Vikings Baseball Wins State Title

While it still may be over eight months away, the 2012 South Brunswick High School baseball season is off to a great start.

With an 11-6 win over Woodbridge on July 17, South Brunswick won the AABC Don Mattingly State Tournament.

"These guys are players," South Brunswick Manager CJ Hendricks said. "I know they will help take the South Brunswick High School varsity team to the next level next season."

Hendricks is the freshman coach at South Brunswick High School and he had coached the 19 players on the summer team before.

"I've seen these guys come all the way through and they are a special group," Hendricks said. "They have really done a great job."

The primary reason for the summer league is development, which is why no seniors are allowed to play.

South Brunswick played in the Greater Middlesex Coaches Summer League. South Brunswick was in the South Division and finished league play with a record of 12-4. After its run in the states, the team was 17-4 overall.

South Brunswick was one of four teams from the league to qualify for the state tournament. The other four teams in the state tournament came from a league based in Monmouth.

South Brunswick opened the state tournament with a 7-3 win over Middletown South.

Danny Strickland worked five innings to earn the pitching win. Alex Carroll had two hits, including a homer, to power the offense.

South Brunswick defeated St. Joe's, 5-4, in its second playoff game as Mark Montagna came on to get the win in relief. Sean Keenan picked up the save.

"We were going back and forth the whole game," Hendricks said. "They took a 4-3 lead, but we tied it in the fifth and scored in the sixth to win it."

Vince Catafamo had the game-winning hit.

South Brunswick added two more wins on July 16, clinching a spot in the title game.

The first win was 6-2 over Woodbridge behind a complete-game effort by Carroll.

Tommy Fisher was 3-for-4. Nick Muha was 3-for-5 with two RBI.

Also on July 16, South Brunswick defeated Colts Neck, 11-8, by scoring three runs in the top of the seventh.

Catafamo had the game-wnning hit after Muha (single), Dan Levin (single) and Sean Rogers (walk) all reached base.

Levin finished the game 3-for-4 with two runs scored. Jack Young had two RBI. Luke Rimmer was 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI.

That win put South Brunswick into the title game against Woodbridge on July 17. Young had a two-run single in the seventh as South Brunswick pulled away late in the 11-6 win.

Fisher was 4-for-5 with two runs scored and three RBI. Rimmer was 3-for-4 with three runs scored.

"We were doing a lot of things right in that game," Hendricks noted. "We not only were getting hits, we were hitting the ball to the right side (to move runners over) and gettiing sac flies."

South Brunswick had 19 players on its team. The members of the team are Jack Young (1B), Tommy Fisher (CF), Luke Rimmer (2B), Sean Keenan (ss/closer), Nick Muha (OF), Alex Carroll (pitcher), Dan Levin (catcher), Sean Rogers (utility), Danny Strickland (pitcher), Mark Montagna (pitcher), Gary Hand (pitcher), Brendan McKee (pitcher), Sean Kacerosky (catcher), Alex Veglia (utility), Nick Veglia (utility) and Vince Catafamo (DH/utilty). Nick Scola, Ryan Savage and and PJ Perowski are also on the roster, but the trio was inactive for the state tournament.

Winning the state title qualified this group to play in the World Series in Arizona, but the team elected not to participate because they just didn't have enough time to prepare for the trip.

Finishing as a state champion is pretty good, though.

"It should be an exciting season next year on the South Brunswick varsity," Hendricks said.