Green Wave baseball struggling in 2022

By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr. – They are seven games into the 2022 baseball season and Long Branch High School is still trying to get their first victory. Currently, Long Branch has been outscored 96-7 in those seven losses.

The Wave opened the season with back-to-back 11-0 and 13-0 losses to Middletown North. They then had back-to-back defeats 17-1 and 6-2 to Freehold Township. The next back-to-back losses were to Middletown South. They were in Middletown South on April 12, and were beaten 19-0 and two days later in Long Branch they lost 16-0 to the Eagles. All the losses were to Shore Conference A North opponents. On April 16, Carteret beat the Wave 14-4.

“Our numbers are down this year and we have several of our key players out with injuries,” said Ben Woolley, who is in his third season as head coach in Long Branch. Last season his team finished 4-21 overall and were winless, 0-14 in the Class A North division. He added, that this is the first time since 2018 that a majority of the starters are technically junior varsity players.

Thomas Brewer is a four-year starter for Long Branch playing centerfield this season where he started during his freshman year. As a sophomore and junior, Brewer played the infield. Adam Benetsky is also one of the team’s big guns who had a very good 2021 season.

Low numbers means shallow depth on the bench. In high school baseball you need a good stable of pitchers, and Long Branch is suffering in this department. During the second game against Middletown South, John Hebron was on the mound to start the game for Long Branch. He gave up 7 runs in the first inning.

“I feel for Woolley and his squad this year,” said Chris Lemore, head coach at Middletown South. He took over the Eagles program two years ago and his team finished 22-9 overall and were 6-7 in the A North last year. Middletown South won the NJSIAA state championships last season for the second time in their history. His program is not lacking in numbers as he had a packed dugout. “We brought a bunch of our junior varsity guys up today and will be rotating them in all game long.”

Top hitters for the Eagles in the win during the five innings of action were Joe Bartos who went 3-4 with a double and four runs batted in. Joe Stanzione, senior, also went 3-4 with a double and five runs and an RBI. On the mound getting the win for South was Will Jagerburger.

Current A North divisional standings have Howell at the top followed by Middletown South (who is also ranked fifth overall in the Shore Conference) CBA, Freehold Township, Middletown North, Manalapan, Marlboro and Long Branch.

Cick the photo for captions

Additional photos will be posted at www.Facebook.com/TheLinkSports