Wave Baseball Crushes Blue Bishops 18-5

By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr.

Noah Hoogmoed (12) a senior at Long Branch High School dives safely back to first base during the win over Asbury Park.

For the first time in years, the Long Branch High School varsity baseball team is off to a red hot start. They opened the 2025 season with a 17-5 loss to Freehold Borough and then had back-to-back wins. They beat Henry Hudson 6-0 and on April 8, crushed the Blue Bishops of Asbury Park 18-5.

Asbury Park was scheduled to host the game on Tuesday afternoon, but their field conditions were not playable, so the game was moved to Long Branch High School, which were the visitors on the scoreboard. “We have a really experienced group this year. We have eight starters returning and our three top pitchers back as well,” said Ben Woolley, head coach at Long Branch. Last season the Wave finished 8-15 overall and were 7-7 in the B Central division of the Shore Conference. This year, they are playing in the Coastal division. “We are super excited for this season.”

It was 36 degrees on Tuesday afternoon with a strong wind, which was causing lots of baseball caps to continually blow off the heads of the players. Carlos Torres, senior, was the Green Wave player on the mound and collected the victory. “We wanted to get our best pitcher some work and Carlos gave us two good innings and off to a great start,” Woolley said. Torres threw 41 pitches, didn’t allow a single hit, struck out five and had three walks. “We took him out early so we could save him for the end of the week.”

Getting the 18-5 win for Long Branch over Asbury Park was Carlos Torres, senior pitcher for the Green Wave.

Long Branch scored two runs in the top of the first inning, added four in the second and had a huge third inning plating nine runs. They added one in the fourth and two in the fifth. “It was nice to see our bats really kind of explode. They’ve been quite so far this season,” said Woolley. Havier Gonzalez had two hits and both were triples. “Havier had two big hits. David Jules had a couple of doubles as a freshman. Both Gonzalez and Jules had three runs driven in.

Also getting hits for the Green Wave were Carlos Torres who had a double, as did Alexander Lucas. Getting singles were Justin Cuevas, Jaylen Brooks, Korey Castillo and Qua’Dir Brown. “It was really nice to see our team perform in some really tough conditions as well. It was cold and the wind was blowing hard and felt like a football playoff game in November than it did a spring baseball game,” added Woolley.

According to Woolley, Asbury Park has made big improvements over the past two years. Most times the changes a new coach makes is not immediately seen on the scoreboard. “Over the past two years Coach Caleb Correa has definitely changed the attitude of the Blue Bishops. They gave us a challenge, as they have some very good arms that threw hard. Their catcher, Oscar Benavidez, was extraordinary. He threw some of our guys out at second and made great plays at home plate. So scoring some runs on that team is a good sign for Long Branch,” Woolley said.

Four years ago, Long Branch was playing in the A North division of the Shore Conference. That division is loaded with some of the better programs in the conference. During the 2020-2021 season the Green Wave were 4-21 and 0-19 in 2021-2022. “We were getting beaten up by really good programs, but you know the seniors we have today battled through those previous seasons. Starting off the season at 2-1 and 2-0 in the division is a testament to all those kids hard work and perseverance,” said Woolley. He added that many of those kids could have “mailed it in” after their freshman season, but they stuck it out. “We are in a position to do some really good things this season.”

The team has set a goal to win their division, which consists of Keyport, Keansburg, Henry Hudson, Lakewood and Asbury Park. “We also want to make a run in the Monmouth County Tournament, which starts this weekend. Our third goal, is to make the Shore Conference Tournament,” said Woolley. The last time Long Branch played in the SCT was 2010, when current head principle VJ Muscillo was head coach. “Our last goal, is to make the NJSIAA tournament, which we did two years ago and want to get back to that. So we’re on track and off to a good start.”

Long Branch will host Asbury Park on April 10, then go to Monmouth Regional on April 11 and Keyport on April 16.

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