Colts Neck discovering its depth in summer ball
BY JEFF APPELBLATT
Correspondent

Coach Mike Yorke faced a difficult decision at the beginning of the American Legion baseball season.

There, on Colts Neck's roster, were the names Rusbarsky, Hayes and Salvati, three of the four recent graduates that helped the Cougars win their first Shore Conference Tournament title in school history.

Freehold Borough was one team Yorke saw bring its graduates into play, but Yorke couldn't do it. He already knew what A.J. Rusbarsky and Dom Hayes could do; he saw it for four years. And he realized the summer is more about seeing who will replace his former leaders.

"We're just trying to develop other guys for next season," he said. "We can learn what [different players] can and can't do.

"They also learn what to expect from [the coaches]," he added. "The summer is a much more relaxed, developmental thing."

It can definitely be said that the development of the players has gone better than expected for Yorke. Colts Neck, without its graduates, won 15 of 18 games and found itself in second place before the New Jersey State Tournament started Saturday.

Pitching has been a big part of the team's success, as it had been during the spring. Anthony DeSclafani and Ethan Jackson will be seniors in the fall, so Yorke can still use the remarkable duo, and he has. They've pitched two innings. Combined.

That's right; Colts Neck won 83 percent of its first 18 games without the likes of DeSclafani, Jackson, Rusbarsky, Hayes, Salvati - the core of its championship team.

And Yorke doesn't need to worry about the arm of his ace getting rusty. DeSclafani has spent the summer pitching in the Cape Cod High School Classic, where he has had the opportunity to pitch in ballparks such as Yankee Stadium.

The top two prospects to follow behind DeSclafani and Jackson in the rotation are Ken Potis and Chris Coutros, who will both be seniors in the fall. But Yorke isn't ready to set a definite rotation. Not yet.

Of course it seems unimaginable that the dominant DeSclafani could ever lose his starting spot, but Yorke doesn't want to leave out oncoming senior Tom Goldberg or Chris Leroy, who will be a junior, out of rotation talk.

"All of them are going to get innings next year," Yorke said about his list of superb pitchers. "But when you have [DeSclafani and Jackson], you know those two are going to get a lot of innings. Those other guys will have to fight it out."

It takes more than pitching to win games, and Yorke has liked what he's seen backing up his pitchers both on the defense and offense.

"Kids have stepped up," Yorke said. "Great defense, big hits, we just feel really good.

"We're going to have kids who could play on the varsity [team], but will have to play on the jayvee," he added, speaking about the depth of his lineup.

Yorke has learned a lot about his players this summer. And that includes their versatility.

"We played one game, we treated it like a fun game," he said, referring to using his players in various, unfamiliar positions in the field. "We already knew where we were going to be in the sectionals, and [the players] did very well.

"The kids we thought could only do one thing, could do two or three more things," he added.

A question that has also been looming since the end of the 2007 season is who will replace the leadership of last year's seniors, primarily four-year starters Rusbarsky and Hayes?

"We're going to miss the leadership of last year's seniors," Yorke responded. "But we're going to have 10 guys taking over the spot. We're going to be senior-heavy."

Some coaches could feel a lot of pressure trying to decide on a lineup where there is so much talent offered, but Yorke is ready for the challenge.

"The pressure for me is trying to put the right pieces of the puzzle together," he said. "It's always about piecing the puzzle. We know we have the ingredients to put something special together."