Dragons Slug Their Way to Victory Over T.R. East

In recent weeks, the Brick Dragons' offense has been overshadowed by a string of dominant pitching performances. After Saturday's victory over Toms River East in the first round of the Ocean County Tournament, the Dragons' hitters shined in a 10-7 win.

Seniors Nick Vitale and Tim Carney provided plenty of offense, batting a combined 4-for-6, with two home runs each.

"They're our senior captains," said Brick head coach Jason Groschel. "They're three-year starters, they have high expectations of themselves and so do we."

Trailing 3-1 going into the bottom of the second, Brick would leave the inning with a four run lead.

Second baseman Victor Wilenta led off the inning with a home run. It was the second, inning opening home run for the Dragons as Nick Vitale led off the game with the first of his two homers. Brick then had a two out rally to tie the score before Tim Carney stepped into the batters box with the bases loaded.

"I wasn't trying to hit a home run there," said Carney. "I just wanted to put the ball in play. It's not all me, the guys in front of me did a great job of getting on base."

Needless to say, Carney's left center field grand slam was clearly the turning point of the day.

In the bottom of the fourth, the pair expanded on the lead, hitting two solo shots each, separated by a Bill Berg fly out, making the score 10-5.

"The bats have been playing the way we know we can lately," said Vitale.

Junior right Brandon Kieslor started on the mound for the Dragons. Though he didn't repeat the spectacular performance of his last start, he acquired the outs he needed to get, and put his team in a position to win.

In particular, Kieslor did a good job limiting the Raiders' damage.

"He focused in and bore down when he needed too," said Groschel. "He made some mistakes today, but when times got tough he got the outs we needed."

East chipped away at the lead, eventually cutting the score to 10-7, but could not muster enough off of Carney, who pitched the final two innings.

East jumped out to leads in the first two innings, but Brick responded swiftly each time, picking each other up.

"We never gave up," said Vitale, "I made a mistake on a throw and wanted to make up for it."

"We knew there was going to be a lot of game left to get it back" added Carney.

The absence of Cody Schnebel has provided extra motivation to the Dragons, the coach said. Schnebel was scheduled to start Saturday before getting hurt in Toms River on Friday.

"We wanted to win it for him," said Groschel. "He's 3-1 on the year for us; it's going to be tough to replace a great pitcher. But I told the guys at the beginning of the season this was the deepest team I have coached and it's starting to show."

With two divisional games left to play, if Brick wins out they will clinch at least a share of the 'B' South title. A Manchester loss in their game against Central Regional on Monday would give Brick a chance to win the division outright when Manchester rolls into town on Wednesday – that is, if Brick defeats Pinelands Regional on Monday.