By Tim Morris
Rich Gawlak has put together a Freehold Clipper team that is a serious title contender in the Atlantic Baseball Confederation Collegiate League (ABCCL).
Heading into the ABCCL All-Star Game played at FirstEnergy Park in Lakewood July 14, the Clippers were sailing along in first place with an 18-3-1 record. They are three games ahead of the Monmouth Monarchs (17-6-1) in the loss column starting the home stretch of the season.
The goal of the ABCCL, which is now in its 17th year, has been to provide a summer league alternative for college baseball players closer to home than the Cape Cod League in Massachusetts and other leagues throughout the country.
But the league also strives to provide players with quality competition and, as a result, is drawing players from top NCAA Division I and junior college programs around the country, including California and Texas.
Gawlak, who has been the general manager and manager of the Clippers for the last five years, remarked that the league has done just that and is getting players from throughout the country — not just the Central Jersey area.
“It’s gained more popularity each year,” Gawlak said. “Now we’re getting players from high-end [Division I] programs.”
Major league scouts show up at league games. One of the league’s alumni is Baltimore Orioles pitcher Brad Brach from Freehold Township High School, who made the American League All-Star Team this year.
As the general manager, Gawlak has put together an outstanding team. For him and the other general managers in the league, it all started last September after the 2015 season was over. He said that he started contacting college coaches that month to find out what players would be interested in playing in the league. In March of this year, the league held a draft. Gawlak kept the majority of his players from the previous season, including the league Most Valuable Player, center fielder Jason Lundy (Freehold High School/Fordham University).
If there is a modus operandi for manager Gawlak, it is playing aggressive. Last year, his club led the league in stolen bases with 130. It’s proved to be a winning formula. The Clippers have improved every year from a team that was winning between 12 to 15 games to one that is in first place and looking like a title contender.
Although they are below last years’ stolen bases total with 41 swipes to date, Gawlak pointed out that the team is still very aggressive running the bases, putting pressure on defenses. It has worked, as the Clippers average more than six runs a game despite having just three home runs and three triples in the first 22 games.
Helping offenses out is the makeup of the lineup. The ABCCL now only has a designated hitter and an extra hitter, making the lineups 10 deep.
“It does get tough for the pitchers,” Gawlak said. “The lineups get deeper.”
Gawlak makes sure that the summer is productive for all the Clippers.
“Everybody gets their time,” the manager said, noting that everyone gets at least two at-bats a game.
Because of the added hitter to a team’s lineup, Gawlak had loaded his club up with pitchers.
“I try and stack up on arms,” he said. “I have 13 players who are strictly pitchers.”
The Clippers have outscored their opponents by more than a 2-to-1 margin, scoring 137 runs while allowing just 61. Freehold pitchers have a cumulative ERA of just 2.61.
Dan Maguire (Ocean/Keystone College) and P.J. Strahm (Milltown/Bucknell University) are both 4-0 and Mike Ramirez (Old Bridge/New Jersey City University) and Connor Lindsay (Allentown/Montclair State University) are both 2-0 on the staff that is averaging fewer than three runs per game allowed.
The team has seven saves, led by Pat McCarthy (Allentown/The College of New Jersey) and Jake McGowan (Tenafly/Pamona-Pitzer College) with two saves each.
As a staff, the Clippers are averaging almost a strikeout an inning with 173 in 176 innings. Dominick Fazio (Haworth/Rutgers University-Newark) is the top flamethrower with 31 strikeouts in 19 innings.
The Clippers offense is very balanced, with six players in double figures in RBIs. They are led by John Baturgil (Colts Neck/Chestnut Hill College) with 15. Lundy and Nick Ruscingno (Teaneck/New Jersey City University) have 13. Ruscingno is tops in runs scored with 20.
Tom McCarthy (Allentown/The College of New Jersey) is batting .354, Steve Edelstein (Staten Island, New York/Stockton University) is at .350 and Ruscingno has a .349 average.
Ruscingno (22), Edelstein (21) and Lundy (21) are the leaders in base hits.
The Clippers play their home games at Michael Tighe Park in Freehold Township. The team is on the road this week playing the Monmouth Monarchs in a doubleheader at St. John Vianney High School in Holmdel July 24 in a series that could decide the regular-season championship. The Clippers have a single game against Intensity Baseball (5-13-1) at the John Patrick Sports Complex in Lakewood at 7 p.m. July 26.
Freehold plays its final regular-season game at home against Intensity Baseball July 28 at 5:30 p.m.
The playoffs are best-of-three series starting July 30 for the Clippers. The Jerry Ellis Cup Championship Series starts Aug. 6.
