LINCROFT – After absorbing a difficult loss just the day before in the Shore Conference Tournament Round of 16, Middletown South turned to their ace on Wednesday in the final of the Monmouth County Tournament championship game at Brookdale Community College – and he didn't disappoint.
"Oh yea, 100 percent," said Middletown South starting pitcher Ben Schild when asked if he had a little more motivation after Tuesday's loss. "I have motivation every single time I take the mound to go out there and win the game, but I knew my team really needed a bounce-back win today. I knew I needed to go out there and shut them down, and I'm happy I was able to do that for the most part.
"Losing that Shore Conference Tournament game beat us down but we absolutely bounced back today and played a great baseball game."
You have two choices when a team loses a crucial game like the Eagles did Tuesday. You can hang your head and pout, or get up, put your best foot forward and show what you're made of – the Eagles choose the latter.
"I really do believe in my guys and really like being around them and they responded," said Middletown South head coach Chris LeMore. "To be honest it really hurt a lot (Tuesday's loss) because we had aspirations to do well in the Shore Conference Tournament and it kind of backfired on us. It's a tough pill to swallow, but it's a good wakeup call for us. Moving forward I'm just really happy for the guys an what they accomplished today."
Plagued with uncharacteristic control issues throughout the game, Schild, a University of Connecticut commit, battled like the warrior he is and willed his team to an 11-1 victory over Wall for the Middletown South's first Monmouth County Tournament title since 2011 and fifth title overall. The all-state hurler was just six years old.
"I realized I didn't have my best stuff," said Schild, who allowed just one unearned run on five hits and three walks with 11 strikeouts while throwing 111 pitches in 5 2/3 innings. "I tried to make some adjustments but I was battling the whole way through and just trying to compete. I really wasn't thinking about anything but winning the game."
Schild pushed his career record to 13-0, including posting a 5-0 record this season with an ERA hovering somewhere around 1.00.
Wall (16-4) – ranked fifth in the Shore - came into the game as one of the hottest teams in the Shore, winning their previous nine games and 15 of their last 16 games and boasting a top-of-the-lineup that rivals none in the Shore. Their top four hitters have a combined .367 batting average, eight homers and 67 RBI.
"I knew their first five guys were their best guys," said Schild about the Wall's top of the lineup. "So I tried to, not pitch around them, but tried to be more pinpoint with my location. At the same time, I also wanted to give them my best stuff and try to go right at them."
Schild got all the run support he needed as Middletown South scored at least one run in every inning and pounded out 11 hits, including two monster home runs by first baseman Joe Stanzione.
"It was massive," Schild said of his team's run support. "Every single game I go out there I have the confidence that my team will get me the runs I need. Right away, the first two innings we get two runs and it kind of makes me more comfortable and that's when I sort of got in a better groove. I trust this team to score and after yesterday, I'm very happy we put the runs up on the board early."
Stanzione led off the bottom of the third with a blast that easily cleared the fence in dead centerfield to push the score to 3-0. An inning later, he raked one way over the left-field fence to give the Eagles a commanding 6-0 lead.
"The thing about Joe is he continues to work harder each day," said LeMore. "He's really honing into his swing and dialing in on the baseball. I'm really proud of him."
"I'm just trying to get up there and help my team in any possible and just get the win," said Stanzione, who now leads the Shore Conference with 12 home runs. "
Schild is in awe at what Stanzione can do with his bat.
"He's ridiculous," Schild gushed. "He just seems to make solid contact on every at bat. If he misses a pitch, he just misses it. When he hits it, it goes very, very far."
The respect goes both ways regarding Stanzone's view of Schild.
"Even when he's not at his best, it's still better than the other team's best," said Stanzione. "He is really a special arm and special talent. Even when he's off, he's a special talent."
Stanzione, a bridge-year player taking classes at Brookdale, is eligible to play an additional season of high school baseball because of the year he lost to COVID-19 in 2020. He and his team have significantly benefited from him in the lineup this season.
"It's been good, I was able to get recruited from that standpoint so I really needed the year to help me out," said Stanzione, who is committed to Gardner-Webb University. "And I get to play another year with my best friends from my hometown so it's great.
"After losing (in the SCT), we stayed after and said, 'We have to pick it up,'" added Stanzione. "We came in here today wanting to mercy rule them and we were able to do that."
The slugging righty is now within two home runs of the Shore Conference single-season record of 14 set by Jackson Memorial's Mark Fink in 1994. He is also within six of the state single-season record of 18 set by Los Angeles Angles' star Mike Trout of Millville in 2009 and Ashton Bardzell of Ramsey in 2014.
"No, not really, it's in the back of my mind of course but I really don't think about it," said Stanzione when asked if he thinks of breaking the record. "It's all about the wins."
With its regular season completed, the Eagles hope to add a few games to their schedule to keep the rust off and stay sharp until the state playoff begins on June 1. If they can do that and then make another long state playoff run, Stanzione – as hot as he is – would seem to have a legitimate shot of breaking both records.
The Eagles (17-8), ranked No. 2 in the Shore, are the NJSIAA Group IV defending champions.
Schild helped out his cause in the bottom of the first inning, drilling a line-drive RBI double into the left-centerfield gap, plating Stanzione, who had dropped a single into shallow centerfield, to give the Middletown South an early 1-0 lead.
In the second, sophomore centerfielder Louis D'Alessio walked, stole second, and was brought home on Will Christopher's RBI double off the left-centerfield wall for a 2-0 advantage. Stanzione's dinger made it 3-0 in the third before walks to Schild and D'Alessio led to an RBI groundout by Rob Cangelosi and an RBI single by Joe Bartos pushed the lead to 5-0.
Middletown South tacked on solo runs in the fourth and fifth on Stanzione's second round-tripper in the fourth and a Ryan St. Clair sacrifice fly in the fifth for a 7-1 lead before walking off with a mercy-rule win in the bottom of the sixth, scoring four runs.
With one out in the bottom of the sixth, freshman left fielder Brendan Silva lined a single into center before Steve Boguszewski drilled an RBI triple to make it 8-1. Cangelosi brought Boguszewski home with a single up the middle, and after a walk to Bartos and a double steal, senior Evan Wood raked a line drive to the right-center gap for a walk-off 11-1 win.
Schild reached his pitch limit with two outs in the top of the sixth and Wood came in to close out the inning by inducing a groundout to Silva at short, who made the unassisted out at second.
"I'm just really proud of this team, they really responded well after Tuesday's loss," said LeMore. "They came out and banged the baseball and did a great job. Responding like they did is the big thing moving forward."
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