Baseball Bulldogs Play Exhibition Game to Prepare for Upcoming Season

With spring around the corner, the Varsity Baseball Bulldogs nearly pulled off the shutout, blanking the Flyers from Neptune High for six and a half innings.

Then, at the top of the seventh with the opposing team up for their last chance and the dawgs three outs away from an easy early day of baseball, things unraveled in a hurry.  The Flyers scored six runs to overcome a 5-0 deficit, and then held off the dogs in the bottom of the seventh to defeat Rumson-Fair Haven in their exhibition home opener.  Final score; Flyers 6, Bulldogs 5.

But not to worry; the start of the regular season and games that count is over two weeks away.  Exhibition season is a time for working out the winter kinks along with giving the coach a better idea of how to choose the opening day lineup.

 Bulldog Head Coach Kevin James, in his tenth year at the helm of Rumson-Fair Haven’s varsity baseball team was optimistic about the upcoming 2011 spring campaign.

 “We’ve got some really young and athletic players this year,” Coach James said.  “If this team grows up early we could make some real noise this year.”

 Coach James has led his team to the playoffs during each year of his decade-long tenure and also to the finals three times and the semi-finals five times. He considers 2008 one of his team’s best years, a season that culminated in a Shore Conference title.

 “When the triangle works the team works. That’s the bottom line,” James said.  “I’m talking a three way involvement that starts with the players, the students of course, then the community, parents, and then staff and administration.  When those three are present, and we’ve always had that, then things stay rolling.”

Out of three of the Bulldog’s key rivals- Shore Regional, Red Bank Regional, and Red Bank Catholic- the coach singled out RBC as probably their fiercest rival.

 “I think they beat us twice last year, but we’ve got something for them this year,” James continued.  “Like I said, we’re young, but with these guy’s potential, and our three seniors, Matt Sinopoli, Dan Miller, and our number two pitcher, Liam Ryan, they’ll definitely make a difference.”

The coach was also quick to mention returning alumni, pointing out how players tend to return to their alma mater, not only to support them from the bleachers, but actually coming back to help coach.  He then called his two assistant coaches over for a few comments.

"My love for baseball is one thing that brought me back," commented Assistant Coach R.J. Carr, an '04 graduate of RFH.  During his last year, as the Bulldog's pitcher and captain, he contributed to a State Championship.  "I love this program, the camaraderie, there's no bad seeds here, it's really one great family," he said.

"I love being back here," added Assistant Coach Brent Gaynor, another of Coach James' returning protoges.  "It's great being able to come back and watch these kids and see how hard they work. It's the best."

Gaynor said he has always admired Coach James' coaching technique. "He's got a good way of communicating. Discipline with a good tempo of practice.  He teaches, notices, and cultivates potential in his  players," he said. 

With the March fourteenth mercury level barely rising above forty-three for the Monday afternoon game, Bulldog fans were sparse with only a couple dozen situated casually around the ballfield.

 Attending the game in support of his son was Rumson resident Paul Sagnelli, a retired detective who has time to come out often to cheer on his son Dakota, a seventeen-year-old catcher on the squad.

 "I love it," said the proud parent as he cheered his son on as he belted a single to right-center.  "His Mom too.  We try to get out to all the games, even the pre-season ones.  My boy is the athlete in the family," Sagnelli said.  "He's been playing since he was just knee-high in Little League."

The team's next exhibition contest will be against always strong, highly touted Don Bosco Prep this Saturday morning, also on the bulldog's home turf.  Earmuffs and legwarmers can probably be left at home in the closet as temps are predicted to reach the mid-fifties this weekend, so come out and support those Dawgs!