By Scott Stump - Senior Editor


     BRICK - Red Bank Catholic's baseball team had already pounded out 17 hits and nearly had 10-runned Brick Memorial earlier in the game on Wednesday night, yet here was Caseys senior ace Mike Yaccarine, inhaling deeply during an unexpected relief appearance with the bases loaded and no outs in the sixth inning and only a three-run deficit on the scoreboard for the Mustangs.
     If RBC was going to qualify for the state playoffs only two days before the cutoff, the Mustangs were going to make the Caseys earn it. A large crowd under the lights at Steve Galik Field was getting riled up as the home team threatened to storm all the way back from an eight-run deficit to potentially tie the game. Yaccarine, normally a starter, was forced into action to fan the flames.
     Yaccarine had just walked a batter with the bases loaded to cut the lead to three before the potential go-ahead run was staring him in the face in the batter's box.
     "I'm thinking that we had to get this game to get into the states and the Shore Conference Tournament, so I was going to do whatever it took,'' Yaccarine said.
     He came up with the best scenario possible, striking out three straight batters, ending the inning with a darting changeup that swung all the momentum back to RBC. That was only part of the story in the Caseys' wild, 14-11 nondivisional win over the Mustangs that put them into the state tournament, as senior shortstop Tom Higgins went a career-best 5-for-5 with four runs scored, three stolen bases and two RBIs, and designated hitter Rob Schmitt went 4-for-5 with a career-high five RBIs as part of an 18-hit firestorm. Senior third baseman Kyle O'Neill was also 3-for-3 with two walks, three runs scored and two RBIs.
     "As seniors, we had to use our senior leadership and show the younger guys that under pressure like that, you have to keep your head and keep working hard,'' Higgins said.
     While RBC (10-8) has punched its ticket to the postseason, Brick Memorial (9-10) now has to defeat Middletown North on Thursday, weather permitting, to get its berth in the playoffs after pushing the Caseys to the brink.
     "No one's giving up at this point,'' said first-year RBC coach Buddy Hausmann. "After the way (Brick Memorial) came out in the first inning, I thought, 'I'm not going to be comfortable until the final out. I don't care what the score is.'''
     Those butterflies were eventually justified, but at the beginning, it looked the game might not make it past five innings. RBC came out quickly, jumping to a 4-0 lead after the first inning, highlighted by an RBI single by O'Neill, a two-run double by Schmitt, who had two doubles in the game, and an RBI single by outfielder Gene DeSimone.
     However, Brick Memorial responded when Evan Mancini hit an RBI single, his first of three hits on the night, to score Brian Duckworth in the first inning, and the assault on the scoreboard light bulbs was off to the races.
     "Buddy told us before the game that they were in the same exact spot as we are,'' said O'Neill, who will continue his career at Pacific. "It was a big game for both