Baseball Sunday OCT Scoreboard, 5/4/14

Ocean County Tournament - Bracket

Quarterfinals

(4) Barnegat 4, (5) Jackson Liberty 1

Sophomore Jason Groome tossed a five-hitter with 11 strikeouts and two walks to help lead the Bengals past the Lions and into their first ever OCT semifinal round. Barnegat will play at No. 1 Jackson Memorial on Saturday for the right to play in the championship on May 13.

Groome also doubled in Barnegat's four-run third inning and Ed Rogan delivered the key blow in the rally with a two-out, two-run double to make the score 4-1. Rogan finished the game 2-for-3.

With Sunday's win, Groome is now 3-0 against the Lions this season and in those three starts, he has allowed three runs on 10 hits with six walks and 35 strikeouts in 19 innings.

James Sofield allowed just one earned run in five innings of work in taking the loss. Dan Serreino went 2-for-3 at the plate for Jackson Liberty and Kyle Tavaska plated the lone Lions run with an RBI double that momentarily gave the Lions a 1-0 lead in the top of the third.

(1) Jackson Memorial 9, (9) Brick 3

The Jackson Memorial bats came to life in the fifth inning, when the Jaguars scored five runs to erase a three-run deficit and advance past the Green Dragons and into the OCT semifinals. The top-seeded Jaguars will host No. 4 Barnegat on Saturday.

Kyle Johnson, Matt Crispe and Nick Babin all delivered RBI doubles during the fifth inning and Johnson finished 3-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and three RBI to lead the Jackson offense.

Senior left-hander Matt Guarino struck out eight and walked two over six innings of work to improve to 4-0.

(6) Central 2, (3) Toms River South 1

Senior right-hander Andrew DiPiazza threw a one-hitter with one walk and 11 strikeouts and faced just two batters over the minimum to help lead the Golden Eagles to a win over the Indians. Central advances to the OCT semifinals Saturday, when the Golden Eagles will host No. 7 Toms River North.

DiPiazza threw 88 pitches and worked with a fastball in the 87-to-92 miles-per-hour range, according to radar used by the handful of Major League scouts in attendance. He also allowed only three fly balls to the outfield all game long, two of which were shallow fly outs in the seventh inning.

Christian Bearden drove in both Central runs with a two-run double to deep left-center in the top of the third inning, plating John Forrester and Frank Rose.

Russell Messler tagged DiPiazza for a triple to the wall in left-center to lead off the bottom of the fourth and scored on an errant pick-off throw from Central right-hander.

(7) Toms River North 8, (2) Toms River East 4 (10 Innings)

The Mariners scored four runs in the top of the 10th inning, highlighted by a two-run home run by sophomore Jeff Ciervo, to outlast the Raiders in a wild, bizarre OCT quarterfinal showdown between neighboring programs. The defending champions will continue their title defense Saturday at No. 6 Central.

Toms River East rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to tie the game at 4, but could have potentially had more if not for an umpiring error that ended the inning. With his team trailing 4-2, the bases loaded and one out in the seventh, Jerry Caporale hit a ground ball to Toms River North second baseman Joe LaCava and after LaCava flipped the ball to shortstop Joey Rose to force out Toms River East center fielder Max Lasky at second, Caporale beat the throw to first to keep the inning alive.

As the throw came from Rose to first baseman Anthony Ferlise, Noah Clark, who started the play on second base, steamrolled around third and beat Ferlise's throw to the plate to tie the game at 4. Lasky, still on the field after being forced at second, ran to third as if he were still a live baserunner and Toms River North catcher Owen Sulfrain threw the ball to third base, where Mariners third baseman Julian Feliz tagged him out, although he was already retired earlier in the play.

The umpires mistakenly ruled Lasky out twice on the play and realized the mistake only after the two teams cleared the field, according to Raiders coach Bill Frank. Since the play had already been ruled and the inning deemed complete, the called could not be reversed, according to Frank via the umpiring crew.

EDIT: According to Jim Rochford, the field umpire Sunday at Toms River East, Lasky was not incorrectly ruled out, but rather ruled out because of a stipulation in the base-runners interference section of the rule book. According to Rochford, Lasky was out because he, as a retired baserunner, attempted to "cause confusion to the defense" after he had already been ruled out on the basepaths. Rochford said that it does not matter if the runner has already accounted for one out in the inning. If the baserunner initiates such confusion by continuing to act as a live baserunner, the team can be charged with a second out on his account.

I apologize for the initial mistake in the report and thank Mr. Rochford, a well-respected umpire at the Shore over several decades, for clarifying the rule.

Toms River East threatened to win the game in the bottom of the eighth with runners on first and second with one out, including the speedy Jon Meola on second. Senior second baseman Tommy Vincent hit a sharp ground ball down the third base line, but Feliz snagged it with a back-handed grab, touched third base and fired across the diamond to end the threat and extend the game to the ninth inning.

The Mariners took the lead in the 10th when designated hitter Mike Tiplady singled into left field with a runner on first and the ball got past Caporale in left and rolled all the way to the warning track, allowing the go-ahead run to score and Tiplady to advance to first. Left fielder Joe Venditto followed with an RBI single to plate Tiplady and Ciervo then belted his two-run homer over the fence in left-center field.

Ferlise also hit a two-run home run in the first for Toms River North. Doug Molnar earned the win in relief of Ryan Larsen, who lasted 6 1/3 innings.