Centurions Baseball team has struggled heavily hallway through the season, reaching a record of 1-10 halfway through April.

Head Baseball Coach, CJ Brancato, talked about why his team got off to a rocky start by saying, “Our first two games were a double header against Ocean County College who had been playing outside at Myrtle Beach and played two, one-run games against the defending national champs.” He added, “My team was only outside for four days because of the weather, so we never had a full week of practice.”

Brancato also related some of the struggles of the team to the level of competition by saying, “We have been playing some programs that are three and four-year schools.” He added, “But the more we play together the better we get.”

Brancato was asked about the pitching of the Centurions after giving up 16 and 18 points in the first two of three games by saying, “The score is not completely reflective of our pitching.” He added, “We’ve had about 7 combined errors in the field over that stretch which are contributing to the amount of runs and pitch count.”

Brancato was asked about the idea of balancing winning against being able to take away moral victories by saying, “We’re constantly working to get better.” He added, “Whether were inside fielding, or were out hitting the ball. Situational baseball is also huge, simulated games is where I think we can improve, especially defensively.”

The coach talked about how he felt at this point in the season by saying, “I wish we would have one or two more wins at this point, but that’s sports.” He added, “If we tighten up defensively, and start hitting the way I know we can, I don’t know one team in our division that we can’t at least compete with.”

Brancato is not discouraged by the outcomes of each game so far; he is striving to make Bucks Baseball a respectable program for recruiting in the future.

Brancato highlights several schools that he is recruiting new players from, as well as calling out current Bucks students by saying, “There is probably a whole team of kids on campus who think they are too good to play at Bucks. I’m trying to change that.”

“I think it’s definitely a work in process, but I believe the fruits of the labor are going to show with this upcoming freshmen class.” Brancato said. He added, “We will have 12 or 14 of those guys coming back next year, and 14 to 18 players on the roster already for next year.

Brancato pointed out that he is way ahead of the game in terms of constructing a roster for next season.

“We need to build four years of commodity into two years.” Brancato said. He added, “We plan on getting these kids together, they genuinely like each other.”

Brancato noted that chemistry amongst the players in any organization is the key to success, but being able to keep the players together through winter workouts and fall baseball is essential.

Although the 2018 spring season has not gone as hoped for Centurion Baseball, Brancato offers a heavy glimmer of hope for the competitive program in the future.