Cape American can claim to be best baseball division in South Jersey
South Jersey has so many talented high school baseball teams spread around the various divisions, but the Cape Atlantic American Division could stake a claim as being No. 1.
The division is led by six-time defending South Jersey Non-Public A champ St. Augustine. The others in the division are Vineland, Egg Harbor Township, Mainland, Ocean City, Hammonton and Millville.
Through the first three weeks of the season, every American Division team has won at least two division games and only St. Augustine and Vineland began the week with only one division loss.
“We definitely have what I think is the toughest division in South Jersey, if not New Jersey,” said Vineland coach Kyle Jones. “We’ve got Millville, EHT, the Prep it goes on from there and every game is a challenge.”
Jones says that a team needs a deep pitching staff to navigate the minefield of a schedule.
In the Cape, the division teams play each other twice. Adding a different wrinkle, the games against each team are played one right after another on consecutive days. That means a top pitcher can realistically only throw one of the two games, so it encourages pitching depth.
Vineland has been the surprise team in the early going. Led by junior righthander Benedetto Andreoli. In his first four games, he posted a 2.18 ERA and Vineland won all four of them.
Jones said that just about anybody on his team is a candidate to be a pitcher and he wasn’t exaggerating. A total of 13 players have pitched in the first 11 games for the Fighting Clan.
Just look at all the top talent in this division. EHT senior righthander Cameron Flukey is considered among the top pitchers in South Jersey. He is a Coastal Carolina commit but is also considered a potential candidate for the Major League Baseball draft.
St. Augustine has several Division I commitments. Lefthander CJ Furey is headed to Villanova. Righthander Bruce Wadiak has committed to Iona and third baseman Marco Levari is ticketed to Old Dominion.
Millville has one of the most exciting players in South Jersey in senior centerfielder Wayne Hill, who is headed to Delaware State.
Ocean City righthander Duke McCarron is a Maryland commit. There are other top players as well.
Any top division can not only be described by the top teams but those at the bottom and it’s safe to say that there are no easy games this season in the Cape American.
It should make for a great race for the division title and also should prepare the teams for the state tournament because each division game has the feeling of a postseason matchup.
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Author: Marc Narducci
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