Raider freshman team the best in the GMC
Future looks bright for North Brunswick program
BY JENNIFER AMATO
Staff Writer

NORTH BRUNSWICK - Along with the bases being loaded, the township's high school freshman baseball team had its record loaded after completing one of its best seasons ever.

Defeating Edison in a 12-9, seventh-inning, come-from-behind win in May to place first out of 17 teams in the 2006 Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament, the freshmen compiled a 15-4 record with 555 at-bats, 209 runs, 205 hits, 38 doubles, 16 triples, five home runs and a team batting average of .371 this spring.

"They were very excited," coach John Wares said of the team's victory and conference title. "When the game was over they certainly mobbed each other on the field. They were all smiles."

And the smiles were well deserved. Wares said the boys were eager to practice every day, including three hours on Saturdays. They worked on their offensive skills indoors before making their way onto the field to practice their defense. They developed a solid pitching staff, handled routine plays effortlessly and built the strongest offense the coach has seen.

"This team definitely stood out from all of the teams I've coached," Wares said, who has eight years of experience in the township, coaching the Linwood team and the junior varsity high school team. "This was the most explosive offense I've ever had the pleasure of coaching. ... It was a very exciting team to watch. I think these are great boys we should keep an eye on."

Wares attributed their success to their previous experience playing for the township's recreational and travel teams, the efforts of their previous coaches and the continued parental support. However, the team was not completely seamless each game.

"I definitely did see growth from the beginning throughout the season as we progressed," the Linwood Middle School seventh-grade science teacher said. "I think we recognized the mistakes we made and adjusted them to make improvements."

Those improvements helped greatly as the team already had high expectations of themselves coming into the season, wanting to win the championship from the very beginning.

"It was quite nerve-wracking in a sense," Wares said of the final game. "It was back and forth, [so] they never felt defeated. I always believed as the game was going on that we had the game in control because we had a game plan."

However, Wares, who also helps coach Linwood's football team in the fall and wrestling team in the winter, believes there is a greater lesson to be learned than just winning a ball game.

"Building character is really important. One of the reasons you play sports is not necessarily to win a championship game. You have to build personal character and they built adult relationships amongst many of them. They came to practice every day, they never made excuses and they were dedicated. These can all be used later in life - the skills that were developed in the program," he said.

Although Wares hopes that his team members continue their success in future years, he will remain the freshman coach for next year's team.

"I think there's another talented group of boys coming up from Linwood. The programs within town are improving and are having a positive impact on the school programs. I understand there are some good ball players coming up through town to the freshman team," he said.

Players on this year's team were Brandon Baldini, Jake Baron, Doug Garback, Nick Genovese, Avi Goldstein, Justin Hoffman, Matt Kurtz, Dan Mangiapane, John Miller, Matt Primavera, Chris Rosenberg, Matt Stasik and Greg Ternlund.