Baseball – Another Howell Hitter, Plus a Red Bank Catholic Sophomore Week 4 Share Player of the Week Spotlight
Ocean County Sports Medicine Week 4 Player of the Week
Russell Halvorsen, Howell
Another week, another huge performance by a Howell hitter and another shirt to deliver to Howell's homer haven.
This time, it is Howell's junior outfielder who reeled in the winning vote total. Halvorsen not only put up big numbers during Week 4 – .591 with four doubles, three home runs, 13 runs and seven RBI – but he came through in the clutch multiple times. The junior went 4-for-4 with two home runs in an 8-7 win over Middletown North in the Monmouth County Tournament round of 16 and the second of the two was a walk-off homer in the bottom of the eighth.
Halvorsen also doubled and hit a game-tying single the next day in a 12-11 loss to Wall, with the run-scoring single up the middle capping a seven-run rally that eliminated an 11-4 deficit.
Halvorsen scored 23.7 percent of the vote for the week and beat out a crowded field of challengers: Alex D'Ambrosio of Marlboro (17.7 percent), Nate Clayton of Point Beach (16.6), Brady Leach of Brick Memorial (14.3) and Gavin Degnan of Donovan Catholic (13.7).
Ocean County Sports Medicine Week 4 Pitcher of the Week
Steve Svenson, Red Bank Catholic
Svenson standing on the mound was a good sign for Red Bank Catholic during the fourth week of the season. The Caseys went 3-0 in games in which the sophomore right-hander appeared and 1-1 without him.
Svenson was credited with two of those wins for himself, pitching 4 1/3 innings in a win over Ocean to start the week and pitching two innings of relief to earn the win over CBA in the Monmouth County Tournament on Saturday. Svenson then pitched the final 2 1/3 innings of a 9-2 win over Freehold Township to close out the MCT quarterfinal win on Sunday.
Pushing into the following week, Svenson had what might have been his most impressive outing to date. Pitching in relief against No. 1 Rumson-Fair Haven, the sophomore right-hander pitched two scoreless innings with one hit allowed and struck out the last five batters that he faced.
Svenson pulled in 38.7 percent of the vote to win by a comfortable margin, which topped Manalapan's Dylan Shaffer (21 percent) and Jackson Liberty's Ethan Bloomfield (18.6).
For winning the Player and Pitcher of the Week awards, both Halvorsen and Svenson will receive a Player of the Week shirt courtesy of Ocean County Sports Medicine.
2022 Player/Pitcher of the Week Winners
Week 1: Cristian Bernardini, Manalapan/Dan Furlong, Howell
Week 2: Colin Matuschat, Point Beach/Stephen DeMilio, Pinelands
Week 3: Thomas Strauch, Howell/Tyler Bell, Central
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