Baseball – Stafflinger, Offense Come Up Big For Streaking Manalapan vs. No. 5 Marlboro

MANALAPAN – Manalapan junior right-hander Tyler Stafflinger calls his experience this season “surreal,” and while he might just be happy to be contributing to one of the Shore Conference’s hottest teams, it’s probably not as glad as his coaches and teammates are that he has seized his opportunity.

Stafflinger tossed six shutout innings for his third win of the season and the Braves' offense continued its recent roll as Manalapan beat Marlboro – No. 5 in the latest Shore Sports Network Top 10 – 6-0 Thursday for its ninth win in 10 games.

Since taking a hard-luck loss in a 2-1 loss to Marlboro on April 11, Stafflinger has won three straight starts against Middletown North, Howell in the Monmouth County Tournament round of 16 on Saturday and Thursday’s start against the Mustangs. His latest outing was his most effective yet – he allowed only five hits and two walks over his six scoreless innings and 91 pitches.

“It actually seems surreal to be up contributing on varsity at this point, but I’m glad it’s worked out the way it has,” Stafflinger said. “We have a bunch of good pitchers who can all do the job on any given day, and I’m just grateful to have had the opportunity to show what I can do and for the team to show confidence in me to give us a chance to win.”

In each of the first three innings, Stafflinger worked around at least one baserunner before retiring the side in order for the first time in the fourth. He faced Marlboro’s most pressing threat in the fifth when the Mustangs put runners on second and third with one out. Stafflinger reached back and struck out leadoff hitter Will Trochiano for one of his three strikeouts before retiring catcher Gene Napolitano on a ground out to third to end the inning.

Marlboro again put the first two batters of the inning on in the third and had runners on the corners with one out against Stafflinger. The Braves right-hander responded by picking off the runner at first for the second out and striking out the final batter he faced to end the inning.

“I was able to locate my fastball when I needed to and my changeup was really working today, probably better than it has all year,” Stafflinger said.

The two stranded runners by Stafflinger in the fifth protected a 3-0 Manalapan lead that the Braves built thanks to the bottom of their batting order. Junior left fielder and No. 7 hitter Matt Rosenberg laced a single to the opposite field in the bottom of the second and it got past Marlboro left-fielder Matt Discuillo to allow senior Ryan McGrane to score from first with the game’s first run and allowed Rosenberg to advance to second.

Senior third baseman Nick Surhoff and junior left fielder Mike Mollica dropped down bunts on consecutive at-bats to push Rosenberg across, with Mollica reaching and advancing to second on a throwing error.

“We spent a lot of practice (Wednesday) on situational offense because we know it’s going to come into play,” Manalapan coach Brian Boyce said. “We’ve been telling our guys that we’re going to run into some good pitching, and we can’t always expect to be able to get 12 or 13 hits. We’re going to have to get them when it counts and be ready for those situations when they do come up.”

Mollica drove in a run in each of his three trips to the plate, including an RBI double over the head of Mustangs center fielder Mike Santaromita that chased home Surhoff in the fourth to make it 3-0. Mollica attempted to stretch the hit into a triple with one out, but Santaromita quickly got the ball to Trochiano, who made a perfect throw to third baseman Steve Santigate to get a sliding Mollica.

“I thought (Santaromita) might catch it at first and as I was rounding first, I saw the ball go over his head,” Mollica said. “I was running hard and I heard coach (Boyce) yelling to go for three. I guess it was a good relay. I was glad to at least get the run in.”

McGrane, Rosenberg, Surhoff and Mollica combined to go 7-for-9 with a double, two runs scored and four RBI out of the final four spots in the lineup. Surhoff and Mollica each went 2-for-2, with Surhoff scoring two runs and stealing a base while Mollica drove in three. McGrane finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored.

“One of the reasons we’ve been able to score runs is because we’ve gotten contributions from a lot of different guys,” Boyce said. “Rosenberg has hit the ball hard the last few games, Surhoff has had some at-bats lately and come up with some big hits and Mollica has been great all year at the plate.”

Junior center fielder Stephen Hansen singled, stole second, moved to third on a ground out and scored on an RBI single through a drawn-in infield by junior first baseman Jake Sadowitz to stretch Manalapan’s lead to 4-0.

McGrane led off the sixth with a single and scored on an RBI single by Surhoff, a lined shot that whizzed past the head of Marlboro starter Steve Epstein and would ultimately chase the Mustangs senior right-hander from the game. Mollica capped the scoring with an RBI single to score Surhoff, who had advanced to second on the throw to the plate on his RBI single.

Senior Nick Marotta finished off the game on the mound for Manalapan by tossing a scoreless seventh.

Manalapan leads all Shore Conference teams in total runs scored this season with 136. During their five-game winning streak, the Braves have scored eight runs per game.

“The things that hindered us early in the year, we’re executing now,” Sadowitz said of his team, which was 4-4 after a three-game losing streak in early-to-mid April. “We weren’t getting runners in, we were making mistakes in the field in key moments, and it just seemed like when the game was tight, things wouldn’t go our way. We knew we were close, we just had to keep working to get better and good things would happen.”

While Marlboro was the Class A North division’s hottest public school team during the first turn through the schedule, Middletown South and Manalapan have made a recent push toward the top of the standings. Middletown South has won 11 of its last 12 after an 0-4 start, which includes a win over Manalapan. The Eagles are now a game behind first-place Christian Brothers Academy while the Braves remain two back of the Colts, whom Manalapan beat 11-9 on Monday.

“We have a lot of momentum going for us right now,” Sadowitz said. “Every game is a big game from here on out and that momentum is big if you can get it going, especially in our division.”

Box Score

Manalapan 6, Marlboro 0

2B: Finn
Outfield Assist: Santaromita
Picked Off: Santaromita, Discuillo

2B: Mollica
SAC: Surhoff, Mollica, Nelson
SB: Sadowitz, Surhoff, Hansen
CS: Rodriguez, Blumenberg

Pitches-Strikes: Epstein 86-55, Bello 7-4, Stafflinger 91-60, Marotta 12-9
Groundouts-Flyouts: Epstein 7-2, Bello 1-1, Stafflinger 5-5, Marotta 1-1