Baseball – Two County Tournament Runner-Ups Win Player of the Week Awards

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Ocean County Sports Medicine Player of the Week: MCT and OCT Fan Vote MVP's

Monmouth County MVP Vote Winner

Dylan Passo, Red Bank Catholic

Red Bank Catholic’s offense has had multiple hitters catch fire at different points and the top six in the order have been particularly productive. Hitting in the No. 5 spot, Passo has hit throughout the season and in the Monmouth County Tournament, he hit just about everything.

The sophomore and Notre Dame commit went 6-for-9 with two doubles, two homers, six walks and six RBI during RBC’s run to MCT runner-up. Throw in the Shore Conference Tournament (7-for-13, double, triple, home run, seven RBI), and Passo has undeniably been a standout tournament performer. RBC is 7-1 in tournament play and during those eight games, Passo was 13-for-22 (.590) with three doubles, a triple, three home runs and 13 RBI.

Passo's MCT homers came in back-to-back games against Manalapan and Wall and he also picked up a pair of hits -- including a first-inning RBI single -- in the memorable MCT championship game against Ranney.

Passo and teammate Shane Andrus were two of the top-three finishers in the MCT MVP voting, with Passo drawing 35 percent of the vote and Andrus collecting 16. Rumson-Fair Haven junior Jack Riva picked up 28 percent of the vote to come in second place.

Ocean County MVP Vote Winner

Roger Dreher, Southern

Brady Lesiak was recently selected by the Class A South coaches as the division Pitcher of the Year and has been the Rams' unquestioned ace throughout the season.

Lesiak can't pitch every inning, though, so when Southern needed shutdown innings, the Rams turned to Dreher. The hard-throwing junior right-hander pitched shutdown relief to earn the win against Jackson Memorial in the OCT semifinals, then pitched the first three innings of the OCT championship game vs. Donovan Catholic and departed with a 4-3 lead.

In the back-and-forth classic vs. Jackson Memorial in the OCT semifinals, Dreher also came through with an RBI single in the eighth inning that capped a three-run outburst that put the game away for Southern.

Prior to the OCT final, Dreher had started just one game all season, providing most of his contributions as a relief pitcher. He has also stepped up his game in tournament play, with a 2.40 ERA, 19 strikeouts and seven walks in 11 2/3 innings and four appearances in elimination games -- most recently four shutout innings Monday in a 13-0 Southern win over a Gloucester Tech team that had entered the game with a 10-2 record in its last 12 games.

Dreher cruised to the OCT MVP with 32 percent of the vote, beating out Brick Memorial's Joe Cordi, who drew 17 percent as the runner-up.