Builders’ General Shore Conference Baseball Tuesday Scoreboard, May 16

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Ocean County Tournament

Championship

At Central Regional

(2) Donovan Catholic 6, (4) Southern 4

Junior left-hander Jake Marciano struck out a career-high 16 with no walks to complete a four-hitter in the championship game and the Griffins climbed past the Rams to capture the program's first ever Ocean County Tournament championship.

Donovan Catholic scored the game's final three runs to seal the victory, all of which were on miscues by Southern.

In the bottom of the fourth Gavin Degnan drew a walk with first base open and one out, but Southern catcher Gabe Tomei threw out Joe Maier attempting to steal third base, with Degnan stealing second on the play. Degnan then tested Maier and when the throw from the junior catcher skipped into left field, Degnan trotted home with the tying run.

In the fifth, first baseman Rocco Scarpitti walked with one out and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by third baseman Dave Yorke. A passed ball moved Scarpitti to third and a wild pitch brought him home with the go-ahead run.

Degnan sparked another scoring rally in the bottom of the third when he singled and stole second with two out. Leftfielder Ryan Butchko then hit a popup on the infield grass that got caught in the wind and blew out of the reach of the Southern infield, allowing Degnan to score easily.

Donovan Catholic tied the game in the bottom of the first on a two-out RBI single by sophomore Tyler Levine and went up 3-1 with two runs in the bottom of the second. Sophomore John Busco drilled an RBI double to the left-centerfield gap and scored on an RBI single by Degnan.

Senior Dom Miranda drove in all four Southern runs -- all in the first three innings -- and his opposite-field, three-run home run with two out in the top of the third inning gave the Rams a 4-3 lead.

After the homer by Miranda, Marciano mowed down 10 of the next 11 batters he faced with eight strikeouts and the lone batter that reached (on a hit-by-pitch) Marciano picked off at first base.

The junior left-hander needed 64 pitches to get through the first three innings, but had innings of nine, 11 and 12 pitches over the next three to get him to the top of the seventh with 97. Marciano struck out the side in order in the sixth inning on only 12 pitches.

In the seventh, Marciano struck out the first batter of the inning, then allowed an infield single to first baseman Niko Diamantopoulos to give Southern a chance to bat with the tying run at the plate. Marciano bounced back by striking out each of the next two batters looking on four pitches to set off the celebration.

Southern had two different one-run leads in the game thanks to Miranda and the top four in the batting order. Marciano also helped start the Southern rallies by hitting three batters, two of whom came around to score.

In the top of the first, Marciano hit centerfielder Brandon Brown and with two out, Miranda dunked a single into shallow centerfielder, just in front of a diving Degnan. Brown was moving on contact and sped all the way home from first base to give the Rams a 1-0 lead.

Trailing 3-1 in the third, Southern junior leftfielder Ray Mulhern singled through the middle and third baseman Brady Lesiak was hit on the elbow with two out. Miranda then crushed an 0-1 pitch over the rightfield fence to put the Rams back in front.

Miranda finished the Ocean County Tournament 7-for-13 with two home runs and eight RBI, including 6-for-8 with two homers and six RBI in the final two rounds.

Degnan was Donovan Catholic's hot hitter in the tournament, as he has been the entire season. The senior centerfielder finished the championship game 3-for-3, making him 8-for-11 with two doubles, a home run, three walks, eight runs scored, four RBI and six stolen bases. In three of the four games, Degnan did not make an out and in the other one, he hit a three-run walk-off homer in his final at-bat.

Pitching

Top Hitters

Top Hitters

Class A North

No. 4 CBA 4, Freehold Twp. 2 (10 Innings)

Class A South

Brick Memorial 14, Central 3 (5 Innings)

Class B North

Ocean 7, Freehold Boro 3

Class B Central

Long Branch 6, Keansburg 0

Non-Division

Neptune 3, Monmouth 1

Rumson-Fair Haven 9, St. John Vianney 3

Pitching

Top Hitters

Raritan 7, St. Rose 4

Toms River South 8, No. 9 Manasquan 6

Toms River East 7, Jackson Liberty 6

Middletown South 15, Toms River North 2 (5 Innings)

Non-Conference

East Brunswick 8, Howell 7

Matawan 7, David Brearley 5

No. 1 Ranney 11, Rutgers Prep 1

Monroe 6, Wall 4

No. 8 Middletown North 7, JFK-Iselin 6

Shore 10, South Hunterdon 0 (5 Innings)

Pitching

Top Hitters

Piscataway Magnet 7, Henry Hudson 6

Old Bridge 3, Manalapan 2

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