Former Ewing High School baseball assistant coaches Dave Griffiths and Tom Patterson unveil the memorial plaque on May 12, 2015 that was dedicated to Andy Greener, the longtime Ewing coach who died on May 6. (Staff photo by Samantha Sciarrotta.)
Short stop Mike Salvatore helped lead the Blue Devils this season with a .386 batting average and nine stolen bases. (Staff photo by Samantha Sciarrotta.)
For the Ewing High School baseball team, it was all about change at the start of the 2015 season.
Former EHS standout and University of Delaware alum Dave Angebranndt took over as head coach after Kip Harrison vacated the position he held for nine years, and the team Angebranndt inherited was fresh off of an 8-12 2014.
Ten players, including ace Paul Sparano, graduated, and the coach wanted the remaining team members to start playing for each other rather than chasing individual stats and playing for themselves. That, he said, would be the key to a winning season.
And it’s worked so far.
“Personal goals really aren’t what’s going to set you apart from anybody else,” he said. “It’s more about what you can do on the field to help the team win. The biggest thing that I tried to say to them was, ‘Don’t play for me. Don’t play for you parents. Play for each other.’”
By mid-May, the Blue Devils were 11-8, and they started the season with an undefeated run, losing their first game six contests in to Hamilton West, 3-1.The streak included wins over Robbinsville and Hopewell.
The team dedicated its season to Andy Greener, the longtime Ewing baseball coach who passed away in the fall. The school also unveiled a monument to Greener at the field, which bears his name, on May 12.
The squad had a tough final third of the season, losing to West again in the Mercer County Tournament quarterfinals, followed by three straight losses to Hopewell, Allentown, and Notre Dame. With the state tournament approaching, though, Angebranndt said he knows the team can bounce back.
They did it earlier in the season following a 10-4 loss to Lawrence on Apr. 27. Ewing won the next day over West Windsor South and lost to Robbinsville the day after that, but the squad followed the loss to the Ravens with three straight victories. Angebranndt called that stretch the highlight of the season, starting with the win over South—after a game of “flat” play, Ewing came out the next day and turned it around.
“I think that the South win, even though it was in between two losses, that was a key point in the season,” he said. “To have the guys understand this is how they can play, and if they do play this way, you’re going to have success.”
Angebranndt said Mike Salvatore has led the way in that regard for the Blue Devils this season. The Saint John’s-bound senior leads the team with a .386 average, notching nine stolen bases along the way.
“Having him at short, a guy who’s fundamentally sound, I’d put him up against anybody in the league, anybody in the state as a shotstop,” he said. “Offensively, he has pop. He runs well. He’s a definite leader.”
Pitching and defense, though, are what propelled Ewing to a double-digit win total. Sophomore pitcher Jimmy Sparano has just one earned run in 17 innings, while classmate Stephen DeBoskey leads the team with 25 strikeouts.
“When you have two guys who are sophomores come out and pitch like they’re seniors, it’s key,” Angebranndt said. “To have two guys come out and you know you’re going to get quality outings from both of them, it’s definitely important, especially coming down to this part of the season.”
But Sparano said the pitching staff’s success is due to a sound, solid defense.
“From my perspective, being a pitcher, I’m comfortable out there because I have a good team behind me to make the plays,” he said. “You almost want them to hit it because you know your fielders behind you are going to make the play. I feel like we have some of the best outfielders and infielders on our team, especially [Salvatore].”
Salvatore said it goes both ways. He and his fellow fielders are confident that their pitchers will not only throw strikes, but throw pitches that will result in ground balls and pop ups.
That partnership has been important—it took the offense several games to heat up, so when the Blue Devils found themselves leading a game, it was up to the defense to preserve it.
“All year, I’ve been preaching defense and pitching,” Angebranndt said. “I have nothing but positive accolades to say about the defense. We glove it with the best of them. I can’t say anything negative about what we’ve done defensively because we’ve always given our offense a chance to win the game.”
Once March’s cold weather passed, Angebranndt said the bats started to come alive. He credited senior first baseman and pitcher Billy Epps with making a “fantastic adjustment” from the beginning of the season, just by seeing the ball better.
Catcher Anthony Gainer has made strides since he broke his throwing arm two years ago, becoming one of the team’s top producers, and center fielder Tristan Ryan has made the biggest transition, Angebranndt said. Ryan struggled with plate discipline in the beginning of the season, but Angebranndt called his improvement “drastic.”
“I dropped him in the lineup a little bit because I had him leading off early, and I think it put a lot of pressure on him because he felt like he had to get on base early to set the tone,” he said. “I dropped him a little bit to sixth, and then I dropped him to the nine spot, which most people would say, ‘Man, I got dropped to a nine spot,’ but putting into his head that the nine spot is almost like you’re a second leadoff guy, I think he’s taken the role well, and he’s made a great adjustment.”
Overall, it’s been a promising first season for Angebranndt, who is pleased to be back at his alma mater.
“It feels great,” he said. “coming back and being able to step foot on the field that I once played on, now as a coach, it’s kind of humbling. Not many people have the opportunity to come back and coach at the high school they played at.”
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