2022 Cape-Atlantic League Baseball Preview
The Cape-Atlantic League Baseball season opens tonight with games all over the area, including two games at the Coaches vs Cancer event at Birch Grove Park in Northfield and 10 games overall this weekend at Mainland.
Baseball in the Cape-Atlantic League is booming with players routinely moving on to play at the college or professional level, including 21 players who went on to play at the next level from the class of 2021.
After a lost 2020 season, baseball should get back to feeling normal again, with at least 15 players already making their college choices taking the field this season.
Here is a list of the players from the Cape-Atlantic League who have already committed to colleges:
Trevor Cohen Holy Spirit Rutgers Tom Finnegan Ocean City St. John's Cam Flukey (2023) Egg Harbor Township Coastal Carolina C.J. Furey (2023) St. Augustine Villanova Andrew Gaines St. Augustine Wake Forest Marco Levari (2023) St. Augustine Old Dominion Duke McCarron (2023) Ocean City Maryland Cohl Mercado St. Joseph Boston College Kyle Neri St. Augustine Bryant Justin Sweeney (2023) Egg Harbor Township Rutgers Brady Small St. Augustine U.S. Military Academy Ryan Taylor St. Augustine Penn Kanye Udoh St. Augustine U.S. Military Academy Ryan Weingartner St. Augustine Purdue John Wood Mainland Mount St. Mary's
In addition to these players, here is one player to watch from every Cape-Atlantic League team in 2022:
Absegami - Andrew Baldino | SR | SS/P
ACIT - Sean Kellerman | SR | P/INF
Atlantic City - Drew Storr | SR | C
Bridgheton - Cameron Dunkle |SR | C/P
Buena - Tre Carano | SR | SS
Cape May Tech - Tanner Oliva | SO | P
Cedar Creek - Christian Coppola | SR | P
Hammonton - Drew Haines | JR | INF
Holy Spirit - Ryan Spina | SR | 3B
Lower Cape May - John Roach | SR | 2B/P
Middle Twp. - Ryan Gallagher | SR | IN/P
Mainland - Christian Elliott | SO | CF
Millville - Gavin Shapiro | SR | C
Oakcrest - Gavin Healy | SR | 1B
Pleasantville - Joe Gutierrez | SR | SS/P
St. Joe's Academy - Ty Mercado | SO | SS/P
Vineland - Xavier Cortez | JR | P/INF
3 Things to watch this season:
Sleeper team to watch: Mainland: The Mustangs may have lost Chase Petty, Mark Elliott and Brody Levin, but return a nice core and could have a solid lineup this season. Pleenty of the teams core gorup from last year return, including Cole Campbell, Joe Sheeran and Christian Elliott.
Sleeper player to watch: Duke McCarron | Ocean City. McCarron is just a junior, but he has already committed to Maryland to pitch, but he could blossom into one of the top players in the Cape this season.
Sleeper pitcher to watch: Donovan Patten | Holy Spirit. Patten has been around for awhile, but has been over shadowed by some big name pitchers. No longer, he could be the Spartans big game pitcher in 2022.
Cape- Atlantic League Top 5 Teams
1. St. Augustine Prep - 8 players have already committed to colleges for the Hermits.
2. Egg Harbor Twp. - Justin Sweeney is headed to Rutgers and pitcher Cam Flukey is headed to Coastal Carolina.
3. Ocean City - Pitching, pitching and more pitching for the Red Raiders with Tom Finnegan (St. John's) leading the staff.
4. Holy Spirit - Rutgers commit Trevor Cohen leads the way for a young, but talented Spartans team.
5. Mainland - Cole Campbell and a deep lineup help lead the Mustangs.
Baseball is back, so get out there and check out some of the great talent that South Jersey continues to produce.
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