By Jeff Appelblatt
As strong as the season has been for Freehold High School’s baseball team, the team from Christian Brothers Academy (CBA) has been a major obstacle for the Colonials.
The Colts beat them, 1-0, on opening day in a pitching duel between Freehold’s Dan Chiusano and CBA’s Nick Hohenstein, and the Colts beat them again, 5-1, a week later.
But as it’s been said so often, third time’s a charm, and that proved to be true for the Colonials May 7 in Lincroft when Freehold showed its Shore Conference nemesis how hot it’s been swinging the bats since the first two meetings of the teams.
That day in the Monmouth County Tournament (MCT) semifinals, Freehold worked its bats early and often. The Colonials scored three runs in the first inning and two more in the second. In case Chiusano faced any problems on the mound, his team stacked on five more runs for him en route to a 10-1 victory.
The senior standout, who will pitch at Kean University next year, didn’t need the outpouring of run support. He again gave up only one run to the Colts, who managed just four hits off him.
There’s been no way to cool off the bats of Freehold as of late, and no pitcher could possibly complain when he’s given a lot of runs to work with. It’s been a common show of late to watch Nick Aiello, Phil Marcantonio and Tom Holdorf knock in runs for the Colonials.
The trio started its day immediately when Aiello hit an RBI double in the first inning. Then Marcantonio quickly got his teammate around the bases with a two-run home run. Holdorf joined the scoring party in the second when he smacked a two-run double.
Freehold (13-5) and CBA (11-6) were actually slated to play a day earlier in the tournament’s semifinals, but projected rain postponed the game a day. The Colts may have thought too far ahead. A semifinal win would have meant they were playing for their fourth consecutive MCT title. Instead, it was Freehold playing in the championship game for the first time since 1990.
This year’s showcase was at FirstEnergy Park in Lakewood May 9 between the Colonials and Red Bank Catholic (RBC) High School.
RBC (12-6) defeated Colts Neck High School, Wall High School and Ocean Township High School to set up the meeting with Freehold. The Colonials, meanwhile, beat Manasquan High School and St. Rose High School before defeating CBA.
