Coaches making sure team is in a position to win
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
OCEAN CITY – When Ocean City baseball coach Andrew Bristol starts running down his list of pitchers, it seems like every one of his players will be spending some time on the mound.
That’s an exaggeration – it’s only nine of his 22 players – but Bristol admits he is “pretty blessed” this season with his pitching staff.
The Red Raiders have used that staff to start the season 4-2.
Ocean City opened in a slugfest with Lenape, winning 12-9 as each team had a five-run inning. Gannon Brady had three singles, James Mancini had two and Ben Hoag, Joe Repetti, Tommy Finnegan, Ben Liebrand and Jake McCarron had one each. Liebrand, Hoag and Repetti each had two stolen bases. Dylan Oliver led with five strikeouts.
Ocean City lost to unbeaten Bishop Eustace, whose pitcher, Anthony Solometo, had a one-hitter and struck out 11 Red Raiders. Matt Nunan pitched the whole game, giving up only two runs and striking out 10 himself.
The next two games, against Atlantic City and Vineland, were slaughters. The Red Raiders beat Atlantic City 11-0, picking up four runs in each of the first and second innings and three more in the fifth to cap it off. Riley Gunnels and McCarron split the pitching duties.
Ocean City beat the Fighting Clan 11-1. It was a rough first inning for Brady, who gave up the only run of the game and walked some batters. Then he settled down and Ocean City’s bats started working in the second as they scored seven runs, adding another in the fourth and three more in the sixth to end the game.
They followed that with a 12-0 drubbing of Absegami on Friday, then lost to Gloucester Catholic (7-1) Saturday. After scoring two runs to tie the game in the seventh inning, 3-3, the Red Raiders gave up six runs in the eighth inning to fall, 9-5.
Bristol is relying first on a trio of pitchers – seniors Brady and Nunan and junior Finnegan. They are all top prospects, with Brady going to pitch at Fordham University and Nunan to Boston College after graduation. Finnegan is headed to Vanderbilt for his college career.
Brady was shaking off a little rust in last week’s game against Vineland. He walked a few batters and gave up a run in the first inning, giving the Fighting Clan some hope, then he buckled down and with his team around him, kept Vineland off the scoreboard the rest of the game.
Bristol said Brady hadn’t pitched much before that and was slow getting back from having COVID-19 in March. However, he is healthy now. Finnegan had minor shoulder surgery just before the end of his basketball season. “We’re trying to bring him back the right way. We don’t want to rush him so he’s ready by the end,” Bristol said.
But there are still a half-dozen more ready to throw for the Red Raiders.
He has McCarron, a sophomore, who has verbally committed to Maryland; Oliver, a lefty junior “who’s in the mix. He’s pretty strong.” Bristol includes Mancini, the shortstop who “throws pretty hard,” and Dante Edwardi, just coming back from injury. “He is a sophomore who is a Division I prospect,” he said. In addition, he has another pair of sophomores in Gunnels and Pat Lonergan, whom he expects will be on the mound as well
Asked to go around the field to talk about the rest of his lineup, Bristol looked first to Joe Repetti, an all-around athlete who set records for the Red Raider football team and also was a key member of the basketball team.
“It all starts with our catcher. He’s one of the best athletes I’ve ever coached,” Bristol said of Repetti. “He’s just overall strong, great hitter, great arm, calls a great game. You couldn’t ask for a better kid. He competes in everything he does and is poised beyond belief for an 18-year-old.”
He has Finnegan at first and senior Hoag at second base. “He’s fast, the leadoff hitter. He sets the table for us.” The shortstop is another senior, Mancini. “He’s real polished there.” He missed last year because of COVID but is starting to come into his own now. He has another senior at third base, Jack Perry. “He is very fast, a scrappy player,” Bristol said.
“Our infield is senior-laden, but they didn’t get a lot of experience because of last year (spring season being canceled because of the pandemic). As they get more and more at-bats, they’re going to start taking off.”
When Brady and McCarron aren’t pitching, Brady is in center field and McCarron is in left field. Ben Liebrand is always in right or left field. The other outfielder is either Oliver or sophomore Noah Harrington.
Captains for the team are Liebrand, Repetti, Hoag and Nunan.
Bristol said he wants his Red Raider team to contend for the division, but expects that to be tough with teams including Egg Harbor Township and Hammonton. “We also have a really tough out-of-conference schedule to get us playoff-ready. We had Bishop Eustace (the team’s only loss of the season so far),” they played Gloucester Catholic over the weekend and have Shawnee, St. Augustine Prep, Holy Spirit and undefeated rival Mainland Regional coming up Saturday night under the lights at the Red Raider field at Fifth Street and Bay Avenue.
“We’re trying to play all the best we can to make us strong. We always say our goal is to try to contend for the division and to try to go deep into June. It used to be play until June, but the new schedule (because of a late start to the season) is to play deep into June. That’s our goal,” Bristol said.
He noted the coaches and players are “ecstatic” about the NJSIAA giving spring teams a full schedule and playoffs, unlike what happened in the abbreviated fall and winter seasons. “It’s hard if you don’t have something to play for. These kids know they have something to play for. It’s a really great motivator for them.”
Bristol noted his team isn’t aiming for the long ball and he encourages his players to use their bats for line drives.
“We don’t hit home runs, especially on that field,” he said. For encouragement, during practices he gives the team extra running or less running depending on their at-bats.
“We do a drill at practice that they have to run foul pole to foul pole for every fly out they hit,” he said. “And then they get negative ones for every line drive or hard-hit ground ball they hit. They don’t want to run. I tell them they’re not home-run hitters. Let’s hit through the fence. Our goal is to hit line drives through the fence and we’ll go from there.”
In last week’s game against Vineland he was pleased the players hit a number of line drives. He also wants his players to score early to put the pressure on other teams and notes with leadoff hitter Hoag, a speedy player, it can give his team an advantage to have someone running the bases right off the bat.
Bristol credits his strong group of assistant coaches, including Anthony DeLeo, Frank LaSasso, Ron Moretti, Craig Mensinger, Ed Terry, Chris banks, Frank Coppenbarger, Kris Duffy and Zach Fox, for getting the Red Raiders game-ready.
“One of the things we stress is that we tell kids that preparation is everything. If you’re prepared, you’re able to compete. And when you’re able to compete, you put yourself in a place to win and we expect to win every game. We’re not going to win every game, but we expect to because we’re prepared,” Bristol said. “And that preparation starts with my coaching staff. My coaches are the best staff around. They’re prepared and we prepare these kids. As coaches we’re prepared, and we give it to the team in practice to prepare them for what they need to do every game.”
The Red Raiders host Mainland at 7 p.m. Saturday.