VIDEO: CHAMPIONS! Win over Vikings allows Middle Township baseball to clinch tie for first in CAL United Conference

Posted: May 7th 2025

Middle Township's baseball team celebrates winning a share of the Cape-Atlantic United Conference title after Wednesday's victory over Atlantic City

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com 

The Middle Township High School baseball program has a long tradition of competitiveness, with some very good seasons and a few nice state playoff runs included in its history.

On Wednesday afternoon, however, the Panthers accomplished a first.

A 7-6 win over Atlantic City gave Middle its first-ever league championship of any kind, as the Panthers will share top honors with St. Joseph as winners of the Cape-Atlantic United Conference.

“This means a whole lot,” Middle coach Chris Branigan said. “They’ve worked extremely hard for this. And it’s not just this group. This is just as much our group as it is the guys from years past. The players and coaches before this group, those guys laid the foundation for us. This is big for the entire program, past and present.”

The victory over the Vikings allowed Middle (12-5 overall) to finish its conference slate at 11-1. The Wildcats also finished at 11-1 in the conference thanks to its win over Wildwood Catholic Wednesday.

Middle and St. Joe split their games with one another to start the season in late March.

Senior Quinn Mills went 3 for 4 with a double, three RBI and a run scored to lead Middle in Wednesday’s win. Senior Max Adelizzi and freshman Kyle Mick each added two hits and freshman Mikey Fritsch added a hit and two RBI. Senior Donnie Nelson and sophomore Ryan Murray each chipped in RBI hits and senior Adam Radzieta also had a hit.

Adelizzi, Mick and another freshman, Joe Eisele, were the pitchers against the Vikings. They combined for seven strikeouts.

Middle is a division champion despite fielding a rather young team. The Panthers start numerous freshmen and sophomores, all of whom have been contributing to varying degrees.

“We’ve had a lot of freshmen and sophomores not only playing, but playing big roles,” Branigan said. “In any given game, we’re starting three or four freshmen with a couple sophomores mixed in.

“We set goals at the beginning of the season, and the first one always is to try to win the division and move on up from there and continue to push ourselves to be better. To have young guys come in and see success early on is great because they see they can do it, but we have a lot more work to be done for sure to continue moving toward competing for the (overall) league championship and a South Jersey championship.”

Branigan, however, credited the team’s seniors for leading the way. Radzieta, Adelizzi, Nelson, Oakford Schalick, Joey Angelino and Jason Breakell endured some struggles over the past few seasons. But whenever their careers eventually end in a few weeks, they’ll be able to say they were champions.

“You look at the past four years, we’ve definitely had our fair share of adversity,” Branigan said. “That’s what shaped them to be champions. Those guys stuck with it. This was four years in the making for the seniors, and a lot of people don;t see the work that goes into it behind the scenes. We’ve leaned on Adam Radzieta and Max Adelissi to kind of lead us toward that. They’ve been through the ringer with us as a program and I couldn’t be happier for them and all the seniors.”

Middle is next in action Saturday in the Caper Classic Tournament at Lower Cape May.

(Video clips courtesy MTHS baseball)