Staff report
Egg Harbor Township High School has had one of the top baseball teams in the Cape-Atlantic League for a number of years now, and Bobby Wright — head coach of the expansion Egg Harbor Township Eagles in the brand-new South Jersey South Shore Baseball League — is banking on the pipeline that his son has been a part of to help make his squad a title contender in the league’s inaugural season.
Frankie Wright, a senior at EHT High, has been a huge reason why the Eagles are currently 15-3 and one of the top teams in the Cape-Atlantic League. He’s done it with the bat and his arm, rapping out 19 hits and 16 RBIs while also allowing just a couple of earned runs and striking out 15 in his 11 innings of work so far on the hill this spring. Coach Wright is building his nucleus around some of his son’s teammates, including guys such as Manny Velardi, George Dugan, Ben Adams and Christian Rando.
But the roster won’t be limited to just EHT guys, as coach Wright has recruited Trevor Smith from Holy Spirit High as well as Joe Gutierrez of Pleasantville. And in a league such as the SJSSBL, which is geared toward players ages 16 to 25, it’s imperative to have some college level talent, and EHT boasts guys such as Steve Graziano (Jefferson University) and Mike Graziano (Fairleigh Dickenson).
“Pitching is a commodity, as always, and we are little short on arms, but we have a lot versatility with some of our position players,” coach Wright said. “We will play hard and compete and hope to grow together to have a shot at winning this thing in the very near future. We’re excited to get started and appreciate what the league has done to welcome EHT into the league.”
The Eagles will find out what they are made of right out of the gate, as they open the 2021 season on Monday by hosting the Ocean City Water Dogs, last year’s champion in the Atlantic County Baseball League. The following night they’ll play host to another expansion team (meaning a team that didn’t come over from the ACBL) in the Somers Point Captains, a team chock full of Mainland Regional High talent as well as some college pitching. The three-game homestand at Bargaintown Park (all games at 7:30 p.m.) continues on Wednesday as the Eagles host the Absecon Outlaws, another team that had a lot of success the past couple of years in the ACBL.