Red Bank Catholic Stays Alive In B North Race With 7-3 Win Over Monmouth Regional

Photo above: Caseys Aaron Ahn

RED BANK – In a crucial Class B North showdown Thursday at Count Basie Field, No.8 Red Bank Catholic avenged an earlier loss to No.2 Monmouth Regional beating the Falcons 7-3 to stay alive in the tight race for the B North crown.

With the win, the Caseys (7-4, 5-4) remain two games behind division leader Manasqaun (8-4, 7-2), who took over sole possession of first place after beating Long Branch 3-1 Thursday behind Tommy Sheehan’s 15 strikeouts, and one game back of Monmouth (9-3, 6-3), Wall (9-3, 6-3) and Middletown North (8-4, 6-3).

“We’re starting to figure it out and play better, especially our defense,” Red Bank Catholic head coach Buddy Hausmann said. “Offensively we had gotten a little stale in some games we shouldn’t have but it looks like we’re bouncing back. After a signature win against Delbarton last Saturday it looked like we were heading in the right direction but then we don’t play again until today because of the weather. I was hoping we didn’t cool off - that scared me a little bit - but I’m hoping we’re rolling in the right direction at the right time of the year.”

The Caseys still have divisional games remaining with Manasquan, Wall and Middletown North and need a win in all three games to split the season series with each like they did with Monmouth Regional for a shot at the title.

“We’ve been having some good practices but you never know until game day comes,” said Naval Academy-bound senior shortstop Aaron Ahn. “We always focus on playing the game rather than the opponent. Game day is always a different day, everyone’s trying to beat each other so we’re just trying to show up and play our game.”

Sophomore Vincent Bianchi picked up the win to improve to 2-0 on the season after a shaky start. He hit Justin Scotto leading off the game, walked No. 2 batter Dante Ciaramella and after striking out power hitter Josh Jackson gave up an RBI single into right field to cleanup hitter Paul Birzin for an early 1-0 lead.

Bianchi appeared to settle down after that and got out of the inning inducing a ground-ball out and a short pop-up to first baseman Mike Veit for the final out without any real damage done. The young righty went four solid innings for the win allowing one run, five hits, and two walks while striking out five batters on 79 pitches.

The Caseys then struck for three runs in the bottom half of the inning banging out five singles to take a 3-1 lead.

Veit led off the bottom of the first with a line-drive single over the shortstops head and moved to second on Ahn’s only out of the game – a 4-3 grounder – before coming home on a RBI single by Rutgers-bound third baseman, Anthony DeRosa, to tie the game at one.

With two outs and DeRosa now on third after a ground-ball out and wild pitch, senior second baseman and Montclair State commit, Aiden Supp, drove in DeRosa on a liner to center giving the Caseys a 2-1 lead. Senior left fielder Steven Turk followed with a single moving Supp to second before junior designated hitter JonMichael Rotondo grounded an RBI single through the 5-6 hole for a 3-1 lead before getting picked off first to end the inning.

In both the third and fourth innings, Bianchi had runners in scoring position with two outs but got out of the inning in both instances with a fly ball and ground out respectively.

At the same time, RBC added lone runs in the bottom of the second and fourth on an RBI single by Ahn in the second and a fielder’s choice RBI by senior catcher Brian Sheehy in the fourth that plated Ahn, who had walked.

Ahn then broke the game open in the bottom of the fifth roping a two-out, bases-loaded double all the way to the left-field wall bringing home Rotondo and senior centerfielder Connor Caizza - who both had singled - for a 7-1 lead.

Monmouth centerfielder Trevor D’meo then robbed DeRosa of a two-run extra base hit with a spectacular diving catch of DeRosa’s sinking line drive to right to end the inning.

“I was just trying to do anything to help my team tack on some runs,” Ahn said. “Especially with Monmouth, you can never give up on them; they’ll always come back like the last time we played them.”

“He’s been hitting like that all year long for us,” Hausmann said of his shortstop and No.2 batter. “When we get him up in certain spots if he makes an out it’s almost like ‘Oh wow, Aaron made an out.’”

Junior right-hander Austin Nappi took over for Bianchi in the fifth giving up a walk and two hits in two innings of scoreless relief before Jake Birnbaum allowed two runs (one earned) in the top of the seventh to close out the game.

Ahn finished 2-for-3 with a double, three RBI and a run scored while Rotondo was 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. DeRosa added two hits in three at bats with an RBI and run scored and Supp was 2-for-4 with an RBI as the Caseys pounded out 14 hits.

For Monmouth, Birzin was 4-for-4 with two RBI and junior Liam Kile was 2-for-3 with a double.

“We just got to stay focused,” said Ahn about his team’s chances. “I think it starts with practice and our mindset. I think if we have a good mindset in practice then we can definitely get better each day and it will show up on game day.”

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