Not simply rebuilding put Pats back in playoffs
Baseball team advance to sectional quarters
BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer

SCOTT PILLING staff Rodger Wilmot and the Freehold Township Patriots enjoyed another successful season on the baseball diamond this year, despite losing a number of key players from the previous season to graduation.

Under no circumstances was Frank Gualtieri going to accept mediocrity.

It would have been easy for the Freehold Township High School baseball coach to chalk up the 2005 season as a rebuilding one and accept the team taking a step back. After all, the Patriots lost all but one starter from the 2004 team that had won the Shore Conference A North Division public school championship and had advanced to the Central Jersey Group IV title game.

Despite the heavy loss to graduation however, Gualtieri would not lower expectations.

“If you expect little, that’s what you get,” he said. “I was not going to accept a losing season.”

With Gual-tieri and his staff pushing the Patriots hard from day one and not accepting excuses, they managed to squeeze everything they could out of the team and get them back in the state playoffs, where they played their best baseball of the year.

The lowest seeded team in Central Jersey Group IV (12), the Patriots were one inning away from making it to the semifinals. They opened play by stunning No. 4 seed East Brunswick, 4-1, as they pushed across four runs in the top of the seventh. Tom Porricelli’s RBI single tied the game, and Dan Buckiewicz delivered the game-winning RBI on a triple, and later scored in the four-run outburst.

In relief, Brett Brach (3-5) nailed down the victory. He pitched out of trouble in the fifth inning, entering the game with the bases loaded and one out. He kept the game at 1-0 with a strikeout and ground out, and then kept the Bears off the scoreboard in the sixth and seventh.

Fifth-seeded Sayreville had to rally twice before beating Freehold Township, 6-5, in 10 innings in the quarterfinals.

The Pats had a 3-0 lead in the sixth and a 5-3 lead in the top of the eighth, only to see the Bombers rally both times to tie the game. They won it in the 10th on a squeeze bunt.

Mike Hennessy swung the hot bat in the state tournament for Freehold Township. He was 2-for-3 in the win at East Brunswick and had an RBI single and RBI double against Sayreville, going 3-for-5.

“We played hard in the start in the tournament,” Gualtieri said. “I’m proud of them. They really gave their maximum effort. They wanted to win and that’s all you can ask for.”

The loss, though, did drive home the point of the team’s weakness throughout the roller-coaster season that ended at 13-13.

“One of the lessons we didn’t learn was you have to finish teams off,” he said. “You have to close teams out when you have them down. It was a hard lesson that they learned the hard way. The kids will use it as motivation next year.”

The Patriots have every reason to look forward to 2006 when they will have most of their starters returning, including three proven starters in Sean Stewart, Brach and Jason Elo.

Also back will be outfielder Damian Csakai, who was one of the team’s best players this year. His numbers — .415 batting average, 39 hits, 20 runs and 16 stolen bases — put him among the Shore Conference leaders.

Mike LaCava (.309 with 18 runs scored) and Shawn Boysen (the team’s RBI leader with 17) also had solid seasons for the Patriots and will be back.

But before turning the page on 2005, the Patriots got significant contributions from seniors Hennessy, Buckiewicz and Rob Ruhl.

Hennessy missed just about all of the ’04 season and came up with a big season behind the plate defensively, and contributed offensively, batting .365. He made only three errors defensively.

Buckiewicz was a jayvee player last spring, but through sheer will and hard work, not only made the varsity in ’05, but was the team’s Most Improved Player. The outfielder batted .322, slammed two home runs and had 18 runs scored and 15 RBIs.

Ruhl carried the team offensively early in the season and finished with a .273 average and 16 runs scored.

The biggest victory for the 2005 Freehold Township baseball team may not have been on the field, but in establishing that mantra — making the state playoffs and winning games are what is expected.