Baseball – 2019 All-Shore Final Vote Winners

The votes are in, the readers have spoken and there are five more players to complete the 2019 Shore Sports Network All-Shore Team. Thank you to everyone who pitched in a vote and congratulations to all the players whose names were on the board, particularly our five winners. Let's meet them...

Catcher

Ryan Goodall, Jr., Toms River East

Goodall put the work in on defense to become the full-time catcher for the Raiders and his year at the plate started off with a bang when he drove in five with a double and a triple in an opening-day win over Central. He also finished strong with a hit in each of Toms River East’s South Jersey Group III Tournament games, including a key seventh-inning double to break-up a no-hitter vs. Ocean City in the sectional quarterfinals and set up a go-ahead two-run home run by classmate Matt Santos.

Infielder

Will Hopkinson, Jr., SS, Manasquan

Since earning the starting shortstop job as a freshman on Manasquan’s 2017 Group II championship team, Hopkinson has been a steady pair of hands in the middle of the infield with a bat that is coming on strong in making him a complete player. Hopkinson tied for second in the Shore Conference with four triples and three of those came in tournament games – including a big RBI triple off All-Shore First-Teamer Shane Panzini in a 1-0 win over Manasquan in the Shore Conference Tournament quarterfinals.

Outfielder

Ramon Fontanes, Jr., CF, Marlboro

By the end of his junior season, Fontanes finished in the top-20 in the Shore Conference in RBI and nearly half of those came in his team’s first three games. During a red-hot start to the season, Fontanes drove in 11 runs while going 6-for-11 at the plate. He also had a key role to play in Marlboro’s two wins in the Central Jersey Group IV Playoffs, in which he went 1-for-4 with an RBI in an opening-round win over Hillsborough and 2-for-3 with two doubles and two RBI in a 10-3 win at Hightstown.

Utility/DH

Matt Santos, Jr., 1B/RHP, Toms River East

The closest of the five Final Vote polls ended with Santos edging out Point Boro junior Sam Young by a mere two votes. That keeps up with Santos’s propensity to come through down the stretch, which is what he did in his final start on the mound this season. The junior right-hander took a no-hitter into the seventh inning of the sectional quarterfinal at Ocean City after he blasted a go-ahead two-run home run in the top of the seventh off Red Raiders ace Brandon Lashley, who took his own no-hit bid into the seventh as well. Santos also drew the leadoff walk that started the game-winning rally in the 10th inning of Toms River East’s memorable sectional quarterfinal win.

Pitcher

Ryan Sekman, Jr., LHP, St. John Vianney

With an injury to returning ace Brendan Martin, Sekman had to step forward as St. John Vianney’s No. 1 pitcher and came through for the Lancers. He opened the season with four quality innings against No. 1 Wall and Pitcher of the Year Trey Dombroski in a 3-0 loss and had his best statistical game when he pitched a four-hit shutout with nine strikeouts in a win over Matawan. Sekman capped his season with an emotional win over Donovan Catholic in the NJSIAA Tournament in which he tossed a two-hit shutout over six innings with six strikeouts.