The Marist High School baseball team won its second Ed “Faa” Ford Memorial Hudson County Baseball Tournament in the last three years last May, when the Royal Knights knocked off defending champion St. Peter’s Prep in the title game, sparked by a heroic home run by outfielder Tyler Cruz, the unlikeliest of heroes.
Well, the Royal Knights are back again in 2015 and despite losing two NCAA Division I products to graduation, veteran head coach Ron Hayward believes that his team could actually be better this year than last year.
“I’ve been doing this now for 10 years,” said Hayward, who guided Marist to a 24-7 record last year and the county title. “And it gets easier after a while. The kids just grow up and get ready to play.”
So even though the Knights lost Hudson Reporter Most Valuable Player Matt Littrell to graduation and subsequently Monmouth University and Josh Witherspoon to the University of South Florida, Hayward remains confident.
It’s not every day that a coach could lose two scholarship hurlers from his championship team and expect his team to actually be better.
“We did lose two heavy hitters, but we were actually prepared to lose Matt and Josh,” Hayward said. “No question last year, Matt was the man. Witherspoon really didn’t pitch that much for us. Losing them both was tough, but this team has basically been together for a long time. I really don’t think we’ve lost that much. I’m not concerned.
“In fact, I think this team is more talented than last year’s team,” Hayward said. “A lot of these kids have grown up together since they were freshmen. I think we’re stronger. I think we have more position players who have been around us for a while. Do we have the pitching we had last year? The answer is no, but we’re not without pitching by any means.”
Hayward is confident that junior right-hander A.J. Candelario will be able to carry the pitching load that opened up with the departure of Littrell and Witherspoon. Candelario earned Hudson Reporter All-Area honors last year as a utility player.
“He will definitely pitch in the big games,” Hayward said of Candelario, who won four games in each of the last two seasons. “He’ll face all the top teams we’re playing. He has a good fastball that peaks around 90-91 [miles per hour], but he’s consistently around 87-88. He has a good slider and a very good change-up. The slider is his out pitch.”
Candelario has already received a host of scholarship offers and he’s still only a junior.
Sophomore right-hander Nick Miller is another promising hurler for the Royal Knights. The imposing Miller, who stands about 6-foot-4, also throws hard and has a good curveball to match. Miller is going to be a player to watch all spring.
Junior Mike Christopoulos is another solid right-handed starter that Hayward can call upon when Christopoulos is not playing shortstop. Sophomores Jeffrey Pena and Thomas Petrosino round out the pitching rotation that is certainly deep. And in Hayward’s eyes, extremely talented.
“I don’t think there’s a problem with our pitching,” Hayward said. “They’ve all been here and all been part of the team. They’re all talented and have a ton of potential.”
Notice there is also not a senior among them.
The Royal Knights have two catchers to call upon, namely returning juniors Brandon Hanson and Kevin Reynoso, both of whom caught a great amount last season. The two will share the duties behind the plate again this spring.
“They’ll both play,” Hayward said. “One will catch and the other will play right field.”
Junior Jesse Matos will not share time with anyone at first base. The Hudson Reporter All-Area first sacker was perhaps the county’s best pure power hitter last season, batting .360 with 21 RBI.
“He’s a very good player,” Hayward said of Matos. “He’s the best hitter on the team. He’s a true power hitter.”
Petrosino returns at second base, where he batted .310 as a freshman last year. Christopoulos is the returning starter at shortstop. Christopoulos batted .340. It helps to have experience up the middle and the Royal Knights certainly have that.
The third baseman is senior Jordan Diaz, another power hitter, but the lone senior on the entire roster. So if the Royal Knights are going to cause havoc this spring, they’re bound to simply do it again in 2016, because the entire roster is packed with talented underclassmen.
Junior Jacob Hernandez, another player with a ton of potential, is another third baseman for the Royal Knights. When either Christopoulos or Petrosino pitches, the team needs another infielder and Hernandez can fill that bill.
The Royal Knights will use sophomore O’Neill Troche in left field, although Diaz can find his way to the outfield as well.
Junior Andrew Villaces is the Knights’ centerfielder, with the catching duo of Hansen and Reynoso sharing the duties in right field.
The only downside is that last year’s county title game hero Cruz has decided to leave Marist and will try to get an extra year of eligibility after recovering from an off-season injury while attending Bayonne.
There has been one slight obstacle that Marist has faced during the preseason in preparation for this Wednesday’s scheduled opener against St. Anthony.
It’s called Mother Nature. The Knights are not alone, as the recent snow pushed all of the area baseball and softball teams indoors for preseason workouts. Scrimmages, generally used to get a team ready for the season, have been scrapped as teams scraped away the ice and snow.
“We’ve only been outside twice,” Hayward said in the week prior to his season opener. “We have been staying in the gym.”
Even when the snow melted somewhat, the temperatures plunged into the 20s again. Winter simply just won’t go away – which has hampered all of the high school spring sports.
“We’re working on the basics in the gym, like rundown plays and going first [base] to third,” Hayward said. “We’re doing some hitting in the cage and the pitchers are soft tossing. But there’s only so much you can do indoors. It’s been really difficult to get ready.”
But when the dust clears – and the snow and ice for that matter – the Royal Knights will be royally ready for a third county crown in four years. Without a doubt, at the very least, they will be in the mix with teams like St. Peter’s Prep, Memorial, Bayonne and Hudson Catholic.
“That’s something you can’t change in the county,” Hayward said. “All the teams will be strong.”
And more than likely, the other teams will be chasing after Marist once again.
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com. You can also read Jim’s blog at www.jimhaguesports.blogspot.com.