Baseball – 2014 Preview: St. Rose

St. Rose Purple Roses

Head Coach: Mike Condon, third season
Record Last Year: 19-7 (14-0, first place in B Central)

Key Losses: Brad Currao (P/1B), Joey Delacruz (3B/P), Brendan Lynch (SS), Travis Petillo (OF), Alex Patrick (DH), Shayne Smith (1B/P), C.J. Pilot (OF)
Key Newcomers: Travis Cloney (Jr., P/SS), Pat Fullman (Jr., P/OF), Kyle McKeown (Sr., OF), Richard Joa (So., OF/P), J.P. Traynor (Fr., SS/P)

Team Outlook

Last season, the Purple Roses once again asserted their dominance in Class B Central by going unbeaten against divisional opponents en route to a second straight outright division title. Their 5-7 record against teams outside the division might seem below standard, but the Purple Roses schedule good competition and anything around .500 is pretty solid, especially when it’s accompanied by a perfect division record. St. Rose will look to again run the B Central table and make up some ground with the top teams in Monmouth County. The Roses will have a number of opportunities to do so too, with games scheduled against Wall, Red Bank Catholic, Christian Brothers Academy and Ocean before the Shore Conference Tournament cutoff and St. John Vianney just after it.

St. Rose should once again boast pitching depth that will be hard for other B Central teams to handle, but with that being said, it’s hard to imagine the Purple Roses getting better pitching than they did last year. While ace Brad Currao had only a 4-3 record, he also pitched against some of the best teams on St. Rose’s schedule and still struck out 43 in 43 innings while posting a 2.23 ERA. Currao and Joey Delacruz (2.67 ERA) have since moved on and the rotation will now be built around senior left-hander Jimmy Gowen. As a junior last year, Gowen grabbed hold of the third starter job by going 4-0 with a 2.17 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 29 innings. Heading into the season, Parker Haggerty and Jay Criscuolo are lined up behind Gowen in the rotation after pitching in spot duty last year.

St. Rose often struggled to score against some of the better teams on its schedule, despite the fact that it had one of the best offensive infielders in the conference. Second baseman Conor Gammond returns after hitting .471 with seven extra-base hits and 21 stolen bases and will anchor the lineup. Catcher Will King and outfielder Johnny Kussmaul also return as starters and St. Rose will count on an influx of young talent, including freshman shortstop J.P. Traynor and sophomore Richard Joa. The non-division schedule is awfully tough, but St. Rose will give itself a chance to win in the postseason by racking up the wins in B Central and toughening up against the likes of Wall, CBA and RBC.

Conor Gammond (SR) nice play to end the 5th from All Shore Media on Vimeo.