The Shore Daily, 6/18/15
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With the offseason for Shore Conference sports now in swing, there are still plenty of news tidbits to get you caught up on.
In boys basketball, Class B Central is going to be awfully interesting this coming winter. Former St. Anthony assistant and Cardinal McCarrick head coach Ben Gamble is now at Mater Dei Prep, where he is expected to bring several of the stars from a 21-win McCarrick team from last season now that the school has closed.
Not only that, but former Red Bank Regional and University of Maryland standout Tahj Holden is now the coach at Ranney, which welcomes the most heralded freshman class in the Shore and likely all of New Jersey. Add those two programs to returning co-champions Point Beach and St. Rose, and suddenly the division featuring the Shore's smallest schools that usually takes a backseat to the big boys could soon be home to a host of Top 10 teams.
In baseball, the defending Carpenter Cup champion Jersey Shore squad routed Burlington County, 18-0, with a two-hitter and the mound and 23 hits at the plate to reach Friday's quarterfinals. Next up is a game at Philadelphia's FDR Park against Tri-Cape, which won its opener 19-0, at 2 p.m. on Friday. In the history of the tournament, which began in 1986, the only team to win back-to-back titles is Olympic Colonial in 1991-92, so Jersey Shore hopes to add its name to that piece of history.
The Ocean County American Legion season is also underway, and you can find the latest on that here. As far as the postseason accolades go, here are the coaches' All-Division teams, Matt Manley's final Top 10 rankings, and the final 2015 Shore Conference stat leaders. Coming up next will be Matt's All-Shore selections.
At the big-league level, former Toms River South and Rutgers star Todd Frazier continues to have a monster season. He hit a walk-off grand slam for the Reds on Wednesday night for his 22nd home run and is all but guaranteed to be an all-star when the All-Star Game comes to his home park in Cincinnati next month. Nicely done on the bat flip after the walk-off.
Speaking of all-star games, former Henry Hudson star pitcher Jerry Vasto has been selected to play in the South Atlantic League All-Star Game on June 23 in his home park for the Asheville Tourists, a Colorado Rockies affiliate.
Finally, in college baseball, a Virginia team that needs one win to advance to the best-of-three College World Series finals, will play Florida on Friday night. Virginia features former Jackson Memorial star Matt Thaiss as its starting catcher and middle-of-the-order threat.
In football, the inaugural Gridiron Showcase was held this past weekend at Long Branch, featuring a host of players from Manasquan, Long Branch, Colts Neck, Howell and more participating in the two-day event that featured evaluations and drills by college coaches.
Next on the calendar is the Shore's Best Camp from June 25-28, as well as the one-day camp being run by Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end and former Wall and Rutgers standout Tim Wright on June 26 in Wall.
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