Team Goon found a unique coach-less chemistry on its way to the High School Fall League title.
By Rich Bevensee
In the annals of Diamond Nation tournament and league play, there has never been a baseball club quite like Team Goon.
The players picked the team, drove themselves to the field, made the lineups and called the shots. There was no manager or coach or sponsor or teacher or supervisor – no adult whatsoever – on the bench, and their dugout at times sounded like a frat house. Yet when assembled on the field, they conducted themselves as serious ballplayers.
That was the observation, time and time again, as Team Goon arrived at ‘The Nation’ in Flemington to compete in the High School Fall League.
And this was a very good team, so good that it probably wasn’t too difficult to formulate those lineups. It was a club made up of stars from the three baseball-rich high schools in Bucks County, Pennsylvania – Central Bucks South, East and West.
“When we’re on, we’re on, and pretty much this whole fall season, we’ve been on,” said Brett Barrett, a Central Bucks South senior who has committed to Ursinus.
Team Goon nearly ran roughshod over the league, losing only twice in 11 games, and on Wednesday evening it cemented its place in Diamond Nation lore by storming to the Fall League championship. In the final, Barrett pitched a five-inning one-hitter and Anthony Niro hit a titanic walk-off, two-run home run to clinch a 10-2 victory over New Jersey Jays 18U.
“It’s been awesome,” Barrett said. “My entire childhood I’ve been playing against these guys, and then you come out here and put together a team that you know all the guys from a very young age and you know their skills. When it all comes together it’s a lot of fun.”
Team Goon finished 9-2. Hustle Baseball Navy knew something the rest of the league didn’t, as it was the only team to beat Team Goon this fall – and Hustle did it twice.
Barrett and Central Bucks East star Chase Fulford shared Most Valuable Player honors. Fulford, committed to Binghamton, pitched a seven-inning, one-hitter with 13 strikeouts in sixth-seeded Team Goon’s 3-0 win over seventh-seeded Montgomery Superior in the semifinals.
“Baseball’s such a mental sport so it helps when you’re relaxed,” Fulford said. “It doesn’t even matter if we win or not, we’re just having fun. During the week we come here at night and play under the lights. We all like each other and it’s so much fun.”
The eighth-seeded Jays began the season 0-3-1 and surprised many observers by reaching the final.
But the Jays (10-6-2) came in streaking, having won six of their last seven games, and they sent a minor shockwave through the Goon bench when they took a 2-0 lead thanks to a pair of Barrett wild pitches.
Chase Garrow reached on a two-out throwing error, Mike Brunetti singled, and they both eventually scored when Barrett bounced a pair of pitches in front of the plate.
Barrett would have no such control trouble the rest of the game, facing just two batters over the minimum over the last four innings. He struck out 10 and walked one.
“Brett pitched amazing,” Fulford said. “The only reason he gave up those runs was the defense. We weren’t behind him – that was our fault. But he didn’t get mad at us and we didn’t get mad at him. I think that’s why we won, because we all stayed together.”
Barrett, who also utilized a four-seam fastball and changeup, said a better handle on his slider allowed him to quiet the Jays lineup over his last four innings of work.
Chase Fulford, left, and Brett Barrett of Team Goon shared the Fall League MVP award.
“After the first inning I started locating the slider a lot more,” Barrett said. “I started a little more inside and they weren’t hitting it very much. I calmed down my nerves after those two runs and we got those runs back in the bottom of the first. That relaxed me even more. I know all these guys and I know they have my back.”
Niro, a junior at Central Bucks East, had a brilliant night at the plate, going 3-for-3 with four RBI. In the bottom of the first inning, Niro stroked an RBI single into center and Sean Hill walked with the bases loaded to tie the game at 2-2.
Team Goon lowered the boom on the Jays the next inning. Matt Sharkey swatted an RBI double into the left field corner and later scored on a throwing error when Michael Graban stole second for a 4-2 Goon lead.
Graban then scored from second when Luciano Stridaccio reached on a dropped third strike for a 5-2 lead. All three runs scored without the Jays recording an out.
Oh, and Niro added his second RBI single with two out for a 6-2 Goon lead.
In the fourth, Sharkey drove in Mike Scafidi with a sacrifice fly, and Nick Mutchler scored when he stole third and took home on a throwing error for an 8-2 lead.
With Team Goon needing two runs to enact the mercy rule in the fifth, Mike Koldhoff led off with a walk and Niro came to the plate.
The Central Bucks East slugger, who hit his first 90-foot diamond homer this summer with the Bucks County Generals, connected for a towering two-run shot over the left field fence, ending the game, the season and an unbelievable run for Team Goon.
“I was just trying to find something to hit, something dead red,” Niro said. “It’s my last at bat until March at least so I wanted to sell out and see if I could hit it far.
“This made up most of my fall, playing with my best friends. One day we talked about it at the lunch table and 24 hours later we got a name and said, let’s give this a shot. I looked forward to this every week. It’s the best way to go out.”
Jays coach Luke Longo, a 2019 Hunterdon Central grad who played collegiately for NJIT, said he was not surprised to hear that a group of friends came together so successfully without a coach on the bench.
“They seem like a tight knit group of guys,” said Longo, whose 2018 Hunterdon Central team won the NJSIAA Group 4 championship. “I’m not really surprised. I’m a former college athlete and I realize being around your boys all the time, you grow a liking for one another and play the game the right way, which is playing loose and having fun. And it seems that’s what they were doing.”