June 24, 2014 Volume-VI Issue-12

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Featuredin This Issue

32014 SSN Al l -ShoreLacrosse Teams

6All-Shore BaseballCoach of the Year

122014 Final BaseballTop Ten

14-15Shore WinsCarpenter Cup

8 -102014 SSN Players of the Year

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Shore Sports Network is proud to unveil its 2014 All-Shore teams and season-ending award winners featuring thetop performers from the 2014 Shore Conference lacrosse season.

First TeamDylan Jinks, Jr.,Attack, Southern The Shore Sports Network

Player of the Year, Jinks set aShore Conference record with astate-best 93 goal while adding ateam-high 43 assists for 136points. He was fourth in NewJersey in scoring. He scored fivegoals or more in seven games andscored at least four goals in 16 ofSouthern’s 23 games. He scoredthe game-winning goal in overtimewhen Southern defeated Lenape,11-10, to win the South JerseyGroup IV title for the secondseason in a row. Selected as theClass A South Player of the Yearby the coaches. A University of Hartford commit, Jinks will beginhis senior season with 198 goals and 304 points.

Colin Shea, Sr., Attack, RFHScored 35 goals and added

a team-high 32 assists for ateam-leading 67 points. Alsofielded 24 ground balls.Scored a season-high fourgoals and had three assists inwins over Caldwell and St.Rose. Had two goals and twoassists when Rumsondefeated Southern to win arecord fourth straight ShoreConference Tournament title.An all-division pick by thecoaches in Class A Centraland 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, WallRegistered team highs in all

offensive scoring categories with52 goals and 31 assists for 83points. Also fielded 35 groundballs. A first team all-divisionselection by the coaches in Class ANorth and a first team All-Shorepick by the Shore ConferenceLacrosse Coaches Association.Committed to Division II MercyCollege.

Chris Hubler, Sr.,Midfield, RFHThe 2014 Class A Central

Player of the Year, Hubler scored25 goals and added 16 assists for41 points to help the Bulldogs winthe Shore Conference Tournamentfor a record fourth straight year.He was second on the team with74 ground balls. Had a season-high four goals and five points inthe SCT final victory overSouthern. Had a season-best eightground balls in a win over NewProvidence in the NJSIAA SouthJersey Group I semifinals.Selected as an All-Shore first-team midfielder by the ShoreConference Lacrosse Coaches Association. Will continue hiscareer at Division I Johns Hopkins University.

Jake Smolokoff, Sr., Midfield, RBRScored 57 goals and notched 36

assists for 93 points. Fielded 64ground balls. Scored a season-highnine points in a win overMiddletown South and had aseason-high six goals in a victoryover Ranney. Picked up a season-high nine ground balls in a victoryover Marlboro. A first team all-division pick by the coaches inClass A North and a first team All-Shore selection by the ShoreConference Lacrosse CoachesAssociation. Signed to play atDivision I New Jersey Institute ofTechnology for the program’sinaugural season.

Shawn McManus, Jr., Midfield,Southern Southern’s pace-setter on

offense, McManus scored51 goals and added 40assists for 91 points. Hehad eight games scoring atleast three goals and sixgames dishing out three ormore assists. Registered aseason-high five goals inback-to-back wins overJackson Liberty and TomsRiver South, and hadseven-point games againstToms River South andEastern, the latter comingin the state playoffs.

J.T. Jennings, Sr., Defense, RFHFielded 22 ground balls and had 17

takeaways for the top-rankedBulldogs. Picked up his only point ofthe season with an assist versus NewProvidence in the state tournament.Had a season-high five ground ballsin a win over Colts Neck in the ShoreConference Tournament semifinals.Rumson went on to win its recordfourth straight SCT title. A first-teamall-division selection in Class ACentral by the coaches and an All-Shore first team selection by theShore Conference Lacrosse CoachesAssociation. Committed to Division ISiena 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-divisionselection by the coaches in Class A Central and a first team All-Shore defenseman as selected by the Shore Conference LacrosseCoaches association.

Matt Pieringer, Jr., Defense, RBCThe Caseys’ top defender fielded 40 ground balls this season,

including a season-high six in an 8-6 victory over FreeholdTownship, for a defense that yielded 6.5 goals per game. A first-team all-division selection by the coaches in Class A Central. Hasreceived 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 of71.9. He also had four games in which he made 20 or more saves,including a ridiculous 25-save performance in a 5-4 overtimevictory over St. John Vianney. He also had 20 saves versusRoxbury, and 21 against both South Jersey Group I finalists,Rumson-Fair Haven and A.L. Johnson.

Billy Dowd, Sr., Face-off Specialist, SouthernSouthern’s ace FOGO won 299 of 398 face-offs this season for a

.751 winning percentage. He had four games where he wentunbeaten on draws, and had eight games where he won 15 or moreface-offs. His season-high came against Toms River North onApril 2 when he won 22 of 24 draws. Healso went 20-for-25 in a winover Brick on April 19. In theShore ConferenceTournament final, Dowdwon 16 of 28 drawsagainst Rumson-Fair

2014 SSN All-Shore Lacrosse TeamThe All-Shore teams, along with the player and coach of the year, were selected by staff writer Bob Badders.

SSN All-ShoreCon t i n u e d o n p a g e 4

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Photos by

C l i f f Lave l lewww.clearedge.zenfolio.com

SSN Coach of the Year: Ryan Dalon, BarnegatBy Bob Badders – Senior Staff Writer

The early years of Barnegat’s lacrosse programwere lean, to say the least. In the program’s firstfive seasons the Bengals won just eight games,and even when they turned it around in 2012 withtheir first winning season, they were never viewedas 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 finalistSouthern while also winning the first Shore Conference Tournamentgame in program history. Head coach Ryan Dalon coached through thosetough times, slowing building the program into a unit the rest of theShore had to respect.In recognition of Barnegat’s breakout season, Dalon has been selected

as the Shore Sports Network Shore Conference Lacrosse Coach of theYear.The Bengals began the season 11-0, which included wins over division

rivals Jackson Memorial and Lacey. In the first round of the ShoreConference Tournament, Barnegat went on the road as the No. 10 seed

and defeated No. 7 Wall, 12-10, for the program’s most significantvictory to date. It proved the Bengals could do more than just dominatethe weaker teams in Ocean County. Barnegat would lose to Southern, 11-2, in the next round, but came back a week later and nearly stunned theRams in the A South title game before falling 9-8 in overtime.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, alongwith up-and-coming attackman Ryan Reynolds.The dark ages are well behind Barnegat, and the future looks plenty

bright.

Haven’s Ryan Campbell. He also won 14 of 22face-offs to help Southern defeat Lenape in theSouth Jersey Group IV final. Scored three goalsand five assists. A first-team Class A South andsecond-team All-Shore selection by the ShoreConference Lacrosse Coaches Association.

Second TeamAttack: Brendan Mullen, Sr., SouthernAttack: Matt McGuiness, Sr., CBA

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

Attack: Blaine Birch, Sr., Manasquan

Attack: Mark Scherzer, Sr., Holmdel

Attack: David Kearns, Sr. Brick

Midfield : Joe Murphy, Sr.,Manasquan

Midfield: Billy Sasso, Jr., Freehold Twp

Midfield: Chris Sutphen, Sr., RFH

Defense: Conner Phillips, Sr., RFH

Defense: Zach Bradley, Sr., Red Bank

Defense: Greg Moran, Sr., Barnegat

Goalie: Bobby Graziano, Sr., Ocean

Specialist – Vinny Celidonio, Sr. LSM,Jackson Mem.

SSN All-ShoreCon t i n u e d f r om p a g e 3

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St. John Vianney coach Mike Morganenvisioned big things for his 2014 seniorclass from the time they entered theprogram before the 2011 season andparticularly when they became acomplete class in 2012 with the transferof former Holmdel slugger Joe Rotelli.Yet on May 22 of this year, there werethe Lancers, winless in their last fourNJSIAA tournament games andwithout any deep runs in either the Shore Conference orMonmouth County Tournaments during the three-plus-year period that the promising class had spent withMorgan.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 simplemessage 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 mychampionship; it’s your championship and you guys are going to determinehow far you take this. Before the state tournament, I just told them that aslong as we keep winning, you guys get to keep playing together. If youdon’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 theNJSIAANon-PublicGroup A finalfor the firsttime since1981. In aseason inwhich hewon his100th careergame as ahead coachand brought

St. John Vianney its first state title in more than three decades, Morgan isthe 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 adoubt in my mind that they were capable of something like this, and I justhoped for their sake they could get on a run like they got on. It’s satisfyingfor me because I know how hard these seniors worked for four years and tosee 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-PublicA championship is a different animal than the other five championships. Inorder to win its first state championship in 33 years, St. John Vianney hadto beat Bishop Eustace, Christian Brothers Academy, Gloucester Catholicand St. Joseph in consecutive games. Bishop Eustace spent several weeksas the No. 1 team in the state, according to the Newark-Star Ledger; CBAfinished as the No. 2 team in the Shore Sports Network Top 10; andGloucester 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, outsluggedCBA, 13-9, and walked off with a 3-2 win over Gloucester Catholic juniorace and Maryland recruit John Murphy in the South Jersey final at RowanUniversity.“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 ornot,’” said Rotelli, who made the move to Vianney in 2012 after starting asa freshman with the Hornets in 2011. “I knew this was the team that gaveme 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 andShore Conference Tournaments, the Lancers dethroned Red Bank Catholicas the Class A Central division champion by going 12-2 in division play andbeating 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 asthe Vianney head coach. During his high school playing days, Morgandeveloped his championship pedigree as a member of Manasquan’s back-to-back state championship football teams in 1990 and 1991 underlegendary 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 Ialso understand the impact coach Kubu had and as a coach, you just try toget them pointed in the right direction and give them what they need. I trulybelieved this group was going to end up where they did, and it’s because ofhow special they are individually and how special they became when theybecame a team.”

Baseball Coach of the Year: SJV’s Mike Morgan By Matt Manley – Staff Writer

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His shot :LETHAL.His numbers :ABSURD.It was common knowledge in the Shore Conference that

Southern Regional junior attackman Dylan Jinks was one of thetop offensive players in the Shore and in New Jersey after twotremendous varsity seasons, but what he accomplished in 2014 wassimply unbelievable.

Jinks scored a Shore Conference single-season record and state-leading 93 goalswhile adding a team-high 43 assists for 136 points, which placed him fourth in thestate in total scoring. He scored five goals or more in a game seven times, and hadnine more where he scored four goals. He also finished with three games of 10points or better.

In the NJSIAA South Jersey Group IV semifinals, Old Bridge went as far as toassign two players to Jinks, limiting him to one assist in the only game all season inwhich he didn’t score a goal. Jinks’ response in the very next gamewas a brilliant five-goal, four-assist performance that includedthe game-winning goal in overtime in an 11-10 win overLenape for the South Jersey Group IV title.

“He’s a special player,” said Southern head coach JohnPampalone after the win over Lenape. “He has those gameswhere he just isn’t going to be denied.”

Even more remarkable is that Jinks’ gaudy numbers came ona team that featured another 100-point scorer in BrendanMullen and a 91-point season from Shawn McManus.

His state line for this season eclipses the career totals of plenty ofexcellent graduating seniors around the state. Jinks, a University of Hartford commit, will enter his senior season with 198 career goals and 304points. He’s already helped Southern capture back-to-back Class A South division titles and consecutive state sectional titles, and next year he islooking to lead Southern to its first group title.

“We’re going to come out next year and go as hard as we can,” Jinkssaid. “Hopefully we’ll make it back here and it’ll be a different ending.”

By Bob Badders – Senior Staff Writer

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Centra l Reg iona l sen ior r i ght -hander And rew D iP iazzareturned fo r the 2014 season as the de fend ing A l lShore Media /Shore Spo rts Network P itche r of theYear, but d id not repeat as the w inner o f the awardfor th ree pr imary reasons : 1 ) An ear ly -season l imi ton p itches; 2 ) a l ate -season in ju ry and 3 )h is tor ica l l y great seasons by two othe r Sho reConference p it che rs .

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 theseason and a bout with bone spurs in his pitching elbow late in the season, DiPiazza still turnedin one of the best offensive seasons in the recent history of the Golden Eagles program whileleading 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 thebest hitters in the Shore Conference. Among Shore Conference hitters, he finished in the top 20 inbatting average (.423), the top 10 in on-base percentage (.533), and the top five in sluggingpercentage (.732). He also finished second in the Shore with five home runs behind only St. JohnVianney slugger Joe Rotelli (six) and tied for 11th in the conference with 23 RBI. His .732slugging also set a Central school record for a single season.

“When I was a little kid, I always told people that I was going tobe a Major League hitter,” DiPiazza – who had never hit .300 in a season priorto this season and had two career home runs to his name – said after winning the OceanCounty championship. “I used to take 500 swings every day trying tomake myself a great hitter, and my first three years of highschool, I was terrible. This last year, I knew this was a bigoffseason for me so I didn’t do any hitting and just focused onpitching. 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 gamesof the OCT, DiPiazza went 5-for-10 with a home run and three RBI, including a 2-for-4game 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 hisbest work on the mound. Although he was limited to 44 2/3 innings, the Universityof Alabama recruit finished in the top-10 in five major categories among qualifiedShore Conference starting pitchers. He finished fifth in earned-run average(0.94), third in WHIP (0.76), 10th in total strikeouts (61), sixth instrikeouts-per-seven-innings (9.56) and ninth in strikeout-to-walkratio (5.03).

By Matt Manley – Senior Staff Writer

FOR COLOR RE-PRINTS OF ANY PAGESContact: Steven Meyer 732-233-4460 steve.meyer@townsquaremedia.com

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The 2014 season that Chr i s t ian Bro the rs Academyr igh t -hander Luca Da lat r i j ust tu rned in as asophomore cou ld ce rta in ly be l abe led a breakout , butacco rd ing to Da la t r i and h is coaches , i t was by nomeans a surp r i se .

“I thought we’d have a pretty good offensive team coming into the season, and he was our onlypitcher 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 wasexpecting 10 wins out of him. I knew he could do it because he did it whenever we gave him theball last year. He lost two games when we didn’t score more than a run for him, so it was just amatter 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 2008to finish a season 11-0. After helping lead the Colts to Monmouth County and Shore ConferenceTournament 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 anearned-run average of 0.39 – the second-best single-season ERA in CBA’s illustrious historybehind former Philadelphia Phillies’ draft pick Kyle Slate’s 0.38 ERA in 2007. Dalatri earneda win in each of the 11 games in which he appeared, which included one relief appearance ina Shore Conference Tournament round-of-16 win over eventual Group I champion ShoreRegional. Dalatri pitched a complete game in nine of his 10 starts, including five shutoutsand five tournament complete games.

“It’s a good feeling knowing that every time Itook the mound, our team was able to win,”Dalatri said after finishing off his season witha win over Barnegat in the Shore ConferenceTournament final on June 1. “That’s the goalof any pitcher: to give his team a chance towin the game. It’s the result of a lot of hardwork in the offseason and a really stronggroup 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. Dalatriaccounted for two of CBA’s Monmouth County wins and won all four of its SCT games, including shutouts of both Ocean CountyTournament finalists – OCT champion Central in the SCT quarterfinals and Barnegat in the SCT final. In the SCT final atFirstEnergy 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 Patriotsscored a combined three runs in the two games, Dalatri held one of the Shore’s best lineups to eight hits in 14 innings whilerunning 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 againstanother powerful offense. He allowed five hits and walked a season-high three, but also whiffed 10 Caseys while outlasting Molina in a 2-1, extra-inning 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 andouthit Colts Neck for a 9-5 win in the MCT final.

By Matt Manley – Senior Staff Writer

File Photos by: B i l l N o rm i l e w w w . b i l l n o r m i l e . z e n f o l i o . c o m

C l i f f Lave l lewww.clearedge.zenfolio.com

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In the opinion of some, 2014 was supposed to be a “down year” for the ShoreConference. After two months of baseball, that now seems like a head-scratchingassessment. Not only did the Shore Conference capture three NJSIAA Groupchampionships for the first time in history, it also featured a host of committedDivision I arms and two sophomores who appear on their way to hearing theirnames 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 postseasonchampionships. That should be the overriding theme of these final rankings, which have plenty ofchampionship 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 tobe a very deep Shore Conference Class A Central race and finished the year by winning an NJSIAA championshipin the state’s most competitive group – Non-Public A – for the first time since 1981. There are some teams that canclaim 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 finishranked No. 1 in the state since Toms River South in 1994.

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 inthe rankings. There was a rough stretch of the regular season between winning the Monmouth County Tournamentchampionship and the Shore Conference Tournament that cost CBA a chance to win the Class A North divisiontitle, 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 thema 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 topthree most productive hitters in their lineup next season. They also became the first team in program history toreach SCT, OCT and NJSIAA sectional finals as well as winning a school-record 20 games. Considering the youthof the team and of the program, 2014 was an exceedingly impressive year. Many will likely contest that Group IVchampion Jackson Memorial should be in this spot, but consider this: Barnegat not only beat Jackson Memorial 8-0 in their lone meeting, but the Bengals also went 6-0 against common opponents between the teams, while theJaguars 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. JohnVianney 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, theJaguars rallied to win six state tournament games and capture their first state championship since 1972. JacksonMemorial also won a share of the Class A South championship and reached the Ocean County Tournamentsemifinals 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, butRBC was a capable team that was good from start-to-finish and grabbed some quality wins along the way. RBCbeat 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.

6. Shore (19-9, 8-6)A Group I championship doesn’t necessarily guarantee a top-10 ranking in the Shore Conference, but Shore beattwo legitimate state powers on the way to the title in Middlesex and 28-win Pennsville. Before winning theprogram’s first state championship since 1993, Shore did some quality work by beating Red Bank Catholic duringthe regular season and Toms River South in the Shore Conference Tournament opening round. Any team that winstwo 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, whichfeatured Freehold Township as its No. 1 seed. Then they lost to Red Bank Catholic in the SCT quarterfinals andstumbled against No. 15 seed Marlboro in the first round of the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV playoffs. Duringthe 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 left-handed ace Jason Groome. The only thing that prevented Central from potentially building on that championshipwas that ace Andrew DiPiazza developed bone spurs in his pitching elbow and was shut down after beating TomsRiver 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 CrimsonKnights lost as the No. 1 seed to Luca Dalatri and CBA in the Monmouth County Tournament quarterfinals andalso fell to Barnegat on a neutral field in the Shore Conference Tournament semifinals. Wins over Toms RiverNorth, Brick and Ocean in tournament settings were enough to get the Shore Conference leader in team wins intothe 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 awin over No. 2 CBA in the second meeting between the teams. The lone marks against Colts Neck were a loss toBrick at home in the Shore Conference Tournament first round and two regular-season losses to FreeholdTownship.

The Next WaveToms River East (17-8, 10-4) – When was the last time no Toms River team was ranked in the finaltop 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, butcouldn’t get over the hump during the tournament season.

Ocean (19-8, 8-4) – The Spartans quietly won 19 games and sported one of the top pitching staffs in theconference.

Toms River North (15-9, 9-5) – Despite losing returning starting pitcher Steve Slagmolenmidseason, 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 threeof the six state champions (St. John Vianney, Shore and Jackson Memorial) deserves major recognition

2014 Baseball Final Top 10By Matt Manley – Senior Staff Writer

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After watching his starting pitchersdominate for the first three games of theCarpenter Cup, Jersey Shore manager CipApicelli had any number of options forstarting pitchers in Friday’s championshipgame against Burlington County at CitizensBank 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 fromEvan telling me he really wanted the ball to start the game tomorrow,” saidApicelli, who is the head coach at Ocean Township. “Our assistants werethere so I showed them the text, and I said to them, ‘This kid really wantsthe ball. I’ve got to give it to him.’ And then he goes out and shoves it forthree innings and that paves the way for what we do.”

picelli’s decision paid off, but then again, any of his many choices waslikely to pay off with the way the Shore pitching staff performed over thefour games of the tournament. Lobato pitched the first three innings of thesecond Jersey Shore shutout of the tournament, a 2-0 win over Burlington

County Friday that gave the club itsfirst Carpenter Cup championshipsince 2010 and fourth overall. Theshutout also marked the first time inthe 29-year history of the Cup that ateam threw two shutouts in the sametournament.

“This is one of the best groups I’veever been around, especially at thehigh school level,” Apicelli. “Kidafter kid has good velocity and theability to get guys out. It’s soimpressive to watch because we’vegot (Jason) Groome and (Luca)Dalatri, who you’ve heard about allyear, but then there’s Wares, Serreinoand you could just go down the line.They’re all (good).”

Lobato’s three shutout innings to begin the game made him the fourthShore pitcher to throw three shutout innings in a single game, withBarnegat’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 thefourth 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 left-hander Chris Murphy struck out five in three innings during Thursday’ssemifinal win over Delaware County and Groome did it twice, including asix-strikeout outing in the team’s opening-round win.

“Pitching on this staff has been unbelievable,” Lobato said. “You havefaith in everyone that comes in and you know they’re not going to let up a

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Shore Wins Carpenter Cup BehindDominant PitchingBy Matt Manley – Senior Staff Writer

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run. Four runs in 36 innings against this competition is one of the best runsyou’re ever going to see. It’s unreal.”

Lobato’s lone challenge from Burlington came in the top of the secondinning when Northern Burlington’s Zach Gakeler and Florence’s MikeMuchowski began the frame witha single and a walk. Red BankCatholic shortstop and Phillies29th-round draft pick Al Molinathen snared a line drive for thefirst out and Lobato ended thethreat by striking out the nextbatter and inducing an inning-ending foul out to Colts Neck firstbaseman Tyler Kapuscinski.

“I was really amped up outthere, and I was just trying tofocus and make my pitches,”Lobato said. “I didn’t feel like Ihad my best fastball today, so Imade some adjustments andfocused more on hitting somespots. (Wall catcher Dan)Wondrack did a great job callingpitches for me, and we just founda way to get it done.”

Wares followed Lobato with hissecond three-inning scorelessouting of the tournament, both ofwhich came in the two Shoreshutouts. The Rutgers University recruit needed only 28 pitches to navigatethrough the nine outs he recorded and the right-hander allowed one hit anddid not walk a batter while striking out one.

Groome fired two scoreless innings over the seventh and eighth to cap aspotless tournament. The 6-foot-5 sophomore left-hander allowed a hit anda walk while striking out two less than 24 hours after throwing three hitlessinnings with five strikeouts in Thursday’s semifinal. For the tournament,Groome allowed four hits and two walks while striking out 13 in eightscoreless innings.

The Shore pitching staff was also without Christian Brothers Academysophomore Luca Dalatri, who is away visiting several colleges, includingthe University of Kentucky, the University of South Carolina and ClemsonUniversity, according the Carpenter Cup staff.

“From playing to coaching, I don’t know if I’ve seen a kid better thanthat kid (Groome),” said Apicelli, who is a 2001 Ocean graduate and aformer infielder at Monmouth University. “And Dalatri is not far behindhim. But even the other guys (on the staff); they don’t get the samerecognition, but they’re all awesome. I’ll gladly take any one of them onmy team.”

ackson Liberty right-hander and Seton Hall recruit Dan Serreino closed

out the tournament with his second save in as many days. Burlington putthe tying run on first base with two out, but Serreino sealed the game witha called strike three on a curveball. The two baserunners were the firstallowed by Serreino, who struck out six over his four tournament inningsand did not walk a batter.

Toms River South seniorcenter fielder Russell Messlerhad a hand in each JerseyShore run, which came inconsecutive innings. Thesenior ripped a double downthe left-field line to lead offthe fourth, and afteradvancing to third on aground out by Molina, hescored on a passed ball togive the Shore the first run ofthe game.

Messler then drove in thesecond Shore run with asacrifice fly to deep centerfield in the bottom of thefifth after Kapuscinskisingled to lead off the inning,Manasquan second basemanTommy Toole walked andboth advanced a base on awild pitch with one out.

“I just took advantage offastballs over the plate,” Messler said. “With runners on second and thirdin that (third) at-bat, I was just trying to get a piece of the ball, get itsomewhere and get a run in.”

After battling a hamstring injury for the majority of his senior season,Messler came alive over the final two games of the Carpenter Cup. Heripped an RBI single in his final at-bat in Thursday’s semifinal, and aftergrounding out in his first at-bat Friday, squared two balls up in his finaltwo at-bats.

“It felt good to do this with this group,” Messler said. “I played travelball over the summer with a lot of these guys and even the guys who didn’tknow each other came together and formed a good bond. A lot of us playedagainst great pitchers during the year. I know I saw a lot of great pitchingin the A South, playing with (Coach) Kenny (Frank), so this was somethingthat was pretty exciting, but I was ready for it.”

Messler hit .500 or better in each of his first two varsity seasons in 2012and 2013 while earning first-team All-Shore honors in each campaign. Withhis ailing hamstring Messler posted career-lows in nearly every majoroffensive category, but those career lows still exceed the numbers of nearlyany 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

runs were better than his previous career-low, but despite the injurytroubles, he did not miss time in the lineup and spent just a brief stint as thedesignated hitter.

“It was an up-and-down year for me,” Messler said. “It’s not somethingI’m used to, but it happens. That’s life. You just get over it and try to getbetter.

“Even though my hamstring was the way it was and it hurt a lot, this wasmy last year and I’ve got to play no matter what and see what happens. I’mnot going to worry about how good I do. Just go out and play.”

After initially committing to Rutgers University, Messler is set to attendHoward 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 rightnow,” Messler said. “From everything I’ve been told, there is a lot ofexposure down there and my goal is to go work hard and have a couple ofgood years and if all goes well, maybe I can come back up here and end upat Rutgers or somewhere else.”

The Shore catchers also helped out their pitching staff, with Wondrackand Christian Brothers Academy sophomore Brandon Martorano eachthrowing out a potential base-stealer at second on the only attempt theyfaced.

Kapuscinski went 2-for-2 in his two plate appearances with a double tothe right-center gap and a run scored.

The Carpenter Cup began in 1986 and has since provided a forum inwhich the top players in the tri-state area of New Jersey, Pennsylvania andDelaware could showcase their talents in a tournament setting. With itsfourth championship, Jersey Shore trails only Olympic Colonial of SouthJersey (five titles) for the most Carpenter Cup titles. The Shore entered thisyear’s tournament with the top all-time winning percentage of ay team andbuilt 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 infour games, the 2014 version of the Shore has a case as the best of the fourchampionship teams.

“When I looked at the names we picked, my first thought was, ‘Howmany 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 pitchingwas going to look like, I thought this had a chance to be the best team toever come out of the Shore Conference. After seeing what these guys didover these four games, I think there’s a strong case to be made that they areactually the best.”

by:M a t t M a n l e y

www.shoresportsnetwork.com

Brick senior Evan Lobato

Photos by:Doug Bostwick

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