Rumson Baseball Rallies for Improbable Division Title

With a pair of mercy-rule losses to Shore Conference powers Jackson Memorial and Ocean, Rumson-Fair Haven’s baseball team had sunk to 2-7 and appeared on the way to a lost season by mid-April.

During that same low point, the father of head coach Kevin James died at 79 years old in Georgia on April 16, making it an emotional time for a team at a crossroads. When Rumson needed them most, a group of leaders who have been as effective as any in James’ 14 years as a varsity head coach stepped to the front to ignite a dramatic turnaround.

It culminated in a piece of the Class A Central public division title, which the Bulldogs shared with Matawan and Red Bank Regional after seemingly having been out of the race for good early in the season. The Bulldogs finished with a 7-5 record in the division, one game behind overall champion St. John Vianney.

“We had to take a step back, simplify things, and understand it's still a game,’’ said Dan Miller, senior catcher/first baseman. “We all came together and realized what we had to do. We had to come back for coach James. He puts all his time and effort into us and our season and he was going through a tough time, so we wanted to give back to him. He deserves to have success.’’

“To turn it around and make a great run at the end was a great thing for our team,’’ James said. “Every day, I just kept saying that the best thing about baseball is that you have a chance to wake up tomorrow and play another game.’’

However, the strangest aspect to Rumson’s division championship is that the Bulldogs are currently a below .500 team. There is no requirement to be .500 to win a division title, and Rumson’s rugged nondivisional schedule that included the likes of Jackson Memorial, Ocean, Monmouth Regional and Red Bank Catholic contributed to a losing record despite the success in Class A Central. The Bulldogs were 9-10 after a win over Henry Hudson.

Rumson may be the first division champion ever to not qualify for the Shore Conference Tournament, which requires at least a .500 record, but it still will be playing in the upcoming Central Jersey Group II Tournament.

“It is uncomfortable that we aren’t .500, but everything we do in this program is about challenging yourself,’’ James said. “We could have very easily scheduled some different teams to be .500, but our philosophy is definitely to play the best.’’

“It’s kind of a weird feeling,’’ Miller said. “We still like our spot in the state playoffs as probably the 11th seed. We know we can come back and make a nice run in states.’’

In a way, Rumson’s difficult tests outside the division may have fueled its success inside Class A Central because there was no divisional opponent that was going to be better than what the Bulldogs were seeing in their nondivisional games.

What also helped the junior-laden team were the three senior captains – Miller, first baseman/right fielder Matt Sinopoli and pitcher Liam Ryan. In his 10 years at Rumson, James had never named captains, but he decided to select those three as tri-captains in the preseason.

“Our senior leadership was the best we’ve had in 10 years at Rumson,’’ James said. “Those three really stood out as leaders of our program and what our program wants to become.’’

“It's a real honor that he gave us,’’ Miller said. “When he announced that in the fall, we knew that we had to step up.’’

The three captains even made the 70-mile trip north to Ramsey in Bergen County, where James grew up, to attend his father’s funeral. That galvanizing moment helped a team that was once 2-7 allow itself to be called a champion. 

“Everyone was counting us out at 2-7,’’ Miller said. “We just kept working hard, we came together as a team, and we showed what we can do in our division.’’

Rumson’s efforts also did not go unnoticed by its divisional opponents, either. Just over a month after that terrible day in April when James found out his father had passed away in the midst of his team’s dismal start, James was selected as the Class A Central Coach of the Year by his peers this May.