Bob Cooney: Gloucester Catholic's Bruno gives coach a memorable home run
GLOUCESTER CATHOLIC coach Dennis Barth will always remember Monday's 13-0 win over Kingsway. Not because it was his 400th, but because of the blast Rams shortstop Steve Bruno hit.
"I'm not a big milestone guy, to tell you the truth," said Bart, whose team is 17-5 and readying for the opening of the South Jersey Non-Public Group A playoffs that begin Tuesday when the No. 5 Rams travel to No. 4 St. John Vianney. "I will always remember that game because Steve hit one that went over the church across the street from our field. It probably went about 450 feet. There has only been a few to do that. Tom Heinkel [from Bishop Eustace in the mid 1980s] was one, and there's only been a couple of others. Man, that was a shot."
And man, 400 is quite an accomplishment. Barth, now in his 16th season at the helm of the Rams, obviously has had wildly successful seasons, averaging 25 wins a year. Although this year's record doesn't compare to previous dominating seasons, Barth is happy with the progression of his young club.
"I remember the first year I became the head coach and I thought we had to go undefeated," Barth recalled. "We went 29-1 and I realized that I couldn't drive myself crazy about stuff like that.
"We are a very good baseball program, one that will play anybody. If that means we take some losses, so be it. If it will help us be ready for tournament time, then that's what it's all about."
This year is no different. There have been four meetings with powerful Bishop Eustace, which included a win, and a win over highly touted Malvern Prep. Success is expected from the Rams and Barth, as he is the son of the legendary Joe Barth Sr., longtime manager of the powerful Brooklawn American Legion team.
"Vacation for my family when I was growing up was going to the American Legion World Series," Barth said, laughing. "I still love coaching, I love the kids and I love the baseball. I'm 47 years old, I have some gray coming in, but I'm not planning on going anywhere soon."
Good news for the Rams.
Plan ahead
If you are planning to attend today's Haddonfield-Audubon Group 2 quarterfinal game, you better get there early. Few teams in the state have as strong a following as Audubon. A home game is literally a town event, and with this one being played in the next town over, on a gorgeous day, you can expect to see plenty of support for the ninth-seeded Green Wave.
Top-seeded Haddonfield is no slouch when it comes to drawing fans to its home field at the Radnor Avenue complex.
A game like this is what high school baseball is all about. Players playing against friends, in front of what should be a ton of people and, to cap it all off, a playoff game. Does it get any better than that?
Audubon coach Rich Horan was mum on who his pitcher would be, saying only that it might be one of two freshmen lefthanders in Andrew Schorr and Kevin Kraemer, or maybe Tom Dyer.
Translation: We'll find out when the game starts.
"Coach emphasized that if we got through Barnegat [in a first-round game], that this game would be a great experience," Dyer said. "It's great having a playoff game against a team in your [Colonial] conference, against a town that's right next to yours. This game is about bragging rights for both schools. It's all about the pride."
What it's all about
During a recent lopsided loss to Williamstown, Gloucester High was the perfect example of how the game should be played. Although down by many early, the Lions kept their heads up, listened intently to coach Kevin Fahy, and never allowed anyone to know they were in the midst of suffering a 19-3 loss.
"We are a very young team and it's hard for a small school like us to compete against the really big schools, like Williamstown," Fahy said. "But you have to take something out of every game you play."
His players were doing that, despite the unbalanced score.
"I have all the respect in the world for Kevin Fahy and his program," Williamstown coach Jim Ambrosius said. "Let's face it, our school is getting bigger and bigger with all the new developments popping up, so we have a ton of kids to draw from. We're a typical Group 4 school. They are a Group 1 school with not many kids. But they play very solid baseball and will be tough to beat in Group 1."
Seventh-seeded Gloucester will play at No. 2 Gateway today in a first-round game. *
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