On Tuesday, the Brick Memorial High School baseball team played their second game of the season against Wall High School’s baseball team at the Crimson Knights’ home field in Wall, New Jersey.
The game started at 3:45 p.m.
This was Wall’s first game back on the field for the season, and it did not go as planned.
However, this was Brick Memorial’s second game of the season as they played Christian Brothers Academy on Saturday morning and lost 9-4.
Following that game, the Mustangs came back and beat Wall with a vengeance, 8-1.
In this game, there was a lot of action on both sides.
The game opened in the first inning with Memorial’s Brody Moore stepping up to the plate first. The pitcher for Wall was John Catanio. Moore swung at the ball several times and made an out. Following Moore was Tyler Garbooshian. Garbooshian made contact but also ended up being out. It wasn’t until Dan Golembiewski stepped in that Brick got its first base hit, a single. Brayden Nalducci also singled, and following him was Joe McGlynn, who had another single.
At this point, the bases were loaded, and Memorial had finally scored, with Golembiewski making his way to home plate. Luke Douglas hit another fly ball but was caught, ending Memorial’s half of the inning.
For Memorial, Zack Pirnik was the starting pitcher. Offensively for Wall, the Knights were unable to cross home plate in their half of the first. Wall put the ball in play twice, but in each instance, the Mustangs were able to record the out.
The second inning was just as busy as the first. Mike Figner was the first to step up to the plate at the start of the inning. Figner took a few swings but struck out. Jaxon Figueroa followed him, who also ended up striking out in the second inning.
It wasn’t until Dan Popovitch stepped in and hit a double that the top of the lineup started again, with Moore coming back to the plate. Moore hit a fly ball into the outfield, but the ball was thrown in just in time, allowing both Moore and Popovitch to get out on bases.
Wall followed with another one of their players hitting a single, but they were thrown out at first base. Will Hague was then struck out. Following quickly was Austin Harr, who hit a fly ball into the outfield, but it was caught, and he was out, putting an end to the second inning.
The third inning was very long, and the Mustangs used their entire roster during this inning.
Garbooshian got a single, and Golembiewski was hit by a pitch and got to walk to first base. Nalducci also singled and got Garbooshian to run home. Putting the score at 2-0. McGlynn came back to the plate but ended up striking out.
Douglas also returned to the plate, but he made a small hit that allowed both Golembiewski and Nalducci to score, stretching Brick’s lead to 4-0.
Figner returned to the plate and, this time, hit a single. Douglas also came home, making the score 5-0. Figueroa also hit a single during this inning, followed by Popovitch and Moore, who also hit a single. At this point in the game, the bases were loaded.
Wall decided to change their pitcher from Catanio after Memorial made several runs. Garbooshian came back and made a single but ended up being out after it was caught in the outfield.
Wall stepped back in once again, but they did not last long. It was three outs, and the inning was over.
The fourth inning went by quickly. Golembiewski walked to first but was tagged out. Nalducci was also out after the ball went into the outfield, but was caught, and McGlynn was also out after the ball was caught in the outfield.
Once again, Wall did not produce much, with a Catanio walk being the only offense the Knights were able to muster in the inning.
The fifth inning involved several singles. Douglas, Figner, and Figueroa all hit singles, and the bases were loaded in no time. Another strikeout was made by Memorial, adding one for them on the board. Moore hit a sacrifice fly that allowed Douglas to come home, putting the score at 6-0 in favor of Brick.
Then, Garbooshian hit a single and allowed Figueroa to come home. The Mustangs were officially leading 7-0. Golembiewski hit a single and followed, and Nalducci struck out, putting an end to the fifth inning.
Wall came back to the plate. Harr attempted a single but was out at first. That was followed by several more outs.
The sixth inning was very quiet.
Memorial hit several singles, all done by Douglas, Figner, and Figueroa.
The only area that changed when Wall returned to the plate at the bottom of the inning was the Memorial pitcher.
They decided to remove Pirnik from the game and replace him with Brody Moore. Although they had several singles, they still could not make the score budge.
The last inning was the seventh for these two teams.
Moore struck out, Garbooshian smacked a double, and Golembiewski followed that with a double of his own, allowing Garbooshian to run home and put another score on the board for Memorial, putting the official score at 8-0. Nalducci stepped in and ended up getting out. The team then pinch-hit Evan Meyer for Figner, but he ended up getting out because his fly ball was caught in the outfield.
Wall was finally able to put something on the board after a strikeout. However, they got runners home and finally put the score at 8-1 to end the game after an out was made.
The final score was 8-1 from this game.
Brick’s head coach, Evan Rizzitello, shared his thoughts on the game.
“We wanted to bounce back from our first game. We lost to CBA on opening day, and we knew we had to come back and play a bit better and get this win.” Rizzitello said.
Rizzitello is looking forward to the rest of the season.
“We have a lot of confidence in our pitchers, so I think they showed that today. You know, just allowing the one unearned run, so we feel real good when they have those guys on the mound.” Rizzitello also added.
He also talked about his thoughts on the game and his pitching.
“I thought we put up a good performance out there. It was the first A South meet we lost to these guys last year, so it feels good to go back out there and get a win,” Pirnik said.
Brick Memorial and Wall High School will play again on Thursday at 3:45 p.m. at Brick Memorial’s home field, the Brick American Fields.
