Lions Bats Silenced in Blowout Loss

It did not take long to understand it would be a rough day for the Middletown North boys baseball team.

Lions' starting pitcher Russ Halbach left the game after the first inning with an arm injury, opening the door for the Manalapan Braves, who took full advantage in a 12-3 victory, Wednesday afternoon at Manalapan High School.

"We couldn't catch too many breaks today," Middletown North head coach Jon Scala said, "When a kid whose supposed to be our number one pitcher goes down with an arm injury, it doesn't help."

After retiring two of the first three batters to open the game, Halbach surrendered three runs — one unearned from a wild pitch — before returning to the dugout.

"When Russ [Halbach] comes out throwing low 70's [MPH] when he usually hit mid-80's [mph], you know there's a problem," Scala said.

The Braves would tack on ten runs before the Lions reached the scoreboard, putting the game out of reach early.

Gavin Koegel lead off the top of the fifth inning by belting a solo home run to right field, keeping the Lions from getting mercied. Tim Rhatigan would later drive in a run with an RBI single to left, which was followed by an RBI single to right by Tyler Svenson.

"We don't ever come into a game thinking we are going to be over-matched," Scala said, "Give our guys some credit, I thought we did a good job at the plate, we just didn't get timely hits."

The Lions totaled just six hits on the day and struck out nine times.

Middletown North used three pitchers in relief of Halbach. John Vigorito lasted 1 2/3 innings, walking two batters and giving up two runs on two hits. Dan Sblendorio threw 1 1/3 innings, striking out one batter, and gave up three runs on three hits. One of his runs was unearned.

Chris Stark finished it up for the Lions, hurling two innings, striking out three, walking two and allowing two runs on one hit.

"It comes down to us not getting the pitching early on, that kind of set the tone," Scala said.

The Lions will be back at it tomorrow, hosting the Freehold Township Patriots at 4 p.m.

"The great thing about baseball is you get a chance to redeem yourself tomorrow," Scala said, "We're going to try to get a win tomorrow and improve on our play."