By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
VINELAND — The Mainland Regional High baseball team came into the 2024 season carrying the weight of huge expectations after making a surprising run to the Group 3 state championship game a year ago. The highly touted Mustangs return their entire pitching staff and were ranked No. 10 in nj.com’s preseason Top 20.
The Stangs got off to an admittedly jittery start in a 4-3 loss to rival Ocean City on Saturday, so when they took a long road trip to Vineland on Tuesday afternoon, the focus was about shedding all those preseason expectations and getting back to having some fun playing baseball.
Junior Finnegan Haines — making his first start since his freshman year after missing all of last year with an arm injury — got off to a rocky start as Vineland’s Kyle Lamanteer blasted a 3-run home run in the bottom of the first inning, but it was smooth sailing for Haines and the Stangs after that. Mainland rallied for seven unanswered runs to score a 7-3 victory, its first of the season. Ethan Mitnick went 2-for-4 with a double, triple and run scored and also added three innings of shutout relief. Haines struck out nine while allowing three hits and four walks in four innings. Three of those walks came in the first inning as he struggled to get his sea legs back on the mound after a year-plus away.
“It was my first start since freshman year so I was expecting to get beat up a little bit out there. I got my composure in the second inning. Took some deep breaths in the dugout (after the first inning) and came out firing. It was hard, but I’ve been training at Baseball Performance Center all winter with (former Holy Spirit star) Mike Adams. Throwing to targets is different than throwing to batters in the box, so it was just getting comfortable and used to it. It’s going to take some time, but I think I’m ready to get back on it next week and start attacking,” said Haines, younger brother of senior designated hitter Jack Haines. “Knowing I was the guy my team wanted on the mound today, it was just about getting my composure back after that three-run homer in the first inning. I was angry, but I knew I couldn’t change that. I can’t go back in time and rewind that (pitching sequence). I just had to come back out, focus on myself and what I could do. I got my slider spotted up. I was missing high early, and I made some adjustments with my fastball, too. Early on, everything was up-and-out, so I stayed closed longer and found the zone a lot better.”
“Bouncing back from a loss to our rival, Ocean City, it definitely feels good to get a win,” Mitnick added. “We got punched in the mouth (in the first inning) but we knew we had a bunch of baseball left to play. We bounced back from that. We have an experienced lineup and teams know that, so they are going to pitch us competitively. We’re going to see high-level arms, but we’re ready for that.
Mainland chipped away off Vineland starter Benedetto Andreoli, plating a pair of runs in the second inning on an RBI single up the middle by Luca Bruno and a bloop RBI single to center off the bat of catcher Brady Arena. The Stangs then tied the game at 3 in the top of the fourth on an RBI single up the middle by Arena before Vineland reliever Xavier Anglero worked out of a bases-loaded, 1-out jam.
After Haines fanned two of the three batters he faced in the fourth to end his day, Mainland rallied for three more runs in the top of the fifth to put the game out of reach. Bruno had another RBI single to put Mainland up for good, 4-3, and Chase Camac later scored from third after an errant pickoff throw to first. Another run came home on a wild pitch, and Mainland pushed the lead to 7-3 in the sixth when Jack Haines ripped an RBI single to left.
Mitnick allowed four hits in his three innings of relief, but was never in any serious trouble. He fanned two and didn’t walk a batter.
“We were up a couple of runs so I just wanted to pitch to contact,” he said. “I didn’t need to do anything special, it was just pitching to outs. The main goal is just winning the game each time, and we have the bullpen to do that.”
Mitnick was one of Mainland’s top relievers a year ago, but he also wants to make a bigger impact at the plate this year. He’s more than halfway to surpassing his hits total from last year just two games into his senior season.
“I tried to put some weight on, put a lot of work in at the gym and really just dialed in on my swing mechanics. And I just started having fun with the game again. I feel like I was too hard on myself last spring, so I want to have fun with it this year,” Mitnick said. “I’m really confident now. My mindset now, every time I go up to the plate, is that I’m better than the pitcher and I’m going to beat him. I just want to hit the ball hard.”
Confidence is something the Stangs won’t be lacking this year as they have a lineup filled with players who have multiple years of varsity experience. They want to prove that last year’s surprising playoff run wasn’t a fluke.
“Last year, being on the bench all season and being part of that long ride to the state championship game was fun, but it wasn’t as fun because I wasn’t able to be out there on the field with my teammates. But getting back out there and trying to do that again feels great,” Haines said. “We only lost three starters from last year. We kind of have a target on our chest in South Jersey, but we’re just coming back, trying to get back to the same spot and win that state championship this year. That’s one of our biggest goals. I was nervous in the first inning, but you calm down and get into the flow. I think that’s how our season is going to go. There were some jitters against Ocean City and that was a tough loss, but we play them again Thursday.”
Added Mitnick, “we’re just trying to stay on top of it each and every game. Last year we started off rocky then we got on a run in the postseason. This year we don’t want to have to have a run, we want to be one of those top teams to begin with.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Vineland at Mainland, today, 4 p.m.
