank Catholic was another team expected to battle for the A Central crown, but took a step back by falling to a surging Holmdel squad on Saturday. The Hornets got two home runs from senior Mike Renna to knock off the Caseys, improving to 3-1 early on. RBC fell to 4-2 on the year, but remains a team capable of competing for the division title after winning the crown last year.

Shore Regional has looked like the team to beat in the B Central race, as the Blue Devils improved to 4-0 with a 3-1 win over Keyport on Friday. The Blue Devils and Point Beach (5-2) are both playing well early on to assume the lead in this race.

On the softball diamond, Red Bank Catholic appears to have recovered nicely from their season-opening loss to St. John Vianney, as the Caseys have won four in a row since then, including a 10-0 blanking of Holmdel on Saturday. Today, RBC will be tested when they take on a very good Middletown North team in Middletown.

Middletown North Lions came into the week at 4-2, with their latest win coming Friday - a 16-0 thumping of Freehold Township.

Then, on Tuesday, RBC gets another shot at St. John Vianney (also 4-1), as the two rivals meet at Count Basie Park at 3:45 p.m.

In the highly competitive B North division, both Monmouth and Ocean Township are playing well early on, with the Falcons improving to 3-2 with a 7-5 win over Freehold Borough on Saturday, and the Spartans sporting a 3-1 mark following their 3-0 win over the Colonials the day before.

In Class B Central, Shore Regional (4-0) is setting the pace. Shore beat Keyport, 8-2, on Friday to improve to 4-0 on the young season, and faces St. Rose today before playing an important game with Mater Dei on Saturday in Middletown.