Scorching Dragons Mercy Monmouth - Again - In 10-0 Win

As Memorial Day weekend begins, members of the Brick Dragons baseball team created a memory they won't soon forget.

Winners of now 15 straight, it was easy to say the Dragons have been hot over the month of May. However, in the last two games they took it to a whole new level.

Facing a hot Monmouth Regional team, the Dragons went to work outscoring the Falcons 24-4 combined, in the Shore Conference Tournament game on Wednesday and the State playoff game Friday afternoon.

"Not a chance," said Brick head coach Jason Groschel when asked if he thought the series would turn out this well. "They are a very good team, we have just been able to swing the bats well throughout the order and get two quality pitching performances."

Starting for the Dragons was Tim Carney. Carney pitched six scoreless innings, as the seventh was not needed after Dylan McDonnell crushed a home run ball to center field, to put the Dragons up 10-0 in the bottom of the sixth, invoking the 'mercy' rule. The senior struck out nine.

Heading into the game, all the talk was about Monmouth Regional southpaw Luke Cahill. Cahill pitched strong but the Dragons were able to hit him and put balls in play, aided a few times by errors. He left the game in the fifth inning trailing 5-0.

"Today definitely is a lot more impressive than Wednesday," said Groschel. "That kid is a stud of a pitcher. We knew we were going to have to jump on any mistake he was going to make."

The Dragons took a 1-0 lead in the first when Sean Henry's double brought home Bill Berg from first. Brick would go on to score during every inning.

Carrying the offense again was senior short stop Sean Henry. After going 4-for-4 Wednesday, the hustler went 3-or-4 with a home run, double, three runs batted in and two runs scored. Henry's dead center solo shot made the score 3-0 in the third, which followed the bottom of the second where Richard Zonin scored after hitting a double and Nick Vitale reached on an error.

To add to the lead in the third, junior John Kizzman hit a double down the right field line to score Dylan McDonnell, making the score 4-0.

A no doubter blast from Nick Vitale made the score 5-0 in the fourth. Sloppy play in the field along with a balk helped the Dragons establish a 7-0 lead after the bottom of the fifth.

The offense was not the only thing clicking yesterday afternoon for the Dragons.

With a runner on second in the top of the third inning, Carney fell behind with a hitter in the two hole with a 3-0 count. He fired back with three straight strikes that jolted the Dragons and gave them plenty of life.

In the top of the fourth, with runners on second and third with one out, Carney reeled back and blew right past the Falcons, striking out the next two batters swinging to end the inning.

If there is a secret for all the power in Brick's bats lately, Groschel has not been able to put his finger on it.

"Maybe its just the warm weather bringing out the best of the bats," said the coach. "We expect to score a lot of runs, I've said that since the beginning of the year."

Brick will be back in action next week, with another state playoff game on Tuesday.