Baseball – 2014 Preview: Central

Central Golden Eagles

Head Coach: John Scran, seventh season
Record Last Year: 14-11 (8-6, tied for second in B South)

Key Losses: Troy Sigrist (1B), Mike Puglisi (2B), Tom Clark (OF), Eddie Corrigan (SS/P), Josh DellaPietro (3B/P)
Key Newcomers: Javon Hardy (Sr., OF), Dan Viscel (Sr., INF), Joe Firetto (Jr., INF), John Forrester (Jr., 1B), Sean Van Lew (Jr., 1B), Matt Ernhardt (Jr., 2B), Ryan Paul (So., P)

Team Outlook

Jackson Liberty may have an edge in pitching depth, but no team in the Shore Conference has a better top-of-the-rotation than Central does. Right-hander and University of Alabama recruit Andrew DiPiazza was spectacular during his breakout junior season in 2013, striking out 106 would-be hitters in 66 innings while pitching to a 0.85 ERA in winning the All Shore Media Pitcher of the Year. He opened his junior campaign with a 16-strikeout no-hitter and was only slightly more hittable for the rest of the year (24 hits allowed). The Golden Eagles have a competitive roster and it becomes, quite possibly, the best team in the Shore Conference on days that DiPiazza pitches.

Beyond the staff ace, the rest of the pitching staff is inexperienced, but what this group lacks in innings, it makes up for in promise. Leading the up-and-coming pitchers is junior right-hander Jake Dominguez, who pitched only 4 2/3 innings last year, but struck out 10 of the 14 batters he retired. Senior Rich Gelati pitched a solid 17 innings as well and junior Anthony Arneth and seniors Christian Beardon and Marquis Drumright also give coach John Scran some options on the mound. It’s a good mix of players with experience from last year’s South Jersey Group III tournament run, the Golden Eagles’ fourth straight trip to a sectional semifinal.

Central loses a fair amount of offensive talent to graduation, but DiPiazza was a big contributor at the plate and Drumright, Beardon, Galati and junior Frank Rose all came on for the Golden Eagles last year as they now prepare to play full time. The most important position on the field other than the pitcher is the catcher and Central returns a solid one in senior Kenny Beyrouty. The senior backstop will help the younger pitchers get through the early part of the season and also keep teams from running on them. Even with some relative unknowns behind DiPiazza in the rotation, Central is plenty good enough to compete with any team in the division, regardless of who is pitching.

Andrew DiPiazza (C) strikeout with the heater from All Shore Media on Vimeo.