Brett Carroll
Staff Writer
The simple message is one that the baseball players absorb at Red Bank Regional High School.
“We tell them that our saying for the year is ‘1-0,'” Red Bank coach Nick Tucker said. “We tell them to just keep it day-by-day. Today was a good day, but tomorrow, let’s go out and have a better day of practice. We don’t look back. We don’t look ahead. You keep trying to do better everyday.”
Michael Eulner, a senior pitcher, agreed with the philosophy.
“I think it’s important to look at it one day at a time,” Eulner said. “We don’t want to look too far ahead. We do want to win, and that’s the best way to do that.”
The strategy seemed to work on April 18 when the Bucs defeated Saint John Vianney High School, 11-2, at Red Bank.
That decision lifted Red Bank’s record to 4-3.
Tucker was particularly pleased with his offense.
“We really hit the ball well today,” Tucker said. “We took a concerted effort on Monday, because we had been struggling, to get back to basics and our approach. We hit the ball well yesterday, even though we didn’t get the numbers we wanted, but came back out and hit the ball well again today. The kids did a great job of working hard and getting back to basics.”
Eulner praised how he and his teammates came together.
“I think as a team, we all worked well together,” Eulner said. “In the field. At the plate. It all came together as one unit instead of as three separate ones.”
Despite the victory against Saint John Vianney, Tucker still wants to see his team cut down on mistakes.
“We’re young,” Tucker said. “We’re still very young, and we make a lot of mistakes. Some base running mistakes and some small things here and there that we have to clean up. Not every game is going to be like this. In tight games, those little mistakes add up. But these are a great group of kids, and they keep working on it everyday which is all I can ask for.”
“I think we need to be more consistent at the plate,” Eulner said. “Instead of scoring one run one game, then 11 runs the next, we need to score a lot every single day.”
Tucker thinks his pitching rotation has been the strength this spring.
“Our whole pitching staff has been pitching really well this year,” Tucker said. “Max Stamer has been throwing really well for us. [Junior] Jack Povey has been throwing well for us. Our third baseman, [junior] Colin Chatto has been hitting the ball really well. The whole group has been picking each other up. They take turns with timely hitting. This is a great group of guys, and I’m really proud of them.”
The Bucs will have another chance to continue its hot hitting on April 26 when they travel to Raritan High School. The game will start in Hazlet at 4 p.m.
