By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
VOORHEES — In a perfect world, Eastern Regional High baseball coach Rob Christ would have won his 500th game in a thrilling, 4-3 walk-off, his players dousing him with their water bottles to celebrate this kind of historic achievement.
It was anything but dramatic on Thursday afternoon as the host Vikings pounded out 21 hits in a lopsided 23-3 win over Cherry Hill East at Joe Hartmann Field. But in some respects, the Vikings put on display everything coach Christ harps on every day in practice — hitting line drives up the middle, taking the extra base, putting pressure on the opposing defense and having pitchers throw strikes.
Eastern (7-0, 3-0 Olympic American) has an offensive juggernaut so far this season as the Vikings have scored 10 or more runs in all but one of their seven wins, and 11 of the 13 players who got at-bats against the Cougars came away with at least one hit. It was 10-0 after just two innings before Eastern exploded for 13 runs in the bottom of the third, making the mercy rule ending inevitable. Senior captain Logan Dawson and junior reliever Rich Iuliucci combined to limit the Cougars (3-2, 0-2 Olympic American) to three runs on six hits while striking out five and walking just one in five innings of work.
“It all comes down to the way we practice. We practice hitting the ball back up the middle in the cages, trying to hit it right back at coach’s head. Just trying to put the ball in play, honestly, and get runs when we can,” said senior outfielder Dominic Passarella, who went 3-for-3 with three runs scored and a pair of RBIs. “We work the baserunners, work the counts — all the fundamental stuff that’s going to win you a baseball game.”
“I have three or four juniors who started as freshman and they are really coming into their own. (Senior) Logan Dawson is our captain and there were a dozen scouts here to see him (on Wednesday) and six or seven here today. He’s really grown into a leadership role,” said Christ, who has been coaching since the mid-1990s when he began his career at Gateway Regional. “It’s obviously easy when you are winning — everybody loves one another — but you get a sense these guys truly care about one another, and that’s important. And because they have been with me, they do want to be pushed. They want me to push them harder, they ask for me to be tougher on them. They want me to maximize their potential.”
Eastern lost, 6-4, to Bridgewater-Raritan in last year’s Group 4 state championship game, and the Vikings look like they’re taking out their frustration on everybody and anybody this season. They’ve scored 81 runs in seven games and are hitting .419 as a team. They’ve walked 44 times and have stolen 28 bases, and already have three players in double figures in RBIs. And they’ve done it all without hitting a single home run.
“It’s fun to play with this group. We have a strong lineup with guys who want to see fastballs and guys who are hungry to hit the ball,” said Dawson, a Boston College commit who is hitting .455 and had three hits, three runs and two RBIs against Cherry Hill East. “In my eyes, we didn’t accomplish anything last year. We lost (in the state final) and you never want to lose the last game of the season, so we’re hungry to get back there and hungry to get it done this year.”
It was a fight at the bat rack for the Vikings, as Vinny Milillo had two hits, three runs and a pair of RBIs, Matt Gryskiewicz and Sean Karbach each had three RBIs, and Iuliucci went 4-for-4 with three runs and two RBIs.
“Our mindset this year is we’re hungry to get the next win,” Passarella said. “Obviously, we still have that sour taste in our mouths from the state championship loss. We’re trying our best to get back there, and what we’re doing is staying hungry for the next game. That’s how we’re winning all these games. We’re staying focused on just winning the next game that’s in front of us.”
While there were plenty of smiles in the Eastern dugout, the biggest one belonged to Christ after the game. He’s only the ninth coach in South Jersey history to reach the 500-win milestone, and the 39th in state history. He joins legends such as Dennis Barth of Gloucester Catholic, Sam Tropiano of Bishop Eustace, Rich Bender of Delran and Ken Frank of Toms River South, among many others. Christ (pronounced Krist) is now 500-210 for his career with six sectional titles and a state championship back in 2013. He’s spend the last 21 years at Eastern after turning around a struggling Gateway program in the late 1990s.
“I certainly never thought I would win 500 games. I used to work as a broadcaster, I was a play-by-play guy in the Yankees organization, and that was always the career path I thought that I would follow. Then, when I started teaching, I said, ‘OK, I’ll start coaching.’ And I really enjoyed it and stuck with it. I had some success, and every year it was like, ‘OK, I’ll coach again.’ And that’s happened, now, for 26 years or more. That’s kind of how it played out,” Christ said. “To be honest with you, I don’t really remember win No. 1. I took over a Gateway program that had one winning season in 15 years. I changed the mentality there in terms of how we approached things — it was all about hard work, discipline and structure. We started out 7-0 and ended up losing our first game to the No. 1-ranked team in South Jersey, which was Audubon at the time. I remember that loss.”
Christ is probably harder on himself than he’s ever been on his players, but his players love him for his tough approach. He doesn’t want to hear any excuses, for anything. You win, you move on; you lose, you learn.
“He means the world to us. He’s taught me how to be a young man, and taught me my work ethic,” Passarella said. “I pride myself on working hard, and he’s reshaped the way that I work out and put my mindset into this game. He’s done wonders for this program.”
“I’ve said it before, I’m blessed to be coached by him. He gets the best out of me, day in and day out. There’s not a person I would want to be in control of this team more than him. It’s a blessing to have him,” Dawson added. “I’ve learned a lot of composure and self discipline, and learning every day. There was a day last year, as a junior, where I threw a complete game shutout, had three hits and came in smiling at practice the next day. He was like, ‘what are you smiling about? It’s a new day.’ He just instills that work ethic and that will to every day get better and let go of what happened the day before.
“He deserves this and much more for the things he’s done over the years, the championships he’s won. He has a case to be one of the best coaches in New Jersey history and it’s a blessing to be a part of it.”
Christ said years ago he thought his future was as a baseball broadcaster, but life threw him a curveball.
“I’m very fortunate to be where I am, and I’m humbled by it. It’s not something I ever set out to do. At the beginning of the year a bunch of people said I was going to win my 500th game this year, but I’ve never made this about me,” he said. “To me, the enjoyment comes from the kids and when I see them out-perform their own expectations. To be associated with that is fantastic. The thing I’m most proud of, and I don’t know if any other coach has done this, I took over two losing programs and took them to a state championship. In large part that’s because when I’ve asked kids to work hard and respond, they have.”
So how far up the victories list can Christ get? He’s not focused on that. He’s focused on — you guessed it, the next game, scheduled for Monday against Paul VI.
“I get that question asked of me a lot,” Christ said, referring to how long he plans to continue coaching, since he’s already retired from teaching. “(On Wednesday) I was talking to some of the scouts who were here for Logan, and one of the Yankees scouts said, ‘man, you still have so much passion.’ That’s just how I’m built. I’m high energy and high emotion. Sometimes people perceive me the wrong way because I’m super intense, but I love these kids and I love the game of baseball. I take it day by and year by year.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Eastern hosts Paul VI on Monday at 3:45. Cherry Hill East travels to Cherokee on Saturday at 11 a.m., weather permitting.
