Baseball – Jeans, Toms River North Cool Off No. 1 Jackson Memorial

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JACKSON TWP. - Toms River North junior Robert Jeans, as well as a number of his teammates, proved they could hit during the Mariners' second straight runs to both Ocean County and Shore Conference Tournament titles. Pitching, however, was a different story.

On a team searching for answers on its pitching staff headed into the season, Jeans and his sophomore teammate Russ Thistle gave Toms River North and the rest of the Shore a resounding answer on Tuesday.

Jeans pitched into the fifth inning to earn his second win of the season and plated the second run of the game with an RBI double to help lead the Mariners to a 2-0 win over previously-unbeaten Jackson Memorial - ranked No. 1 in the Shore Sports Network Top 10.

Sophomore Russ Thistle closed out the win with a three-inning save, allowing just one baserunner to reach, which came via a sixth-inning walk by Jackson Memorial junior first baseman Carmine Petosa.

Thistle took over with two on and none out in the fifth after junior second baseman Christian Pellone and senior shortstop Ahmir Cournier led off the inning with back-to-back singles off Jeans. Thistle got senior Alex Iadisernia to ground into a double play and retired junior designated hitter Tom Cartnick on a ground out to shortstop to strand Pellone at third.

Petosa worked a one-out walk in the sixth to bring up junior center fielder Ryan Lasko as the tying run. Toms River North's defense again came through, with junior third baseman Phil Antoniotti snaring Lasko's line drive and firing to first to double off Petosa and end the inning.

The sixth-inning double play prevented Jackson Memorial from turning the lineup over and Thistle retired the Jaguars' Nos. 8 and 9 batters to start the seventh before inducing Pellone into a game-ending fly out to left.

Toms River North struck first against Jaguars junior starter Nick Beetel in the third on an RBI fielder's choice ground out by senior shortstop Dylan Feigin. The rally started when Jackson Memorial committed its first error of the season, ending a streak of 26 innings without and error to start the season The Jaguars committed two more errors in the game.

Jeans came through with his RBI double in the top of the fifth. Feigin finished 2-for-4 with a double and senior left fielder Sean Aguiar was 2-for-3 with a run scored.

Jackson Memorial scored 41 runs in its first four games, including an 8-5 win at Toms River North on Monday. That offensive tear included 22 extra-base hits, but the Jaguars managed only three hits and one extra-base hit on Tuesday. Iadisernia tripled with two out in the third inning for the only extra-base knock and did not score.

Jeans has now pitched eight innings this season and has yet to allow an earned run. He allowed three unearned runs in a win over Brick on Wednesday of last week and struck out eight in that win.