Two Days, Two Championships: M'town HS South Baseball Wins State Title

A Middletown High School South baseball team that was seemingly an afterthought at the end of the regular season has now won its first two championships in 12 years in the span of less than 24 hours.

The Eagles added their first NSJIAA Central Jersey Group III title since 1999 to their Monmouth County Tournament championship from Thursday night when they knocked off host Brick, 7-1, on Friday afternoon.

Senior pitcher Will Siegfried (9-1) led the way, baffling one of the Shore Conference’s best lineups on his way to a complete-game three-hitter in which he struck out four, walked two and did not allow an earned run on 95 pitches.

“You can't say enough about their character in the last three weeks in the ride that we've been on,’’ Middletown South head coach Ryan Spillane said while wiping shaving cream off his face after a joking postgame attack by his team.

The underdog Eagles (19-8) have now won 12 of 14 and six in a row after only being 9-7 as recent as May 11. They won the MCT title as the 10^th seed and the Central Jersey Group III title as the No. 9 seed while also making it a banner day all around for Middletown South. The softball team also won the Central Jersey Group III title with a 7-1 victory over Wall on Friday.

The baseball team joins Manalapan as the only Shore Conference teams still alive in the state playoffs, and the Eagles will now face South Jersey Group III champion Seneca at Rutgers on Tuesday in the Group III semifinals.

A big reason is Siegfried, who dominated a great hitting lineup by neutralizing two of the Shore Conference’s best hitters. Siegfried had gone to Brick’s Shore Conference Tournament game against Jackson Memorial on Wednesday to get a look at the Green Dragons’ lineup, and he quickly realized that stopping leadoff hitter Nick Vitale and slugging third baseman Tim Carney was going to be a huge factor on Friday.

"I took out of it that I didn't want to lose to Carney or Vitale because they are their two best players,'' Siegfried said. "The rest of the guys can definitely swing it, but as long as I stayed away, I thought I had a pretty good shot.''

Vitale and Carney finished a combined 1-for-7 as Brick was denied its first sectional title since 1980 and second in school history. Siegfried altered his gameplan early on when he saw how much the Green Dragons’ hitters were crowding the plate. He also could challenge them more because of a fierce wind blowing in from left field that was turning any hard-hit ball into an easy flyball out. Carney walloped a pitch in the first inning that would have gone over the fence in left field on any other day but was easily caught.

"I started getting in on guys and that's when I started getting guys to roll their hands over and ground out to short and third or make soft outs into the outfield,'' said Siegfried, who induced 10 groundball outs. "I stayed soft away to them and kind of pounded Carney in a little bit. I don't think anyone in the Shore has really done that, because no one has the power numbers he has, so no one really wants to go there. I had him second-guess himself at the plate.''

Also, after struggling for much of the season, the Eagles’ offense has come alive at the most opportune time. They have now scored a combined 15 runs in their last two tournament games, including their 8-5 win over RBC on Thursday night that ended the Caseys’ 24-game winning streak. That improved offense allowed Siegfried to relax because he had more of a margin for error than usual.

Middletown South finished with 10 hits, all singles, as junior first baseman Howie Brey went 3-for-4 with two runs scored, designated hitter Nick Mariniello had two hits and two runs scored, outfielder Stefan Poggioli added a pair of RBI singles and outfielders Chris Mangarelli and Dan Sweeney each chipped in with RBI singles.

"Once we get to three runs, we know we have it wrapped up already because Will is going to throw an awesome game,'' Brey said.

The Eagles scored twice in the second inning for the only runs they would need. An RBI groundout by third baseman Mike Grossi and an RBI single by Poggioli gave them a 2-0 lead off Brick starter Brandon Kieslor (5-1). They made it 3-0 in the third when Brey singled, went to second on a balk, and then scored on an RBI single by Sweeney.

"All year we've just learned to battle, and recently we've been able to get a lead early in the game and take teams on,'' Mariniello said. "We're not exactly the home run team, but we put balls in play and make teams work.''

"They're a team that likes to rattle you and likes to talk a lot, so we knew in the beginning that we had to match their intensity,'' Brey said. "We knew we had to come out swinging the bats right away and be aggressive.''

The Eagles added four more runs in the last two innings to coast to victory with Siegfried cruising on the mound. Poggioli's second RBI single of the game and then three runs in the top of the seventh stretched the lead to six runs. Mangarelli hit an RBI single and two more runs scored on a throwing error.

Brey will take the ball against Seneca on Tuesday in the Group III semifinal, and the Eagles will continue to try to prove everyone wrong as the underdogs. There is a good chance they will face Seneca senior pitcher Kevin Comer, a Vanderbilt recruit who throws 94 miles per hour and is a potential high pick in June’s Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

If the Eagles can find a way to win that game, they would have Siegfried ready to go on Saturday in the Group III championship game. That game will be held at one of the three Toms River high schools against the North Jersey winner.

"We've got two games left,'' Spillane said. "We've got Brey and we've got Siegfried. We're liking our chances right now.''