Red Bank Catholic Stuns CBA, Advances To MCT Final

Photo above: Stars of the game, Austin Nappi and Ryan O'Hara

LINCROFT – Fifth-seeded Red Bank Catholic will be making its third straight appearance in the Monmouth County Tournament finals after downing long-time rival and second-seeded Christian Brothers Academy 6-3 in Saturday’s semifinal in Lincroft.

Senior pitcher Austin Nappi went the distance taking a 6-1 lead into the seventh inning before tiring and allowing the Colts to put two runs up on the board before striking out Tommy DiTullio with a man on second and slugger Nick Hohenstein on deck to end the game.

The burly righty allowed three earned runs on six hits with four strike outs without issuing a walk but did hit five batters as a result of his commitment to pitching inside.

“These guys like to swing and they don’t like to swing on the inner half, so establishing that outer half of the plate, but not being afraid to go in was important,” said Nappi on pitching inside to batters. “My thing was let’s get the ball on the ground and see what happens. We got a couple a big double-plays, we got a pickle on a squeeze attempt, so it was a great game overall.”

Nappi’s defense bailed him out of a minor jam in the bottom of the sixth when with one out and runners on first and second the Caseys infield turned a pretty 4-6-3 double-play to get out of the inning and in the fifth after hitting a batter they executed a 6-4-3 double-play to perfection.

In the bottom of the third with the Caseys clinging to a 1-0 lead as a result of Ryan O’Hara’s bomb over the left-field fence in the top of the inning, CBA had runners on second and third with no outs before an attempted squeeze play failed when batter Eddie Dudek whiffed on the bunt and Andrea Dalatri was caught in a pickle trying to score. Nappi then got a strikeout and a fly out to get out of the inning unscathed.

O’Hara, in his first year as a starter, has been a valuable asset to this year’s team playing all over the diamond and coming up with some clutch hits but Saturday was his first display of power by hitting his first two home runs of his career.

He put the Caseys up 1-0 in the top of the third after running the count to 3-and-2 and fouling off a couple of pitches before taking CBA starter and loser Blaise Venancio deep for his first homer of the game.

“The good thing about going to 3-and-2 is you get to see at least five pitches,” O’Hara said of his at bat. “I was able to foul off a couple of pitches, so I saw seven or eight and felt like I was really on him. I was just staying back and trying to hit it up the middle and the ball was inside, so I just pulled my hands in and turned on it. Home runs are accidents. You just try to hit line drives and let the power come.”

The Colts got that run back in the bottom of the fourth with two outs to tie the game. Senior first baseman John Dudek lined a single into right field before Nappi beaned Matt Fitzsimmons putting Dudek in scoring positon. Sophomore right fielder Braedin Hunt followed with a line-drive RBI single into left scoring Dudek to tie the game but Nappi snuffed out the rally getting Dalatri on a 6-3 ground out to end the inning.

Sophomore catcher Chris Sparber then gave the lead back to RBC in the top of the fifth crushing his first home run of his career on a high-drive over the left field fence.

Sparber broke a bone in his hand during preseason and is just rounding into shape and has begun to show his offensive potential the last couple of weeks.

“I felt bad for him,” RBC head coach Buddy Hausmann said of Sparber. “We kept trying to encourage him and get him reps any way we could, but the season goes on and we really couldn’t keep waiting around on him. It was just a freak injury during an inter-squad game. He’s been doing a really good job behind the plate and he’s really starting to swing the bat well, which had been good for him and good for us.”

O’Hara led off the top of the sixth with his second homer of the game, a blast over left field wall that ignited a four-run sixth and gave the Caseys a 6-1 cushion.

“With him it’s a confidence thing,” said Hausmann of O’Hara. “He’s been second-guessing some things, I think because he’s been playing everywhere. I actually talked to him yesterday and just told him, ‘You are a big asset to this team and this program right now.’ He can catch, pitch, play third and he was in the outfield today. That gives us a ton of flexibility and allows us to play the best guys in the lineup.”

Following O’Hara’s homer Venancio gave up a sharp single to senior Nick Merlo that ended his day with Hohenstein replacing him on the mound. Dan Ianelli greeted Hohenstein with a line-drive single to center putting runners on the corners.

Ianelli then stole second with CBA catcher Tom Rogers throw to second sailing into centerfield on the play allowing Merlo to score from third. A walk to Robert Gonalez followed putting runners on first and second before a strikeout and infield-fly rule on a dropped pop up advanced the runners to second and third with two outs. Junior centerfielder David Glancy walked to load the bases and Alexander Gonzalez lined a two-bagger to centerfield for two more runs before Hohenstein struck out Vincent Bianchi to end the inning.

Nappi got out of the bottom of the sixth thanks to the double-play and the Colts benefited from their own double-play in the top of the seventh to keep the score 6-1 entering the bottom of the seventh.

Hunt led off the seventh with line-drive double in the left-centerfield gap and with one out Rogers was hit with a pitch putting two on. Following a strikeout by Nappi senior Jack Harnisch drilled a two-run double to dead centerfield pulling RBC to within 6-3 with two outs.

With Hohenstein and his five home runs on deck representing the tying run, Hausmann made a visit to the mound to calm his pitcher down and allow him to finish the game.

Nappi rewarded his coach’s faith in him by striking out DiTullio to close out the game in dramatic fashion.

“I don’t think (Hausmann) was going to take me out there, but we’ve had games where I’ve had to yell at him to stay (in the dugout),” Nappi said while laughing. “I get a competitive side just like everybody else and I want to be in there, even when he’s getting a little nervous.”

The Caseys will now play No. 12 seed St. Rose, a 2-1 winner over ninth-seeded Raritan, in the championship game on Monday night at First Energy Park in Lakewood. The Caseys are shooting for their second straight MCT championship after beating Freehold 10-3 a year ago while St. Rose is aiming for its first title in 10 years.

Ianelli finished 2-for-3 with a run and stolen base, Alex Gonzalez 1-for-3 with two RBI and Merlo and Robert Gonzalez each went 1-for-3 with a run scored. For CBA Hunt went 2-for-3 with a double, RBI and run and Venancio picked up his first loss of the season dropping his record to 4-1 on the season.

Red Bank Catholic had four juniors and three sophomores in Saturday’s starting lineup so getting to the MCT final is quite an accomplishment for this talented bunch of underclassmen.

“It’s exciting and a good experience for them,” Hausmann said of his young team. “We’re going to return just about everybody next year so these games are stuff we need to learn from and figure out how to win and we did today, which is good. We’ve been playing pretty well lately but we still need to get better.”

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