Brick Memorial Falls to Spirited Raiders Squad

TOMS RIVER -- For the Mustangs boys baseball team, things seem to be going from bad to worse.

In the midst of one of the toughest stretches of the season, Memorial fell 10-2 to Toms River East, Monday afternoon.

Mike Nebesne started of the mound for the 'Stangs, lasting three innings, allowing two runs, one earned, and struck out three batters.

After pitching two scoreless innings, the Raiders loaded the bases without the ball leaving the infield – an infield single and two attempted sacrifice bunts that turned into hits – to fill the bases.

Nebesne would walk in a run and another would score on a passed ball to give East the 2-0 lead.

The Raiders would never look back, scoring all ten of their runs over the final four innings.

"I can't put my finger on one thing," Brick Memorial head coach Evan Rizzitello said. "A number of things did, we made a few errors. They [Toms River East] weren't really hitting the ball that well, but next thing you knew we were down a lot of runs."

Rob Harzer scored the first run for Brick Memorial in the top of the fifth inning. With the bases loaded and two outs, Harzer scored from third on a wild pitch to draw the Mustangs within four runs at 5-1. Harzer was the pinch-runner for catcher Chris Austin, who nailed a one-out single to right field.

Ray Triano drove in the second Memorial run with two outs in the top of the seventh. Triano belted an RBI double to score lead-off hitter Kyle Cala who singled with two outs, as well.

Pitching appeared to be the achilles heel for Brick Memorial, surrendering all of their runs in a four-inning span.

Joe Civello pitched two innings in relief, allowing six earned runs on nine hits over the span, and Mike O'Neill pitched the sixth inning, allowing two earned runs on two hits.

"We need to start putting up zeroes," Rizzitello said. "When you get down by a lot of runs, its hard to get back and stay focused."

Still, Rizzitello wasn't entirely disappointed in his squad's performance.

"Sometimes you throw your best out there and it just isn't good enough," he said.

The Raiders scored three runs in the third inning, followed by two in the fourth, three in the fifth and two in the sixth to pull away for the blowout win.

One of Civello's earned runs came by the virtue of a balk, much to the displeasure of Rizzitello, who argued for minutes with the umpire.

Brick Memorial will play at home Wednesday afternoon, hosting one of the state's elite teams in Jackson Memorial. The Jaguars mercied Memorial in their earlier match-up this year, 14-4.

On Saturday, the 'Stangs will play at Toms River North, looking to pull an upset in the first round of the Ocean County Tournament. The Mariners defeated the Mustangs in their earlier meeting this season, 11-3.

"There's no days off in this division," Rizzitello said. "We need to get up for Jackson on Wednesday and hope to make some noise in the OCT."