Baseball: Surprising starts, Class A North Clashes Highlight Opening Week

Strong starts by a host of programs that flew under the radar in the preseason and a burgeoning dogfight in Class A North highlighted the first week of Shore Conference baseball this spring.

A Howell team that won four games all of last season is off to a 2-1 start that has featured an offense that exploded for 26 runs in two victories after a season-opening loss to Marlboro. Junior pitcher/shortstop Ryan Wares has led the assault, going 7-for-9 with 5 RBI, 4 runs scored, 3 walks, 3 doubles, a triple and a home run in the first three games. He also pitched a complete-game shutout, striking out 11, in a 9-0 win over Freehold Township.

In an impressive 17-14 win over a Colts Neck team that was ranked No. 5 in the preseason top 10, the Rebels erupted for 25 hits. Senior outfielder Jordan Reizer and Wares each had four hits in the win and junior outfielder Mike Levy had three hits and five RBI.

While Howell struggled last season, Wall won 19 games and went undefeated in the now-defunct Class C Central. However, the Crimson Knights graduated eight of their nine starters and their top two pitchers, making them an unknown in the preseason with so much to replace. In the first week, the perennially tough Crimson Knights showed they will be reloading, not rebuilding, as they smashed their first three opponents, including two preseason top 10 teams, by a combined score of 31-3.

They beat preseason No. 9 Freehold 13-1 and No. 10 Brick Memorial 11-1 in addition to a 7-1 win over Ocean to stamp themselves as the team to beat in Class B North. The scary part is that the team only has a handful of seniors, led by No. 1 pitcher Luke Malone, so they will only get better. Junior infielders Chris Barcas and Brendan Biegert, junior outfielder Tim Willey and sophomore third baseman Ryan Orender went a combined 17-for-32 with 13 RBI in the first three games to lead the assault.

While Class B North looks like it has a clear favorite, Class A North is shaping up to be a battle in which any team in the division is dangerous on any given day. Christian Brothers Academy, the preseason No. 1 team in the Shore and the favorite to take the division title, didn’t make it out of the first week unbeaten as the Colts fell 5-2 to defending Class A North champion Middletown South, which was coming off a loss to Manalapan. Middletown North battled Middletown South in a season-opening loss in extra innings and came back to pick up a 4-2 win over Freehold Township, which knocked off Manalapan in its season opener. Marlboro is off to a 3-1 start that includes wins over Howell and Manalapan and a loss to a Colts Neck team that Howell just beat 17-12. CBA also opened the season with a 5-2 win over Colts Neck followed by a 14-3 rout of Middletown North.

It was a strong week for Marlboro senior Adam Ashenfarb, a Lafayette recruit. He went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored and also was the winning pitcher in a 10-1 win over Howell, hit the game-winning RBI single in the 10^th inning of a 5-4 victory over Manalapan and then scored the game-winning run in the sixth inning of a 2-1 victory over Matawan on Saturday.

Red Bank Catholic made it clear that it is the team to beat in Class A Central by beating its first three opponents by a combined score of 31-1, including a 6-1 win over St. John Vianney. The Caseys, who suffered their first loss in a 3-0 setback against Randolph in a nonconference game, have a big nondivisional game looming this Saturday when they go on the road to take on CBA.

Perennial power Jackson Memorial came out of the gate strong, including an impressive 7-0 win over prime contender Toms River North in Class A South that followed an 11-4 win over Brick Memorial. Senior pitcher Anthony Rocco tossed a complete-game, two-hit shutout against Toms River North as he takes over the No. 1 spot in the rotation for graduated ace Brandon Holup, the 2012 All Shore Media Pitcher of the Year. The Mariners bounced back from the loss by picking up a 10-4 win in a nondivisional game over another top 10 team, Jackson Liberty.

Other notable starts in Class A South include Brick, which is 3-0 after being realigned into the division from Class B South. Toms River East was coming off an impressive win over Toms River South when Brick beat the Raiders in a 6-5 thriller on a walkoff single by Tyler Wicker in the bottom of the seventh inning.

The most impressive pitching performance of the week belonged to Central junior ace Andrew DiPiazza. In his first start, he threw a no-hitter in a 2-0 win over Point Boro in Class B South, striking out 16 and walking one. It marked Central’s first no-hitter since Joe Rusk tossed one in 2009. DiPiazza verbally committed to Boston College in the offseason, but has de-committed to explore more options.

Several new coaches picked up their first career victories in the opening week, including Raritan’s Jeff Struble, Pinelands’ Rob Sanzari, and Matawan’s Bobby Carnovsky. Also, Henry Hudson head coach Vinnie Whitehead, who is also the coach of the boys basketball team, has the Admirals off to a 3-0 start after they won four games all of last season.

Multiple school records were set this week as Howell tied a single-game mark from 1994 with 25 hits in the win over Colts Neck, Toms River East senior third baseman Christian Danyo belted a school-record three home runs in a 14-6 win over Southern, and Holmdel junior first baseman Joe Sadler set the program’s career mark for doubles (21) in a 17-12 win over Shore Regional. St. Rose senior Conor Gammond also had a strong single-game effort with five stolen bases along with two hits, two walks and three runs scored in a key 5-3 win over Mater Dei Prep in Class B Central.

The week was capped by the “Strike Out Autism Challenge’’ at Central Regional on Saturday in which St. John Vianney beat Central 5-1 and Toms River South edged Red Bank 2-1 in an event that helped raise money for autism awareness.