Eagles Win with Big Offensive Day

Another huge offensive outburst by the Middletown South Eagles gave them a 19-9 victory in an A-North matchup against the 7-2 Manalapan Braves.

The Eagles put up a run in the second, two more in the third, and another one in the fourth to take a four run lead.

When South came up in the top of the fifth, they were ready to try and blow the game open. They added six runs on two homeruns by sophomore Mike Farrell, and senior Mike Guarnieri. It was Farrell’s fourth homerun of the year, leading the Shore Conference.

Manalapan would not let the Eagles mercy them on their home field though, scoring five runs in the bottom of the fifth and knocking senior starter Pat Magnotta out of the game.

Magnotta pitched a solid game to pick up the win, going four and two thirds, surrendering five earned on seven hits and striking out seven.

Middletown South came back with seven more runs in the top of the sixth, but the Braves were determined not to be mercied, scoring four in the sixth.

Senior Will Schnoor, who came on to relieve Magnotta, rebounded well from a rough outing against Marlboro his last time out. Pitching two and a third, he allowed three earned runs on three hits and had three strikeouts.

The Eagles finished off their offensive explosion with two in the top of the seventh, and Schnoor shut down Manalapan in the bottom half to send the Eagles home with their second win of the year.

South got production throughout the lineup versus the Braves with junior leadoff man Jack Provine going 5-6 with four runs batted in. Junior Eric Dunn, hitting second drove in three while going 3-5 and junior Jay Levy supplied some offense from the bottom half of the lineup with a 4-5 day at the plate.
Middletown South will look to use this week to improve their 2-8 record with five games in the next five days.

Junior Varsity
The JV Eagles overcame a seven run deficit to prevent their second straight loss and improve their record to 6-3. Ryan Johnston had solid start, as South was winning when he left the game. But the Braves scored 8 runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 12-5 lead. That's when the Eagles started their comeback. The bases were loaded with no one out when Eric Hogan walked to the plate and brought South back into the game with one swing of the bat. A grand slam to left center field brought the Eagles to within 3. Down by three in the seventh, key hits by Craig Sweeney, David George, Kevin Slavin, and Tyler Cottrell contributed to South putting up a seven spot and taking a 16-12 advantage. Tim Ens picked up the win with three innings of shutout ball in relief.