Shore Conference Baseball Thursday Scoreboard, May 18

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Shore Conference Tournament

Semifinals

At Count Basie Park, Red Bank

(1) Ranney 2, (4) Rumson-Fair Haven 1

A.J. Gracia belted a tiebreaking solo home run in the top of the fifth inning and pitched the final 2 2/3 on the mound to earn the win as the Panthers edged the Bulldogs to earn their first ever trip to the Shore Conference Tournament championship game Sunday night at ShoreTown Ballpark in Lakewood.

Gracia took over on the mound with one on and out out in the top of the fifth inning after starter Nick Coniglio threw 92 pitches and struck out 11 while recording the first 13 outs for Ranney. The inherited runner scored after Reece Moroney singled to left and Jack Riva smacked a single through the right side to score pinch-runner Gavin Kiley -- who took over on the base paths after Griffin Shenman walked and moved to second on Moroney's single.

After giving up the lead, Gracia led off the bottom of the fifth, worked the count in his favor, 2-0, and unloaded on a fastball from Rumson-Fair Haven reliever Cal Champeau -- who had just taken over for starter Jackson Hinchcliffe. Gracia's line drive off the bat took off and carried just over the right-centerfield fence to send him into a home run trot that ended with him touching home plate as the winning run.

The run held up after Gracia pitched scoreless sixth and seventh innings, retiring the side in order in the seventh to close out the game.

Gracia also manufacture Ranney's first run on his own, which started with a leadoff double inside the first-base bag in the bottom of the first. Ryan Costello's groundout to first moved Gracia to third, but Hinchcliffe came through with a strikeout to come within an out of escaping unscathed.

Gracia, however, read a slider in the dirt and although it did not get far from Rumson catcher Owen Kenney, the Ranney leadoff hitter broke for the plate and beat Kenney to the dish with a head-first dive.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Rumson-FH (17-5)	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	4	2
Ranney (25-1)	1	0	0	0	1	0	X	2	5	2

Pitching

Rumson-Fair Haven	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	PC
Jackson Hinchcliffe	4	3	1	1	1	2	71
Cal Champeau (L)	1	2	1	1	0	2	21
Owen O’Toole	1	0	0	0	0	2	21

Ranney	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	PC
Nick Coniglio	4.1	1	1	1	2	11	92
A.J. Gracia (W)	2.2	3	0	0	0	3	44

Top Hitters

Rumson-Fair Haven	Game Stats
Reece Moroney	2-4
Jack Riva	1-2, BB, RBI
Aaron Del Tin	1-3, 2B

Ranney	Game Stats
A.J. Gracia	2-3, 2B, HR, 2 R, RBI
Jack Tallent	1-3, 2B
Curtis Chropuvka	1-3
Brett Wehringer	1-3

(2) Red Bank Catholic 3, (6) CBA 1

Junior right-hander Declan Leary pitched a three-hitter and Alex Stanyek starred at the plate to spark the Caseys to their second tournament semifinal win over the Colts this season -- this time sending them to the Shore Conference Tournament final for the fourth straight season.

Leary pitched five scoreless innings in a Monmouth County Tournament semifinal win over CBA on May 7, which was also the last time he pitched before Thursday. He finally allowed a run to the Colts in the fifth inning, but pitched a cleaner game Thursday than he did 11 days earlier.

Leary -- who walked nine in 48 2/3 innings in all of 2022 -- issued six walks in five innings in the MCT semifinals vs. CBA, but was back to his 2022 form Thursday, walking just one while completing his seven innings on 99 pitches.

RBC gave its junior starter sufficient offensive support in the first three innings, with Stanyek igniting the two scoring rallies. The senior rightfielder led the game off with a line-drive single to center, followed two batters later by another single by first baseman Frank Scrivanic.

Both runners moved up a base on a wild pitch and Stanyek coasted home on a groundout to second base by catcher Shane Andrus.

Two innings later, Stanyek honed in on the second pitch of the bottom of the third and launched it to dead centerfield, clearing the fence just to the left of the scoreboard for a 2-0 Caseys lead. The longball was Stanyek's fourth home run of the season.

Third baseman Sean Griggs kept the momentum going with a single to right and advanced to second on a groundout by Scrivanic. Andrus then scalded a single into right field to score Griggs for his second RBI of the game and a 3-0 RBC lead.

CBA broke through against Leary in the top of the fifth, with third baseman Wyatt Hunt roping a two-out RBI triple into the rightfield corner. Hunt went 2-for-2 with a stolen base, accounting for two of the three CBA hits and giving him a run-scoring extra-base hit in a second straight tournament game. Hunt blasted a two-run home run in Monday's 5-1 win at Donovan Catholic.

Leary responded to the triple by striking out the next batter, which marked the first of seven straight batters Leary retired to close out the complete game.

Red Bank Catholic will shoot for an unprecedented fourth consecutive SCT championship Sunday night, when the Casey face a top-seeded Ranney team that will be trying to win its first ever Shore championship. The two teams met on May 10 in the Monmouth County Tournament final, which Ranney won with a two-run rally in the bottom of the seventh after Red Bank Catholic took the lead with two runs in the top of the seventh.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
CBA (18-5-1)	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	3	1
RBC (20-4)	1	0	2	0	0	0	X	3	8	0

Pitching

CBA	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	PC
Nick Harnisch (L, 5-3)	6	8	3	3	1	5	89

Red Bank Catholic	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	PC
Declan Leary (W, 5-0)	7	3	1	1	1	6	99

Top Hitters

CBA	Game Stats
Wyatt Hunt	2-2, 3B, RBI, SB
Harrison Campi	1-3

Red Bank Catholic	Game Stats
Alex Stanyek	2-3, HR, 2 R, RBI
Shane Andrus	1-3, 2 RBI
Sean Griggs	1-3, R
Frank Scrivanic	2-3, 2B
Dylan Passo	1-3
Matt Brunner	1-3, SB

Regular Season

Class A South

No. 7 Southern 4, No. 6 Jackson Memorial 3

Junior right-hander Brady Lesiak pitched a complete game with 11 strikeouts and singled home what proved to be the winning run during Southern's four-run second inning as the Rams held off the Jaguars to clinch a share of their first Class A South title since 1986.

Jackson Memorial tagged Lesiak for two runs in the top of the second inning on an RBI triple by third baseman Brady Wendell and an RBI single by second baseman Jackson Osmond on consecutive at-bats.

The Rams, however, responded with four in the bottom of the inning, starting with an RBI single by rightfielder Mike Nasti to get Southern on the board. Leftfielder Ray Mulhern worked a bases-loaded walk that forced in the tying run and centerfielder Brandon Brown pushed Southern in front with a sacrifice fly.

Lesiak capped the rally with an RBI single that proved to be a key run when Jackson Memorial scored on a throwing error by Lesiak in the top of the fourth. The Jaguars had runners on second and third with none out, trailing 4-3, but Lesiak induced a shallow flyout, walked Jaguars slugger Charlie Meglio and coaxed an inning-ending double-play to keep Southern in the lead.

The potential tying run reached for Jackson Memorial in the top of the seventh on Southern's fourth error of the game, but catcher Gabe Tomei threw out Matt Koblos attempting to steal second between a pair of Lesiak strikeouts and Southern celebrated a monumental win for the program.

Southern can clinch the outright Class A South title Friday with a win at Toms River East. A Toms River East win would result in a three-way tie for the division title between Southern, Jackson Memorial and Brick Memorial.