Shore Conference Baseball Monday Scoreboard, May 13

Monday, May 13

Shore Conference Tournament

Round of 16

(5) Wall 6, (12) Brick Memorial 4

Mike Horowitz hit a game-tying RBI single in the bottom of the third and John Catanio followed with a go-ahead two-run single as the Crimson Knights took over in the third frame and held on for a win over the Mustangs.

Nicco Maribo walked and scored on a passed ball in the top of the first and again gave Brick Memorial the lead, 3-2, with a sacrifice fly in the top of the second. Wall came back with an RBI double by T.J. Legere to score fellow senior Jon Cofone, then tied the game later in the first on a passed ball.

Cofone later padded the Wall lead with an RBI single in the fourth and Joe McGlynn pulled Brick Memorial back to within 6-4 on a sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth.

Sophomore left-hander Nick Plevier took over for classmate Christian Suarez in the bottom of the sixth inning and fired two scoreless innings with four strikeouts to earn his first save.

Wall will host No. 13 Manalapan in the SCT quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Pitching

Top Hitters

(8) Jackson Memorial 6, (9) Point Boro 5 (8 Innings)

Nick Izzo came through with a clutch, game-tying RBI double with two out in the bottom of the seventh and Joe Naffaa delivered the game-winning RBI double with two out in the bottom of the eighth as the Jaguars rallied for a walk-off win over the Garnet Gulls.

Point Beach sophomore Tommy Conroy retired the first two batters of the bottom of the seventh inning and after falling behind 3-0 to Julian Caruso, he fired a called strike and got a foul ball for a 3-2 count.

With his team down to its last strike, Caruso took ball four to put the tying run on for Nick Izzo, whose 26 RBI entering the game ranked fifth in the Shore Conference. Izzo scorched a line drive into the gap, which turned Soto loose to score from first with the tying run.

Jovani Hallihan pitched around a leadoff single by Point Beach outfielder Dan Storch to get Jackson Memorial back in the dugout to hit while still riding the wave of momentum from the previous inning.

Once again, Conroy recorded outs on the first two batters of the inning then issued a walk -- this time in an eight-pitch battle with Jacob Soto. Naffa then came up, worked the count full and on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, hit another shot to the gap that gave the runner on first a chance to score.

Soto raced around third and scored the winning run, sending Jackson Memorial to Wednesday's SCT quarterfinals at top-seeded Southern.

Point Beach built a 5-1 lead through 4 1/2 innings, with Danny Lubach belting a two-run homer in the top of the fourth for a 3-1 lead, then making it 5-1 with a sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth.

Jackson Memorial came alive in the bottom of the fifth, when the Jaguars scored three to pul within 5-4. None of the runs scored on hits, with Jackson Osmond reaching on an error that scored a run, Julian Caruso hitting into a fielder's choice to make it 5-3 and Nick Izzo cutting it to 5-4 with a sacrifice fly.

Pitching

Top Hitters

(1) Southern 13, (16) Marlboro 6

Five different Southern hitters notched an RBI single during a six-run first inning and the Rams used the torrid start to coast past the Mustangs and into the SCT quarterfinals Wednesday against No. 8 seed and Class A South rival Jackson Memorial.

Brady Lesiak opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly to score Ray Mulhern after he reached on an error, moved to second on Mike Kaczynski's single and stole third base. Gabe Tomei, Brian Harper, Aiden Miller and Matt Desiderio followed with RBI singles to build up a 5-0 lead and Kaczynski delivered a fifth RBI single -- his second hit of the inning -- to cap the first-inning scoring.

Tomei also added an RBI double in the fourth and Desiderio and Kaczynski each collected another run-scoring single during Southern's three-run fifth that stretched the lead to 10-2. Kaczynski's single in the fifth drove in two, upping his RBI total for the game to three.

Joe Santos hit a bases-clearing double during a four-run sixth that helped Marlboro cut Southern's lead to 10-6, but the Rams responded with three in the bottom of the inning to put the game out of reach.

Pitching

Top Hitters

(2) CBA 7, (15) St. Rose 1

Catcher Danny Tsimbinos doubled home two runs during CBA's three-run first inning and Danny DiTullio baffled the Purple Roses with 11 strikeouts over six innings to send the Colts to the SCT quarterfinals Wednesday against Class A North nemesis and No. 7 seed Colts Neck.

Sophomore shortstop Colin Hoverter drove in a run in both the third and fifth innings, singling home a run in the third to make it 4-0 and clocking an RBI double during a three-run fifth inning that stretched CBA's lead to 7-1.

Pitching

Top Hitters

(3) Middletown South 5, (14) Ranney 3

Rob Chiusano hit a tie-breaking RBI double to deep centerfield in the bottom of the fifth inning and Middletown South cut down a run at the plate in the top of the sixth on the way to slipping past the Panthers and into the SCT quarterfinals Wednesday against No. 6 Red Bank Catholic.

Chiusano's booming double over the head of Ranney centerfielder Curt Chropuvka scored Brevin Bezick to make it 3-2 Middletown South in the bottom of the fifth. Second baseman Brody Tacca then singled home Joey Massagli for a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the third.

Tacca was the relay man on a momentum-shifting defensive play in the top of the sixth inning. With Ranney starting pitcher Justin Kauffman on first base after a leadoff single, fellow freshman Nate Fuller launched a long fly ball that touched down on the warning track. Fuller ran hard on contact and cruised toward third base with a triple but Kauffman had to hold up to see if the ball would be caught.

With Fuller running just behind Kauffman, Ranney head coach Pat Geroni sent Kauffman home. Middletown South rightfielder Jack Concordia fired the ball in from the warning track and Tacca threw a strike to catcher Andrew Marquis to get Kauffman by several steps.

Fuller scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-3 but Dan Daley came on to pitch in relief of starter Mason Christopher and ended the threat. After Middletown South added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth, Daley pitched around a walk and an error in the seventh to wrap up his fourth save an an Eagles win.

Shortstop Carmine DeCrescenzo singled home the first Middletown South run in the bottom of the second and scored on a throwing error to make it 2-1. DeCrescenzo stole second, then took off for third on a pick-off attempt and scored when the throw to third hit him and got away.

Ranney jumped out to an immediate lead on a no-doubt, leadoff home run by third baseman Andrew Parisi.

Ranney senior Ryan Costello -- who entered the game with 14 home runs and one away from tying the single-season Shore Conference record -- singled in his first at-bat and was hit on the hand by a pitch from Christopher in his second plate appearance. Costello stayed in the game to run but was removed from the game before leaving the field.

Pitching

Top Hitters

(7) Colts Neck 2, (10) Donovan Catholic 1 (9 Innings)

Anthony Vallaro punched an RBI single into rightfield to score Kyle McCarthy with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Cougars survived a dominant outing by Donovan Catholic ace Jake Marciano to hand him his first loss of 2024 and upend the Griffins in extra innings.

Marciano completed eight innings with one unearned run allowed on two hits and no walks while striking out 15. The Colts Neck tandem of Nick Hayden and Tosh Mancini was up to the task, with Hayden holding Donovan Catholic to one run on a solo homer by Hunter Johnson in the top of the second inning before Mancini fired three scoreless innings of relief.

Marciano recorded the first out of the ninth on a lineup by Colts Neck leadoff hitter Casey Gardiner before McCarthy took Marciano the other way for a left-on-left single into leftfield with one out.

McCarthy took second on a wild pitch during the next at-bat before Marciano composed himself in time to record his 16th strikeout. That left him at 113 pitches, which meant the Griffins had to go to the bullpen, with Marciano over the single-game limit of 110.

Donovan Catholic opted to intentionally walk Tom Diffley to pitch to Vallaro, who say a ball and a strike from Griffins reliever Hunter Lefkus before stroking the winning single through the right side.

Gardiner created the first Colts Neck run in the bottom of the first inning by reaching on an error and scoring from second on a fielder's choice groundout to shortstop by Diffley. McCarthy set up the scoring chance by reaching on a bunt single to park runners on first and second with none out.

Johnson responded with his solo home run to left with one out in the top of the second.

Colts Neck catcher Matt Clark blooped a single into rightfield with two out in the bottom of the second off Marciano, who proceeded to retire the next 20 batters he faced before McCarthy's single in the ninth inning started the winning rally.

Pitching

Top Hitters

(6) Red Bank Catholic 1, (11) Matawan 0

Sophomore catcher Aidan Funk broke up dueling shutouts with an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth inning and RBC starter Ryan Prior finished off a one-hit shutout to send the four-time defending champion Caseys back to the SCT quarterfinals Wednesday at Middletown South.

The sixth inning began with Matawan centerfielder Jack Sassa bunting for a base hit to lead off the top of the frame -- the first and only hit allowed by Prior on Monday. Prior responded by inducing a pop-up for the first out of the inning and after Sassa stole second base, Prior struck out the next two batters to send his team back to the dugout fired up.

Caseys third baseman Sean Griggs backed Prior with a double to lead off the bottom of the sixth and took third on a passed ball. Matawan senior starter Mark Kovach came back with a huge strikeout of his own for the first out of the inning.

Funk, however, did not let Kovach exhale, ripping the first pitch he saw through the left side to score Griggs with the lone run of the game.

Prior struck out the first two batters of the seventh inning and coaxed a game-ending groundout to cap his career-best performance as a Casey. The University of Virginia commit walked only one and hit three batters in his round-of-16 gem.

Pitching

Top Hitters

(13) Manalapan 1, (4) Toms River East 0

Dylan Shaffer pitched a one-hit shutout with 12 strikeouts and no walks and courtesy runner Matt Sisco scored the game's lone run on a two-out wild pitch in the top of the sixth, giving the Braves a slim victory on the road over the Raiders.

Toms River East's only threat against Shaffer came in the bottom of the first inning. Matt Ferrara reached on an error to start the game and Mike Vaccarino followed with a line-drive single to left for what would be the Raiders' only hit. Shaffer struck out the next batter, but Toms River East ratcheted up the pressure with a double-steal that moved two runners into scoring position.

Shaffer shook it off with another strikeout and ended the inning with a groundout. Those three first-inning outs started a run of 12 in a ro and 18 out of 19 retired by Shaffer, with the only two base-runners after the first inning reaching on hit-by-pitches.

Toms River East junior Dan Nafziger matched zeroes with Shaffer for the first five innings and almost made it six. With one out in the top of the sixth, Manalapan catch Dave Ghibesi walked and gave way to Sisco. During the next at-bat, Sisco stole second base, then moved to third on a ground ball back to Nafziger, who threw to first base to retire Cristian Ptasienski.

With two bases open, Nafziger pitched to John Pecoraro and after falling behind 2-0, he threw a pitch past catcher Luke Brush and two the backstop, allowing Sisco to race home from third with the breakthrough run.

Shaffer responded with another one-two-three inning in the sixth and after hitting Brush with one out in the bottom of the seventh, he struck out the last two batters he faced to complete his 82-pitch masterpiece.

Pitching

Top Hitters

Regular Season

Class B Central

Henry Hudson 11, Lakewood 1 (5 Innings)

Non-Division

Long Branch 6, Freehold Boro 2

Monmouth 6, Manchester 5

Freehold Twp. 5, Jackson Liberty 1

Raritan 7, Pinelands 4

Ocean 7, Brick 3

Lacey 5, Holmdel 4 (9 Innings)

Red Bank at Toms River North, 7:30 p.m.

Non-Conference

Keyport 5, Perth Amboy Magnet 4, (8 Innings)

Toms River South 1, Monroe 0