Sprake's Two Home Runs Help Middletown South End Three-Game Skid

Photo above: Middletown South's Joe Sprake after belting two home runs

MIDDLETOWN – Senior Joe Sprake’s inside the park three-run home run keyed a six-run first inning and the Eagles got 3 1/3 innings of much-needed shutout relief out of junior Nick Sabatino in Thursday’s 14-6 win over B North rival Ocean Township.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Eagles (7-5, 5-5) and gave them a win they desperately needed heading into a possible stretch of four games in four day’s depending on the outcome of their game Saturday against Howell in the Monmouth County Tournament first round.

With a win over Howell Saturday, the seventh-seeded Eagles would advance to the MCT quarterfinals and most likely face CBA – the No. 2 seed in the tournament – on Sunday. They also have games scheduled for today agaisnt Marlboro and Monday agaisnt Long Branch.

Prior to their mini slump, the Eagles had moved into the Shore Conference Top 10 but recently they’ve been plagued with pitching woes that have been the primary culprit of their three-game skid.

“It was great to see Sabatino come in and shut the door,” Middletown South head coach Ryan Spillane said. “That’s exactly what we needed. Our staff has been struggling as a whole as far as throwing strikes. It’s been frustrating the last few games – not so much Tuesday against Wall Danny Minze threw great – but in the Monmouth Regional and Middletown North game I think we had 28 free passes in 13 innings and it’s hard to win and tough to watch, but it was just great to see Sabatino come in and do what he needed to do.”

In Thursday’s win the Eagles jumped all over starting pitcher Kevin Schoenberger knocking him out of the game after only one inning.

Junior catcher Trevor Brey led off the bottom of the first with a double into the right-centerfield gap and number two hitter Aurellio Licata brought him home with a line-drive RBI single into right field for a quick 1-0 lead.

Robby Zega then reached on an error on a perfectly hit double play ball that Ocean shortstop Ryan Toomey let go through his legs putting runners at second and third. Sprake followed with his first homer of the day drilling a ball over centerfielder Jack D’Aria’s head that rolled all the way to the deepest part of the field allowing him to easily beat the throw home for his first career inside the park home run.

“I hit a fast ball and sort of used the momentum of the guys before me and squared it up and got a piece of it,” said Sprake of first homer. “It was good to get the win and shift the momentum. We’re going to use this for the rest of the week in a four-game push and hopefully get a win Saturday in the MCT and play Sunday.”

The Eagles added two more runs in the inning on a throwing error by third baseman Scuba Hagerman and an RBI double by right fielder Jack Kinsella that pushed the lead to 6-0 after one inning.

Sophomore righty Mark Schell came in relief of Schoenberger entering the top of the second and after getting Brey to groundout for the first out he walked Licata and Zega putting two on.

Licata then moved to third on a stolen base before Schell threw the ball away on a pickoff attempt allowing Licata to score and Zega to move to second. Third baseman Chris O’Connor then lined an RBI single up the middle giving South an 8-0 lead.

Roesch had some problems with his control in the top of the third hitting three batters and walking one, but a bases loaded double play on a tapper in front of the plate that Brey turned into a double play limited the damage with Roesch getting out of the inning allowing just one run.

The Eagles tacked on a run in the bottom half of the inning to make it a 9-1 game without the benefit of a hit. Two bases on balls and a hit batter loaded the bases for Licata, who grounded a ball to the right side of the infield scoring Minze from third.

Things got interesting in the top of the fourth with Ocean (4-6, 5-7) putting up five runs to crawl to within three runs, 9-6, before Sabatino came in to put out the fire and shut down the Spartans.

Senior catcher Evan Arbeeny got things rolling with a blast that easily cleared the left-field wall and Cole Kelly followed with a line shot into the left-centerfield gap for a double. Kelly was then thrown out at third on a 6-5 fielder’s choice grounder by Will Callano. Callano then stole second base and came all the way home on a throwing error by Licata on a Matt Redbord grounder to short with Redbord going to second.

With the score now 9-3 with one out and a runner on second, freshman Matt Pontari relieved Roesch and quickly got the second out before D’Auria lined an RBI single into right scoring Redbord. Pontari then walked three consecutive batters that scored another run making it a 9-5 game.

Sabatino took over for Pontari but got off to a shaky start walking his first batter for a run before settling down to strike out Kelly and end the inning. Sabatino would go on to throw 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief without giving up a hit and striking out four in a dominant performance out of the pen.

With the Eagles pitching staff struggling to get outs, Sabatino was just what the doctor ordered.

“Danny’s coming off an injury from earlier in the year and this is the first time he came out and threw the way I think he’s capable of throwing,” said Spillane.

“Sabatino came in and shut them down for us and that was really big for us,” added Sprake. “We needed a guy to step up and throw strikes and he did. We’ve had some trouble throwing strikes in our three loses so it’s great he got it done.”

Middletown South scored three more runs in the fourth and two in the fifth off three Ocean pitchers to put the game away.

Sprake led off the fourth with towering home run that cleared the left-centerfield fence for his second dinger of the game and Minze added a two-run double down the left field line and then in the fifth he lined double to left that brought in another two runs giving him four RBI on the day along with Sprake who also finished with four RBI.

Sophomore left fielder Jack Sheridan went 3-for-4 with two runs scored as the Eagles banged out 12 hits against five Ocean pitchers.

“We talked about it before the game that this was a big one,” said Spillane of getting back on track. “I told the guys that it gets to a point that you got to say enough is enough and take it upon yourselves to go out and play well. We certainly did that today so I’m proud of our effort today.”

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