BASEBALL - THE HEART ATTACK KIDS: RBC 14, BRICK MEM. 11

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 of us, and it showed. It was back and forth the whole time.''
     RBC poured four more runs on in the second inning for an 8-1 lead, as Higgins, catcher Jake Beim, DeSimone and outfielder Connor Pricoli all hit RBI singles against two different pitchers to continue the onslaught.
     Once again, the Mustangs were not going to roll over, as they came back with three runs in the second against RBC junior Matt Marley (3-0), who was making his first varsity start. Second baseman Justin Gordon hit a two-run double, his first of two run-scoring doubles on the day, and then Duckworth hit an RBI groundout to make it 8-4.
     The Caseys' relentless attack came up with four more runs in the third inning, as Higgins recorded his third hit and third run scored of the game while also picking up an RBI, O'Neill ripped another RBI single and Schmitt nailed his second two-run double of the game for a commanding 12-4 lead.
     Brick Memorial made it 12-5 when first baseman Jose Ramos doubled and eventually scored on a groundout by Mancini before RBC had a chance to potentially end the game early via the mercy rule. Higgins, who will continue his career at Wagner, continued his unconscious stretch of hitting by roping a triple to lead off the fifth and then scored on a wild pitch for a 13-5 lead. Consecutive walks to Beim and O'Neill and then a wild pitch put two runners in scoring position, setting up a potential scenario where if RBC could bring those runs home and then get a scoreless bottom of the fifth, it walks away with an easy entry into the state tournament.
     However, three straight strikeouts ended the inning, and then things really got interesting, prematurely aging Hausmann about five years.
     "Concerned?,'' he said before laughing. "When wasn't I concerned?''
     A single by Mancini kickstarted a four-run fifth inning for Brick Memorial that featured a two-run single by outfielder Brendan Melody, another RBI double by Gordon, and an RBI single by Duckworth that sliced it to 13-9 before RBC turned an inning-ending 6-4-3 doube play. Not so fast, Caseys.
     "Yeah, just a little bit, you could say,'' O'Neill said jokingly when asked if the Caseys were starting to get worried.
     After Mancini led off the sixth inning, Yaccarine was summoned on a night when he thought he would be chilling out on the bench and watching his teammates circle the bases like a merry-go-round.
     "To me, it's just to do whatever I have to do to get out of the game, whether it's starting or relieving,'' Yaccarine said.
     Yaccarine walked two of the first three batters he faced, allowing the Mustangs to cut the lead to 13-10 with the bases loaded and still nobody out, yet he didn't blink. After a rough patch following a strong Opening Day start, Yaccarine, who his headed to Fairleigh Dickinson, has rounded back into form as RBC's top pitcher.
      "'Yacc' is our stud, so we have all the faith in the world in him,'' O'Neill said. "It's a tough spot in that situation, but the last two outings, he's been nearly flawless.''
      "They were one bleeder away from making it a close game, but Yaccarine did a great job,'' Hausmann said. "He's a senior, and he's a leader out there. He didn't want his final season to end early.''
      He settled himself down amidst the loud home crowd and struck out the side, pumping his fist on the way to the dugout as the Caseys' faithful let out a deep breath and finally stopped pacing nervously along the fence.
      "I found the strike zone, and I just started cruising from there,'' Yaccarine said.
      RBC tacked on an insurance run in the seventh on an RBI single by Schmitt that capped a tremendous night for him. Brick Memorial cut it to three again in the bottom of the seventh on a one-out, RBI sacrifice fly by catcher Tom Murray, but Yaccarine got away with a hanging changeup when O'Neill speared a line drive by Brian Staub at third base to finally end the madness.
      "What should I talk to them about? How they nearly gave me a heart attack?'' Hausmann said to assistant Mike Bascom, who was busy shaking his head and saying, "It's never easy,'' after the game.
      It still turned out positively, as the Caseys have now won six of seven to emerge from a mid-season coma and make a successful push to the playoffs.
      "We talked before the game that we wanted to do this for Buddy in his first year, and we came together as a team,'' Higgins said.
      "We're starting to show our talent and play like we should,'' O'Neill said.
      Higgins has emerged as one of the Shore's top players, a line drive-slashing, base-stealing machine who has gone 8-for-8 in his last two games and who helped carry RBC through injuries to top players like Beim (hamstring), O'Neill (quadriceps) and Ramapo-bound senior Nick Romano (broken nose) early in the season.
      "I'm trying to come up big for my teammates,'' Higgins said. "They look to me as a leader.''
      The Caseys feel that with a full lineup intact and a rejuvenated Yaccarine leading the rotation, they have a chance to do some damage in the postseason despite slipping into the field at the last minute.
      "We have the team that once we get into the tournaments, we can beat anybody,'' Higgins said.
      "I think offensively, now that we're healthy, we can compete with anyone,'' Hausmann said.
      Hopefully in doing so, they don't induce too many more Maalox moments like Wednesday night, for the safety of their coaching staff.
      "I think I might fall asleep on the (Garden State) Parkway on the way home,'' a weary Hausmann said before trudging off.

E-mail: stump@digitalsports.com

Box score
Red Bank Catholic 14, Brick Memorial 11

RBC (10-8)            4 4 4 0 1 0 1 - 14 18 1
Brick Mem. (9-10)  1 3 1 0 4 1 1 - 11 13 2

Doubles:  (B) Duckworth, Ramos, Murray, Gordon 2; (R) Schmitt 2. Triples: (R) Higgins. WP: Marley (3-0); LP: Short (1-2).