Middletown South Eagles Flying High After Knocking off CBA

Photo above: Eagles winning pitcher Mike Keenan

LINCROFT – Middletown South continued its torrid start to the season beating No.3 Christian Brothers Academy for the second time in two days, 8-2, Wednesday afternoon on the Colts home field.

Entering the 2019 season, the Eagles, ranked eighth in the Shore, were flying under the radar after first-team All-Shore shortstop Aurelio Licata injured his shoulder in the preseason - possibly missing the entire season – and with a roster dominated by underclassmen.

“A little bit,” said Eagles head coach Ryan Spillane when asked if was surprised by his teams fast start. “I know that we’re a really solid team and we’re definitely playing really good baseball right now. I say a little bit because of the youth and the pitching. We’ve been throwing a decent amount of sophomores and they’ve been coming threw for us. It’s early, I’m happily surprised but I’m not going to get overly excited right now.”

In Wednesday’s win, seven of ten starters, including sophomore starting pitcher Mike Keenan, are either juniors or sophomores and the underclassmen have been one of the major reasons they’ve bolted out to a 5-0 start to the season.

When asked if he thought a start like this was possible after Licata went down, Spillane said, “Yea, I kind of did. We have a lot of talent and we’re really deep. The JV team was 18-3 last year so if you put that together with what we had coming back and with a lot of younger guys who had a lot of experience last year it makes for a nice mix. We have a lot of chemistry, so we’re just looking to keep it rolling.”

Keenan helped the Eagles keep that ball rolling and extend their season-opening winning streak to five games with his second solid start of the season. The tall righty allowed two runs – zero earned – in six innings of work giving up seven hits and striking out three without issuing a walk.

In the bottom of the sixth, two errors led to two unearned runs but it could’ve been worse. With two outs and the bases still loaded Keenan ran the count to 3-0 on C.J. Shekian before getting him on a short fly ball for the final out.

“He pitched great. Coming back from that 3-0 count was just huge,” said Spillane. “I was thinking to myself lets see how tough he is and he comes back and throws four strikes in a row. He should have been out of the inning (without a run) and if he was he would’ve he’d be pitching in the seventh for a complete game shutout, but unfortunately it didn’t work out like that. But it also gave Lotito (Chris) a chance to get a little work in.”

Lotito came in and worked a perfect seventh while striking out two.

Keenan’s control was outstanding throughout as he hit his spots with pinpoint accuracy leaving Colt batters flailing away.

“I was hitting my locations good,” said Keenan. “My curve ball was working and Anthony Esposito, my catcher, called a great game today so it was easy for me just to do what he told me to do.” They got a few lucky hits (sixth inning) and I just knew I had to get ahead on batters, make my pitches and we ended up doing that with not much damage.”

As one of those sophomore starters Spillane is talking about, Keenan is enjoying the ride. “It’s a really cool feeling. I didn’t expect it coming into the season but now that it’s here I’m just really excited. We’ve got a good group of guys and it’s fun because everyday we know we got a good shot at winning.”

Junior Danny Minze worked a first inning walk before junior third baseman Chris O’Connor drilled a double over the centerfielders head putting runners on second and third. Both runners then scored on an error and wild pitch for a quick 2-0 lead.

In the second, junior shortstop Jack Sheridan lined a single to right field and a batter later senior first baseman Trevor Brey slammed a home run over the right field fence giving Keenan a 4-0 lead to work with.

“It’s always easier to pitch with a lead,” said Keenan. “As soon as we got those runs early it was much easier for me to calm down and just pitch my game.”

The Eagles tacked on another three runs in the third inning with Esposito, Lotito, and Sheridan each driving in a run with RBI singles for a 7-0 lead.

Sophomore designated hitter Joe Stanzione added a RBI double in the sixth lining a pitch over the head of the right fielder pushing the lead to 8-0.

CBA senior pitcher Braedin Hunt took the loss for the Colts going 2 2/3 innings allowing seven runs – six earned.

“We’re excited at what we've got going on right now,” said Spillane. “And we’re just hoping to keep it going.”

“It’s really fun,” said Keenan of the teams 5-0 start. “We’re having a good time and all are contributing. We’ve got some really good energy right now. We’re confident and excited to get back out there tomorrow and come out of it 6-0.”

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