June 24, 2014 Volume-VI Issue-12
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The first thing fans, players, coaches & parents want to know after the big game is always,
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2014 SSN All-Shore Lacrosse Teams
All-Shore Baseball of the Year 6 Coach
8-10
Final Baseball Top Ten 122014 14-15
Shore Wins Carpenter Cup
2014 SSN Players of the Year
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2014 SSN All-Shore Lacrosse Team
S
The All-Shore teams, along with the player and coach of the year, were selected by staff writer Bob Badders.
hore Sports Network is proud to unveil its 2014 All-Shore teams and season-ending award winners featuring the top performers from the 2014 Shore Conference lacrosse season. First Team Dylan Jinks, Jr., Attack, Southern
The Shore Sports Network Player of the Year, Jinks set a Shore Conference record with a state-best 93 goal while adding a team-high 43 assists for 136 points. He was fourth in New Jersey in scoring. He scored five goals or more in seven games and scored at least four goals in 16 of Southern’s 23 games. He scored the game-winning goal in overtime when Southern defeated Lenape, 11-10, to win the South Jersey Group IV title for the second season in a row. Selected as the Class A South Player of the Year by the coaches. A University of Hartford commit, Jinks will begin his senior season with 198 goals and 304 points.
Chris Hubler, Sr., Midfield, RFH
The 2014 Class A Central Player of the Year, Hubler scored 25 goals and added 16 assists for 41 points to help the Bulldogs win the Shore Conference Tournament for a record fourth straight year. He was second on the team with 74 ground balls. Had a seasonhigh four goals and five points in the SCT final victory over Southern. Had a season-best eight ground balls in a win over New Providence in the NJSIAA South Jersey Group I semifinals. Selected as an All-Shore first-team midfielder by the Shore Conference Lacrosse Coaches Association. Will continue his career at Division I Johns Hopkins University.
Jake Smolokoff, Sr., Midfield, RBR
Scored 57 goals and notched 36 assists for 93 points. Fielded 64 ground balls. Scored a season-high nine points in a win over Middletown South and had a season-high six goals in a victory over Ranney. Picked up a seasonhigh nine ground balls in a victory over Marlboro. A first team alldivision pick by the coaches in Class A North and a first team AllShore selection by the Shore Conference Lacrosse Coaches Association. Signed to play at Division I New Jersey Institute of Technology for the program’s inaugural season.
Colin Shea, Sr., Attack, RFH
Scored 35 goals and added a team-high 32 assists for a team-leading 67 points. Also fielded 24 ground balls. Scored a season-high four goals and had three assists in wins over Caldwell and St. Rose. Had two goals and two assists when Rumson defeated Southern to win a record fourth straight Shore Conference Tournament title. An all-division pick by the coaches in Class A Central and a first team All-Shore selection by the Shore Conference Lacrosse Coaches Association. Will continue his career at Division II Chestnut Hill.
Kyle McDonough, Sr., Attack, Wall
Registered team highs in all offensive scoring categories with 52 goals and 31 assists for 83 points. Also fielded 35 ground balls. A first team all-division selection by the coaches in Class A North and a first team All-Shore pick by the Shore Conference Lacrosse Coaches Association. Committed to Division II Mercy College.
Shawn McManus, Jr., Midfield, Southern
Southern’s pace-setter on offense, McManus scored 51 goals and added 40 assists for 91 points. He had eight games scoring at least three goals and six games dishing out three or more assists. Registered a season-high five goals in back-to-back wins over Jackson Liberty and Toms River South, and had seven-point games against Toms River South and Eastern, the latter coming in the state playoffs.
J.T. Jennings, Sr., Defense, RFH
Fielded 22 ground balls and had 17 takeaways for the top-ranked Bulldogs. Picked up his only point of the season with an assist versus New Providence in the state tournament. Had a season-high five ground balls in a win over Colts Neck in the Shore Conference Tournament semifinals. Rumson went on to win its record fourth straight SCT title. A first-team all-division selection in Class A Central by the coaches and an AllShore first team selection by the Shore Conference Lacrosse Coaches Association. Committed to Division I Siena College.
Tim Davis, Sr., Defense, Holmdel
Fielded 128 ground balls with a 7.5 per game average, and chipped in offensively with two assists. A first team all-division selection by the coaches in Class A Central and a first team AllShore defenseman as selected by the Shore Conference Lacrosse Coaches association.
Matt Pieringer, Jr., Defense, RBC
The Caseys’ top defender fielded 40 ground balls this season, including a season-high six in an 8-6 victory over Freehold Township, for a defense that yielded 6.5 goals per game. A firstteam all-division selection by the coaches in Class A Central. Has received interest from Division I programs.
Justin Ruiz, Jr., Goalie, Holmdel
In his first season as the Hornets’ starting goalie, Ruiz was spectacular in stopping 257 of 357 shots for a save percentage of 71.9. He also had four games in which he made 20 or more saves, including a ridiculous 25-save performance in a 5-4 overtime victory over St. John Vianney. He also had 20 saves versus Roxbury, and 21 against both South Jersey Group I finalists, Rumson-Fair Haven and A.L. Johnson.
Billy Dowd, Sr., Face-off Specialist, Southern
Southern’s ace FOGO won 299 of 398 face-offs this season for a .751 winning percentage. He had four games where he went unbeaten on draws, and had eight games where he won 15 or more face-offs. His season-high came against Toms River North on April 2 when he won 22 of 24 draws. He also went 20-for-25 in a win over Brick on April 19. In the Shore Conference Tournament final, Dowd won 16 of 28 draws against Rumson-Fair
SSN All-Shore Continued on page 4
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SSN All-Shore
Continued from page 3
Haven’s Ryan Campbell. He also won 14 of 22 face-offs to help Southern defeat Lenape in the South Jersey Group IV final. Scored three goals and five assists. A first-team Class A South and second-team All-Shore selection by the Shore Conference Lacrosse Coaches Association.
Second Team
Attack: Brendan Mullen, Sr., Southern
Attack: Matt McGuiness, Sr., CBA
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Attack: Thomas Deiner, Sr., CBA Midfield: T.J. Coleman, Sr., SJV
Midfield: Ryan Coolahan, Sr., RBC
Midfield: Dan Cannon, Sr., Lacey
Defense: Tim Foley, Sr., Wall
Defense: Mike Adragna, Jr., Southern
Defense: Casey Sullivan, Lacey
Goalie: Matt Grobelny, Sr., Barnegat
Specialist: Ryan Campbell, Sr., Face-offs, RFH
Third Team
Defense: Zach Bradley, Sr., Red Bank
Attack: Mark Scherzer, Sr., Holmdel
Goalie: Bobby Graziano, Sr., Ocean
Attack: Blaine Birch, Sr., Manasquan
Attack: David Kearns, Sr. Brick
Midfield : Joe Murphy, Sr.,Manasquan
Defense: Greg Moran, Sr., Barnegat
Specialist – Vinny Celidonio, Sr. LSM, Jackson Mem.
Midfield: Billy Sasso, Jr., Freehold Twp Midfield: Chris Sutphen, Sr., RFH
Defense: Conner Phillips, Sr., RFH
Photos by
Cliff Lavelle
www.clearedge.zenfolio.com
SSN Coach of the Year: Ryan Dalon, Barnegat The early years of Barnegat’s lacrosse program By Bob Badders – Senior Staff Writer
were lean, to say the least. In the program’s first five seasons the Bengals won just eight games, and even when they turned it around in 2012 with their first winning season, they were never viewed as a legitimate threat. That changed in a big way in 2014.
Barnegat set a team record for wins by going 13-3, finishing second in
the Shore Conference’s Class A South division to Group IV finalist Southern while also winning the first Shore Conference Tournament game in program history. Head coach Ryan Dalon coached through those tough times, slowing building the program into a unit the rest of the Shore had to respect.
and defeated No. 7 Wall, 12-10, for the program’s most significant victory to date. It proved the Bengals could do more than just dominate the weaker teams in Ocean County. Barnegat would lose to Southern, 112, in the next round, but came back a week later and nearly stunned the Rams in the A South title game before falling 9-8 in overtime.
The Bengals began the season 11-0, which included wins over division rivals Jackson Memorial and Lacey. In the first round of the Shore Conference Tournament, Barnegat went on the road as the No. 10 seed
The dark ages are well behind Barnegat, and the future looks plenty bright.
In recognition of Barnegat’s breakout season, Dalon has been selected as the Shore Sports Network Shore Conference Lacrosse Coach of the Year.
Barnegat succeeded with a balanced scoring attack and contributions from players of all ages. The program will graduate five senior starters, but returns standout midfielders Ricky Gerena and J.J. McKenna, along with up-and-coming attackman Ryan Reynolds.
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Baseball Coach of the Year: SJV’s Mike Morgan By Matt Manley – Staff Writer
St. John Vianney coach Mike Morgan
envisioned big things for his 2014 senior class from the time they entered the program before the 2011 season and particularly when they became a complete class in 2012 with the transfer of former Holmdel slugger Joe Rotelli. Yet on May 22 of this year, there were the Lancers, winless in their last four NJSIAA tournament games and without any deep runs in either the Shore Conference or Monmouth County Tournaments during the three-plusyear period that the promising class had spent with Morgan.
While the sand in the hourglass ran low on the careers of St. John Vianney’s nine senior starters and 15 total seniors, Morgan had a simple message for his group.
“I told them that this is yours,” Morgan said after beating Gloucester Catholic in the Non-Public South A championship game. “This isn’t my championship; it’s your championship and you guys are going to determine how far you take this. Before the state tournament, I just told them that as long as we keep winning, you guys get to keep playing together. If you don’t want it to end, go out and play like it.”
The Lancers responded by playing their best when their high school careers depended on it and those careers ended with St. John Vianney
hoisting the NJSIAA Non-Public Group A final for the first time since 1981. In a season in which he won his 100th career game as a head coach and brought St. John Vianney its first state title in more than three decades, Morgan is the Shore Sports Network Baseball Coach of the Year. “I love this group,” Morgan said following the win over St. Joseph Montvale in the Non-Public A championship game. “There was never a doubt in my mind that they were capable of something like this, and I just hoped for their sake they could get on a run like they got on. It’s satisfying for me because I know how hard these seniors worked for four years and to see it pay off is extremely satisfying.”
Two other Shore Conference teams – Shore Regional in Group I and Jackson Memorial in Group IV – won state titles, but winning a Non-Public A championship is a different animal than the other five championships. In order to win its first state championship in 33 years, St. John Vianney had to beat Bishop Eustace, Christian Brothers Academy, Gloucester Catholic and St. Joseph in consecutive games. Bishop Eustace spent several weeks as the No. 1 team in the state, according to the Newark-Star Ledger; CBA finished as the No. 2 team in the Shore Sports Network Top 10; and Gloucester Catholic was a four-time defending state champion, the last two
of which were in Non-Public A.
The championship run began on May 22 with a 13-3 thrashing of Notre Dame, which was the last game the Lancers would play on their home field. They then went on the road and smoked Bishop Eustace, 10-0, outslugged CBA, 13-9, and walked off with a 3-2 win over Gloucester Catholic junior ace and Maryland recruit John Murphy in the South Jersey final at Rowan University. “When I talked to coach Morgan about possibly coming to play here, he told me, ‘We’re going to win a championship here whether you come or not,’” said Rotelli, who made the move to Vianney in 2012 after starting as a freshman with the Hornets in 2011. “I knew this was the team that gave me the best chance to (win a championship).”
Prior to the state championship run, not all was lost for the Lancers. Although they lost in the round-of-16 in both the Monmouth County and Shore Conference Tournaments, the Lancers dethroned Red Bank Catholic as the Class A Central division champion by going 12-2 in division play and beating the Caseys twice during the regular season. The first win over Red Bank Catholic, an 11-5 St. John Vianney win at home on April 5, gave Morgan his 100th career victory in his eighth year as the Vianney head coach. During his high school playing days, Morgan developed his championship pedigree as a member of Manasquan’s backto-back state championship football teams in 1990 and 1991 under legendary coach Vic Kubu.
“It’s different as a coach and you understand having been through it as a player that it ultimately comes down to the players,” Morgan said. “But I also understand the impact coach Kubu had and as a coach, you just try to get them pointed in the right direction and give them what they need. I truly believed this group was going to end up where they did, and it’s because of how special they are individually and how special they became when they became a team.”
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By Bob Badders – Senior Staff Writer
His shot:
LETHAL .
His numbers:
ABSURD .
It was common knowledge in the Shore Conference that Southern Regional junior attackman Dylan Jinks was one of the top offensive players in the Shore and in New Jersey after two tremendous varsity seasons, but what he accomplished in 2014 was simply unbelievable.
Jinks scored a Shore Conference single-season record and state-leading 93 goals while adding a team-high 43 assists for 136 points, which placed him fourth in the state in total scoring. He scored five goals or more in a game seven times, and had nine more where he scored four goals. He also finished with three games of 10 points or better.
In the NJSIAA South Jersey Group IV semifinals, Old Bridge went as far as to assign two players to Jinks, limiting him to one assist in the only game all season in which he didn’t score a goal. Jinks’ response in the very next game was a brilliant five-goal, four-assist performance that included the game-winning goal in overtime in an 11-10 win over Lenape for the South Jersey Group IV title.
“He’s a special player,” said Southern head coach John Pampalone after the win over Lenape. “He has those games where he just isn’t going to be denied.”
Even more remarkable is that Jinks’ gaudy numbers came on a team that featured another 100-point scorer in Brendan Mullen and a 91-point season from Shawn McManus.
His state line for this season eclipses the career totals of plenty of excellent graduating seniors around the state. Jinks, a University of Hartford commit, will enter his senior season with 198 career goals and 304 points. He’s already helped Southern capture back-to-back Class A South division titles and consecutive state sectional titles, and next year he is looking to lead Southern to its first group title.
“We’re going to come out next year and go as hard as we can,” Jinks said. “Hopefully we’ll make it back here and it’ll be a different ending.”
VOLUME-VI
By Matt Manley – Senior Staff Writer
C
entral Regional senior right-h ander Andrew DiP iazza returned for the 2 014 season as th e defending All Shore Media/Sh ore Sports Network P itcher of the Year, but did not repeat as the winner of the award for th ree primary reasons: 1) An early-season limit on pitches; 2) a late-season inju ry and 3) historically great seasons by two other Shore Conferen ce pit chers. DiPiazza is, however, the Shore Sports Network Player of the Year for one major reason: power.
Although limited on the mound by a cautious approach to monitoring his innings early in the season and a bout with bone spurs in his pitching elbow late in the season, DiPiazza still turned in one of the best offensive seasons in the recent history of the Golden Eagles program while leading Central to its first Ocean County Tournament championship since 1986.
Over the course of the season, DiPiazza piled up offensive numbers that placed him with the best hitters in the Shore Conference. Among Shore Conference hitters, he finished in the top 20 in batting average (.423), the top 10 in on-base percentage (.533), and the top five in slugging percentage (.732). He also finished second in the Shore with five home runs behind only St. John Vianney slugger Joe Rotelli (six) and tied for 11th in the conference with 23 RBI. His .732 slugging also set a Central school record for a single season.
“When I was a little kid, I always told people that I was going to be a Major League hitter,” DiPiazza – who had never hit .300 in a season prior
to this season and had two career home runs to his name – said after winning the Ocean County championship. “I used to take 500 swings every day trying to
make myself a great hitter, and my first three years of high school, I was terrible. This last year, I knew this was a big offseason for me so I didn’t do any hitting and just focused on pitching. Sure enough, I’m having my best season at the plate.”
More than just the overall numbers, DiPiazza’s performance at the plate in Central’s Ocean County Tournament run made his senior season a special one. Over the four games of the OCT, DiPiazza went 5-for-10 with a home run and three RBI, including a 2-for-4 game with an RBI in the 6-0 championship win over Barnegat that included.
Despite the new-found power and the offensive accolades, DiPiazza still did his best work on the mound. Although he was limited to 44 2/3 innings, the University of Alabama recruit finished in the top-10 in five major categories among qualified Shore Conference starting pitchers. He finished fifth in earned-run average (0.94), third in WHIP (0.76), 10th in total strikeouts (61), sixth in strikeouts-per-seven-innings (9.56) and ninth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.03).
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By Matt Manley – Senior Staff Writer
T
he 2 014 season th at Christian Brothers Academy right-hander Luca Dalatri just turned in as a soph omore could certainly be labeled a breakout, but according to Dalatri and his coaches, it was by no means a surprise. “I thought we’d have a pretty good offensive team coming into the season, and he was our only pitcher coming back so we were going to be asking a lot of him,” CBA coach Marty Kenney said. “We were asking him to take the ball every start and shut teams down and realistically, I was expecting 10 wins out of him. I knew he could do it because he did it whenever we gave him the ball last year. He lost two games when we didn’t score more than a run for him, so it was just a matter of him maturing a little bit and getting a little bit more support behind him.” Dalatri became the first CBA pitcher since current Boston Red Sox prospect Pat Light in 2008 to finish a season 11-0. After helping lead the Colts to Monmouth County and Shore Conference Tournament titles during his unbeaten season, he is the Shore Sports Network Pitcher of the Year.
In 72 1/3 innings this season, Dalatri allowed 37 hits, walked 12, struck out 90 and posted an earned-run average of 0.39 – the second-best single-season ERA in CBA’s illustrious history behind former Philadelphia Phillies’ draft pick Kyle Slate’s 0.38 ERA in 2007. Dalatri earned a win in each of the 11 games in which he appeared, which included one relief appearance in a Shore Conference Tournament round-of-16 win over eventual Group I champion Shore Regional. Dalatri pitched a complete game in nine of his 10 starts, including five shutouts and five tournament complete games.
“It’s a good feeling knowing that every time I took the mound, our team was able to win,” Dalatri said after finishing off his season with a win over Barnegat in the Shore Conference Tournament final on June 1. “That’s the goal of any pitcher: to give his team a chance to win the game. It’s the result of a lot of hard work in the offseason and a really strong group of guys around me.”
The perfect season from its ace was the catalyst in a return to glory for CBA, which won its first Monmouth County Tournament championship in six years and then won its first SCT title since 2002, which was then the third of three straight titles. Dalatri accounted for two of CBA’s Monmouth County wins and won all four of its SCT games, including shutouts of both Ocean County Tournament finalists – OCT champion Central in the SCT quarterfinals and Barnegat in the SCT final. In the SCT final at FirstEnergy Park in Lakewood, Dalatri pitched a seven-hit shutout with nine strikeouts and one walk against the Bengals.
Freehold Township twice fell victim to Dalatri, the only team that faced him twice during the season. Although the Patriots scored a combined three runs in the two games, Dalatri held one of the Shore’s best lineups to eight hits in 14 innings while running a 19-to-0 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Against non-public rival Red Bank Catholic and its ace, Al Molina, in the SCT semifinal, Dalatri pitched an eight-inning complete game against another powerful offense. He allowed five hits and walked a season-high three, but also whiffed 10 Caseys while outlasting Molina in a 2-1, extrainning win for the Colts.
Without Dalatri on the mound, the Colts were a modest 7-8 and escaped with an extra-inning win over St. Rose in the MCT round of 16 and outhit Colts Neck for a 9-5 win in the MCT final.
File Photos by:
Bill Normile
www.billnormile.zenfolio.com
Cliff Lavelle
www.clearedge.zenfolio.com
FOR COLOR RE-PRINTS OF ANY PAGES C ontac t: Stev en M eyer 7 32- 233- 4 4 60
stev e. m eyer @to wnsq uarem ed ia. co m
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2014 Baseball Final Top 10 I
By Matt Manley – Senior Staff Writer
n the opinion of some, 2014 was supposed to be a “down year” for the Shore Conference. After two months of baseball, that now seems like a head-scratching assessment. Not only did the Shore Conference capture three NJSIAA Group championships for the first time in history, it also featured a host of committed Division I arms and two sophomores who appear on their way to hearing their names called in the 2016 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.
The regular season and postseason told conflicting stories in the case of several teams and in the end – as is the case with any high school sports – the season comes down to winning postseason championships. That should be the overriding theme of these final rankings, which have plenty of championship flavor. 1. St. John Vianney (20-7, 12-2)
The first two tournaments of the season were unkind to St. John Vianney, but the Lancers won what turned out to be a very deep Shore Conference Class A Central race and finished the year by winning an NJSIAA championship in the state’s most competitive group – Non-Public A – for the first time since 1981. There are some teams that can claim they took down the mighty Lancers in April, but when the calendar turned to May and the games counted, St. John Vianney was the class of the Shore, as well as the state. They are the first Shore Conference team to finish ranked No. 1 in the state since Toms River South in 1994.
6. Shore (19-9, 8-6)
A Group I championship doesn’t necessarily guarantee a top-10 ranking in the Shore Conference, but Shore beat two legitimate state powers on the way to the title in Middlesex and 28-win Pennsville. Before winning the program’s first state championship since 1993, Shore did some quality work by beating Red Bank Catholic during the regular season and Toms River South in the Shore Conference Tournament opening round. Any team that wins two tournament games at Ken Frank Stadium in one season deserves its share of praise.
7. Freehold Township (17-7, 10-4)
The Patriots were the darlings of the Shore Conference prior to the Shore Conference Tournament, which featured Freehold Township as its No. 1 seed. Then they lost to Red Bank Catholic in the SCT quarterfinals and stumbled against No. 15 seed Marlboro in the first round of the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV playoffs. During the season, though, Freehold Township beat the likes of CBA, Red Bank Catholic, Wall and Colts Neck (twice).
8. Central (15-10, 7-7)
Winning the Ocean County Tournament championship not only gave Central its first championship since 1987, but it also gave the Golden Eagles a third win in three tries over No. 3 Barnegat, which included a win over lefthanded ace Jason Groome. The only thing that prevented Central from potentially building on that championship was that ace Andrew DiPiazza developed bone spurs in his pitching elbow and was shut down after beating Toms River North in the OCT semifinals.
9. Wall (21-6, 12-0)
A 21-win season and a perfect season within Class B North is enough to propel Wall into the top 10. The Crimson Knights lost as the No. 1 seed to Luca Dalatri and CBA in the Monmouth County Tournament quarterfinals and also fell to Barnegat on a neutral field in the Shore Conference Tournament semifinals. Wins over Toms River North, Brick and Ocean in tournament settings were enough to get the Shore Conference leader in team wins into the top 10.
10. Colts Neck (16-6, 11-3)
The Cougars nab the final top-10 spot on the strength of an outright Class A North championship that included a win over No. 2 CBA in the second meeting between the teams. The lone marks against Colts Neck were a loss to Brick at home in the Shore Conference Tournament first round and two regular-season losses to Freehold Township.
The Next Wave
Toms River East (17-8, 10-4) – When was the last time no Toms River team was ranked in the final top 10? The Raiders have a legitimate gripe, but they also don’t have a win over any of the teams in the top 10.
Jackson Liberty (15-12, 10-4) – The Lions won a very competitive Class B South division, but couldn’t get over the hump during the tournament season. 2. Christian Brothers Academy (18-8, 8-6)
The Colts won two tournaments this year and were eliminated from the third by the only team ahead of them in the rankings. There was a rough stretch of the regular season between winning the Monmouth County Tournament championship and the Shore Conference Tournament that cost CBA a chance to win the Class A North division title, but at their best, the Colts were as good as anyone.
3. Barnegat (20-10, 7-7)
The anguish of losing in three different tournament championship games and enduring a bad week that cost them a chance at the Class B South championship will probably stay with the Barnegat players through the offseason. With that being said, there is some good news for the Bengals. They return three standout pitchers and the top three most productive hitters in their lineup next season. They also became the first team in program history to reach SCT, OCT and NJSIAA sectional finals as well as winning a school-record 20 games. Considering the youth of the team and of the program, 2014 was an exceedingly impressive year. Many will likely contest that Group IV champion Jackson Memorial should be in this spot, but consider this: Barnegat not only beat Jackson Memorial 80 in their lone meeting, but the Bengals also went 6-0 against common opponents between the teams, while the Jaguars were 3-3. There’s even a case for Barnegat to be the No. 1 team based on a head-to-head win over St. John Vianney earlier in the year.
4. Jackson Memorial (20-7, 10-4)
On pure body of work, it’s possible to harp on a few of Jackson Memorial’s losses – namely to Brick, Barnegat, Toms River South and Monmouth in May. When the end of the season was staring them in the face, however, the Jaguars rallied to win six state tournament games and capture their first state championship since 1972. Jackson Memorial also won a share of the Class A South championship and reached the Ocean County Tournament semifinals before running into Barnegat and ace Jason Groome.
5. Red Bank Catholic (20-7, 11-3)
The Caseys are the first team on the list that didn’t do anything astounding over the course of their season, but RBC was a capable team that was good from start-to-finish and grabbed some quality wins along the way. RBC beat St. John Vianney and Freehold Township during its run to the Shore Conference Tournament semifinals, which is enough to boost one of the Shore’s five 20-win team to a top-five spot.
Ocean (19-8, 8-4) – The Spartans quietly won 19 games and sported one of the top pitching staffs in the
conference.
Toms River North (15-9, 9-5) – Despite losing returning starting pitcher Steve Slagmolen midseason, the Mariners had a strong campaign with some very good pieces set to return in 2015.
Monmouth (13-13) – It was an up-and-down season for the Falcons, but any team that has wins over three of the six state champions (St. John Vianney, Shore and Jackson Memorial) deserves major recognition
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Shore Wins Carpenter Cup Behind Dominant Pitching
A
By Matt Manley – Senior Staff Writer
fter watching his starting pitchers dominate for the first three games of the Carpenter Cup, Jersey Shore manager Cip Apicelli had any number of options for starting pitchers in Friday’s championship game against Burlington County at Citizens Bank Park.
Instead of making the difficult decision for himself, he decided to let his eventual starter – Brick senior Evan Lobato – make it for him.
“I was at our end-of-season pool party last night and I got a text from Evan telling me he really wanted the ball to start the game tomorrow,” said Apicelli, who is the head coach at Ocean Township. “Our assistants were there so I showed them the text, and I said to them, ‘This kid really wants the ball. I’ve got to give it to him.’ And then he goes out and shoves it for three innings and that paves the way for what we do.”
picelli’s decision paid off, but then again, any of his many choices was likely to pay off with the way the Shore pitching staff performed over the four games of the tournament. Lobato pitched the first three innings of the second Jersey Shore shutout of the tournament, a 2-0 win over Burlington
County Friday that gave the club its first Carpenter Cup championship since 2010 and fourth overall. The shutout also marked the first time in the 29-year history of the Cup that a team threw two shutouts in the same tournament.
“This is one of the best groups I’ve ever been around, especially at the high school level,” Apicelli. “Kid after kid has good velocity and the ability to get guys out. It’s so impressive to watch because we’ve got (Jason) Groome and (Luca) Dalatri, who you’ve heard about all year, but then there’s Wares, Serreino and you could just go down the line. They’re all (good).”
Lobato’s three shutout innings to begin the game made him the fourth Shore pitcher to throw three shutout innings in a single game, with Barnegat’s Jason Groome and Howell’s Ryan Wares each doing it twice. Lobato struck out five while allowing just a walk and a hit, making it the fourth time in the four tournament games that a Shore pitcher struck out at
least five in three shutout innings. In addition to Lobato, Colts Neck lefthander Chris Murphy struck out five in three innings during Thursday’s semifinal win over Delaware County and Groome did it twice, including a six-strikeout outing in the team’s opening-round win.
“Pitching on this staff has been unbelievable,” Lobato said. “You have faith in everyone that comes in and you know they’re not going to let up a
VOLUME-VI run. Four runs in 36 innings against this competition is one of the best runs you’re ever going to see. It’s unreal.”
Lobato’s lone challenge from Burlington came in the top of the second inning when Northern Burlington’s Zach Gakeler and Florence’s Mike Muchowski began the frame with a single and a walk. Red Bank Catholic shortstop and Phillies 29th-round draft pick Al Molina then snared a line drive for the first out and Lobato ended the threat by striking out the next batter and inducing an inningending foul out to Colts Neck first baseman Tyler Kapuscinski.
“I was really amped up out there, and I was just trying to focus and make my pitches,” Lobato said. “I didn’t feel like I had my best fastball today, so I made some adjustments and focused more on hitting some spots. (Wall catcher Dan) Wondrack did a great job calling pitches for me, and we just found a way to get it done.”
out the tournament with his second save in as many days. Burlington put the tying run on first base with two out, but Serreino sealed the game with a called strike three on a curveball. The two baserunners were the first allowed by Serreino, who struck out six over his four tournament innings and did not walk a batter.
Toms River South senior center fielder Russell Messler had a hand in each Jersey Shore run, which came in consecutive innings. The senior ripped a double down the left-field line to lead off the fourth, and after advancing to third on a ground out by Molina, he scored on a passed ball to give the Shore the first run of the game. Messler then drove in the second Shore run with a sacrifice fly to deep center field in the bottom of the fifth after Kapuscinski singled to lead off the inning, Manasquan second baseman Tommy Toole walked and both advanced a base on a wild pitch with one out.
Wares followed Lobato with his second three-inning scoreless Brick senior Evan Lobato outing of the tournament, both of which came in the two Shore “I just took advantage of shutouts. The Rutgers University recruit needed only 28 pitches to navigate fastballs over the plate,” Messler said. “With runners on second and third through the nine outs he recorded and the right-hander allowed one hit and in that (third) at-bat, I was just trying to get a piece of the ball, get it did not walk a batter while striking out one. somewhere and get a run in.”
Groome fired two scoreless innings over the seventh and eighth to cap a spotless tournament. The 6-foot-5 sophomore left-hander allowed a hit and a walk while striking out two less than 24 hours after throwing three hitless innings with five strikeouts in Thursday’s semifinal. For the tournament, Groome allowed four hits and two walks while striking out 13 in eight scoreless innings.
The Shore pitching staff was also without Christian Brothers Academy sophomore Luca Dalatri, who is away visiting several colleges, including the University of Kentucky, the University of South Carolina and Clemson University, according the Carpenter Cup staff.
“From playing to coaching, I don’t know if I’ve seen a kid better than that kid (Groome),” said Apicelli, who is a 2001 Ocean graduate and a former infielder at Monmouth University. “And Dalatri is not far behind him. But even the other guys (on the staff); they don’t get the same recognition, but they’re all awesome. I’ll gladly take any one of them on my team.”
ackson Liberty right-hander and Seton Hall recruit Dan Serreino closed
After battling a hamstring injury for the majority of his senior season, Messler came alive over the final two games of the Carpenter Cup. He ripped an RBI single in his final at-bat in Thursday’s semifinal, and after grounding out in his first at-bat Friday, squared two balls up in his final two at-bats.
“It felt good to do this with this group,” Messler said. “I played travel ball over the summer with a lot of these guys and even the guys who didn’t know each other came together and formed a good bond. A lot of us played against great pitchers during the year. I know I saw a lot of great pitching in the A South, playing with (Coach) Kenny (Frank), so this was something that was pretty exciting, but I was ready for it.”
Messler hit .500 or better in each of his first two varsity seasons in 2012 and 2013 while earning first-team All-Shore honors in each campaign. With his ailing hamstring Messler posted career-lows in nearly every major offensive category, but those career lows still exceed the numbers of nearly any high school outfielder. He hit .375 with four home runs, six doubles, three triples, 19 runs, 18 RBI and eight stolen bases. Only his four home
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runs were better than his previous career-low, but despite the injury troubles, he did not miss time in the lineup and spent just a brief stint as the designated hitter. “It was an up-and-down year for me,” Messler said. “It’s not something I’m used to, but it happens. That’s life. You just get over it and try to get better.
“Even though my hamstring was the way it was and it hurt a lot, this was my last year and I’ve got to play no matter what and see what happens. I’m not going to worry about how good I do. Just go out and play.” After initially committing to Rutgers University, Messler is set to attend Howard College, a junior college in Texas with a strong baseball program.
“I was looking forward to Rutgers, but this is just a better fit for me right now,” Messler said. “From everything I’ve been told, there is a lot of exposure down there and my goal is to go work hard and have a couple of good years and if all goes well, maybe I can come back up here and end up at Rutgers or somewhere else.” The Shore catchers also helped out their pitching staff, with Wondrack and Christian Brothers Academy sophomore Brandon Martorano each throwing out a potential base-stealer at second on the only attempt they faced.
Kapuscinski went 2-for-2 in his two plate appearances with a double to the right-center gap and a run scored.
The Carpenter Cup began in 1986 and has since provided a forum in which the top players in the tri-state area of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware could showcase their talents in a tournament setting. With its fourth championship, Jersey Shore trails only Olympic Colonial of South Jersey (five titles) for the most Carpenter Cup titles. The Shore entered this year’s tournament with the top all-time winning percentage of ay team and built on it with its four wins in four games. Jersey Shore is now 39-19 (.672 winning percentage) all-time, and after allowing only four runs in four games, the 2014 version of the Shore has a case as the best of the four championship teams.
“When I looked at the names we picked, my first thought was, ‘How many of these kids are we actually going to get to play?’” Apicelli said. “When all of them said that they were in, and we laid out what the pitching was going to look like, I thought this had a chance to be the best team to ever come out of the Shore Conference. After seeing what these guys did over these four games, I think there’s a strong case to be made that they are actually the best.”
by:
Matt Manley www.shoresportsnetwork.com Photos by:
Doug Bostwick
www.sportshotswlb.com
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