Shore Conference Baseball Weekend Scoreboard, April 20 and 21

Sunday, April 21

Ocean County Tournament

First Round

(4) Jackson Memorial 6, (13) Manchester 2

Jovani Hallihan struck out 11 over six innings and the Jaguars flexed their muscles during a four-run third inning by squaring up three run-scoring extra-base hits on the way to an OCT win over the Hawks.

Julian Caruo cracked the seal with an RBI triple to put Jackson Memorial ahead, 1-0, in the third and Tyler Huzzy followed with an RBI double. Nick Izzo capped the third-inning power surge with a two-run home run.

Manchester trimmed its deficit to 4-2 with an RBI single by Brody Boyd in the fourth and another by Evan Palmer in the top of the fifth, but Jackson Memorial posted two more runs in the bottom of the fifth. Brady Wendell pushed a run across with a sacrifice fly and Jacob Soto capped the scoring with an RBI single.

Hallihan set a career-high in strikeouts in his first outing since pitching a six-inning no-hitter in a win over Brick on Monday.

Jackson Memorial will host No. 6 Brick Memorial Thursday in the Ocean County Tournament quarterfinal round.

Pitching

Top Hitters

(6) Brick Memorial 12, (11) Jackson Liberty 4

Brody Moore opened the scoring with an RBI double in the second inning and followed that up with a two-run double during an eight-run inning that sparked the Mustangs to a round-one win over the Lions.

Mike Kisseberth pulled Jackson Liberty even, 1-1, with an RBI single in the top of the third inning, to which the Lions responded with their eight-run rally. Jimi Popp doubled home the go-ahead run and Luke Douglas, Dan Golembewski and Joe McGlynn followed with consecutive RBI singles to stretch the lead to 5-1.

Moore then stepped back in and laced a two-run double that pushed the lead to 7-1 and later scored on a wild pitch. Nicco Maribo capped the rally with an RBI single and added an RBI single the next inning. Moore capped Brick Memorial's scoring in the fifth with an RBI single to complete a perfect 3-for-3 game at the plate.

Brick Memorial will travel to play No. 3 Jackson Memorial in Thursday's OCT quarterfinals.

Pitching

Top Hitters

(7) Point Beach 3, (10) Toms River North 2

Winning pitcher Tommy Conroy ignited a game-winning rally in the sixth inning with a leadoff single and Dan Storch drove in the winning run with an RBI single as the Garnet Gulls scored three times in the sixth to pull past the Mariners and into the OCT quarterfinals Thursday at No. 2 Donovan Catholic.

Conroy and Antonio Acevedo started the winning rally with back-to-back singled to open up the inning, with Conroy speeding into third on Acevedo's single. Acevedo then stole second base and Point Beach starting pitcher Noah Banick hit a ground ball that Toms River North converted into an out, but scored Conroy with Point Beach's first run.

Nate Clayton followed with an infield single that set up runners at the corners again and after Clayton stole second base, Toms River North opted to intentionally walk Dan Lubach. Brody Powers then hit a fly ball that was dropped in the outfield, allowing Acevedo to score the tying run.

One batter later, Storch served a single into right field to score Clayton with the tie-breaking run. Toms River North brought in Ryan Rivera to relieve starter Kieran Mulholland and Rivera got out of the bases-loaded, one-out jam when rightfielder Nick Daniele secured a flyout and doubled off the runner at first base.

Conroy pitched a one-two-three seventh to close out the victory.

Pitching

Top Hitters

Autism Awareness Showcase

At North Brunswick Community Park

Edison 14, Barnegat 6

Dylan DeGrazio hit a game-tying three-run home run to cap a five-run third inning for Barnegat but the Eagles scored six unanswered runs to regain control of the game and upend the Bengals.

Barnegat fell behind, 5-0, through two innings and clawed back with its five-run third. Nick Bruno got the Bengals on the board with an RBI double and Nick Malinowski singled home a run to make it 5-2 before DeGrazio stepped in and slammed his game-tying homer.

 Pitching

Top Hitters

Old Bridge 6, No. 2 Red Bank Catholic 3

Red Bank Catholic brought the winning run to the plate with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning but Frank Papeo closed the game with a strikeout to give the Knights a win over the Caseys -- their third win over a Shore Conference opponent this season.

In addition to picking up the save by recording the last two outs of the game, Papeo hit a solo home run and winning pitcher Justin Hascup also picked up a pair of hits with a single and a double.

Hascup and Papeo limited RBC to three hits, although all three were doubles, including two by Dylan Passo.

Old Bridge opened its season with wins over Manalapan and Marlboro, both of which are ranked in the latest Shore Sports Network Shore 16 rankings.

Pitching

Top Hitters

Thank You Classic

At Joe Barth Field, Brooklawn

Toms River East 11, Bayonne 1 (5 Innings)

Gavin Toth hit a three-run, inside-the-park home run to break open the the game in the bottom of the second and ended the game with a two-run single in the bottom of the fifth as the Raiders bounced back from their first loss of the season Thursday vs. Southern by handling the Bees.

Toms River East seized control of the game with four runs in the bottom of the first -- all scoring on two-out hits. Luke Brush hit a two-run single to open the scoring and Adrian Aleman and Dan Nafziger followed with back-to-back RBI singles to make it 4-0.

Pitching

Top Hitters

Pope John 14, No. 3 Donovan Catholic 5

Saturday, April 20

Monmouth County Tournament

Opening Round

(18) Shore 10, (7) Marlboro 6

Pitching

Top Hitters

(4) Middletown South 3, (21) St. John Vianney 2

Brevin Bezick doubled in the tying run and and scored the go-ahead run on a single-and-error in the outfield off the bat of Giuseppe Massagli in the bottom of the third inning and the Eagles beat the Lancers behind a complete game by left-hander Mason Christopher.

Catcher Andrew Marquis got Middletown South on the board with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first and jumpstarted the third-inning rally with a double before scoring on Bezick's double.

St. John Vianney grabbed the lead in the top of the third on a two-run double by Mike McCormack -- one of McCormack's two doubles in the game. After giving up the two runs in the third, Christopher allowed just two baserunners the rest of the way -- both on singles.

Pitching

Top Hitters

(14) Wall 7, (11) Red Bank 5 (16 Innings)

T.J. Legere scored the winning run on a wild pitch and pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the win on the mound as the Crimson Knights won a marathon over the Bucs.

Legere led off the top of the 16th inning with a walk and moved up to third on a double into the leftfield corner by Mike Horowitz. Legere then scored on a wild pitch during the next at-bat -- the first run since Red Bank scored in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game.

John Catanio -- who started for Wall on the mound and re-entered the lineup in the 10th inning -- tacked on an insurance run with an RBI infield single. Legere tossed a one-two-three bottom of the 16th to end the game.

Wall erased a 3-0 deficit to take a 4-3 lead in the sixth inning, with two runs in the sixth scoring on RBI by players who started the game on the bench. James Richter dropped a squeeze bunt to score pinch-runner Jack Murphy to tie the game and Nick Plevier singled home Triur Brown -- who hit a ground-rule double to set up the threat -- with the go-ahead run.

Red Bank answered with a run in the bottom of the sixth, set up by a leadoff double by Matt Huss and a balk that moved Huss to third with none out. Nick Wakler dropped a bunt with Huss breaking to the plate and beat it out for an RBI single.

Wall regained the lead on an error on a ground ball hit by Horowitz that scored Legere from second base. Red Bank countered with a run in the bottom of the seventh, with Matt Huss singling home pinch-runner Gavin Smith to tie the game, 5-5.

Each team had a reliever pitch 7 2/3 innings -- Plevier for Wall and P.J. Whitehead for Red Bank. Both pitchers took no-decisions.

 Pitching

Top Hitters

(1) CBA 11, (24) Neptune 1 (5 Innings)

Pitching

Top Hitters

(20) St. Rose 4, (5) Manalapan 3

Anthony delivered a clutch, two-out, two-run double to tie the game in the fifth and the Purple Roses scratched a run across in the top of the sixth to stun the Braves while remaining unbeaten for the season.

Tyler Hager and Max Glassberg both worked walks to lead off the top of the sixth and advanced a base on a wild pitch. Brendan Sherman put the ball in play to score Hager with the tying run, picking up an RBI on a groundout to Manalapan pitcher Ryan Graham, who replaced starter Kevin Rusinak after the second of the two walks to start the inning.

Chris Zahlmann pitched three shutout innings of relief to earn the win and worked into an out of trouble in the final inning to seal the game. Chris Silva reached on an error and Cristian Ptasienski worked a walk to put the tying run on base, but Zahlmann induced a game-ending groundout to shortstop Peter Nolan.

St. Rose starting pitcher Jack Tiernan reached base in all four of his plate appearances and got the Purple Roses off to a strong start with a leadoff single, followed by a doubled by Nolan. Frank Soos then plated Tiernan with the game's first run on a groundout.

Manalapan tied the game in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Erik Johnson and took the lead in the third on an RBI single by Varun Gabbita.

Pitching

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Ocean County Tournament

Play-In Round

(17) New Egypt 3, (16) Pinelands 0

Opening Round

(9) Barnegat 2, (8) Lacey 1

Nick Malinaowski allowed one unearned run over 5 2/3 innings to improve to 3-0 and hit a two-out ground ball that led to a Lacey error and Barnegat's first run as the Bengals edged the Lions in an OCT pitchers' duel.

The two-out error committed by Lacey in the top of the fifth scored Tyler Carll, who collected one of Barnegat's two hits in the game. The second run of the inning scored on a bases-loaded walk by Carmine Albruzzese.

Lacey trimmed its deficit to 2-1 on an sacrifice fly by Anthony Eckerson in the sixth before Quentin Torres came on to pitch, got out of the sixth inning, and worked a scoreless seventh to secure the save.

Pitching

Top Hitters

(5) Southern 12, (12) Brick 11 (8 Innings)

Logan Zeitler hit a game-tying RBI single in the bottom of the sixth and won the game with a two-out ground ball in the bottom of the eighth that scored Ray Mulhern with the clinching run when Brick failed to field the ball, giving the Rams a back-and-forth, extra-inning win over the Green Dragons.

Pitching

Top Hitters

(2) Donovan Catholic 1, (15) Central 0

Hunter Johnson broke a scoreless deadlock in the bottom of the sixth when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, plating the winning run, making a winner out of battery-mate Jake Marciano and sending the Griffins past the Golden Eagles and into the OCT quarterfinals.

Pitching

Top Hitters

(13) Toms River South 3, (4) Point Boro 0

Cooper Greitz delivered clutch swings in the fifth and seventh innings in support of starter Aiden Lynch, who went the distance for a shutout in an Indians win over the Panthers. Toms River South snapped a six-game winning streak by Point Boro to advance to the OCT quarterfinals at No. 4 Southern.

Greitz hit a two-out line drive that was dropped in the outfield, allowing the second Toms River South run to score. Greitz later singled home a run in the seventh to make it 3-0 after Jaden Geremia singled and stole third to get himself into scoring position for Greitz.

Point Boro brought the tying run to the plate vs. Lynch in the bottom of the seventh thanks to a double by Ryan Acquisto that planted runners on second and third, but Lynch struck out his starting-pitching counterpart, Bryson Kirby, looking to end the game.

Pitching

Top Hitters

(1) Toms River East 16, (17) New Egypt 0 (6 Innings)

 Pitching

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Regular Season

Class B North

No. 9 Ranney 11, Neptune 0

Ryan Costello homered twice to up his Shore-Conference-leading total to six and drove in five runs to support a five-inning shutout by Zach Messina on the mound in a Panthers (5-3, 4-3) win over the Scarlet Fliers (0-9, 0-8).

Costello and Grayson Testino each finished 2-for-2, with Testino hitting a double to go with two RBI. Freshmen Brody Mauro (triple, two RBI) and Nate Fuller (double) each went 2-for-3 with an extra-base hit and two runs scored for Ranney.

Messina struck out seven, walked two and scattered five hits in his shutout effort.

Non-Conference

No. 11 Manalapan 3, Robbinsville 1

Pitching

Top Hitters

Rumson-Fair Haven 13, Caldwell 7 (8 Innings)

Jack Riva hit a game-tying two-run double in the sixth inning and added another two-run double in the Rumson's seven-run seventh inning as the Bulldogs rallied from a 6-1 deficit to beat the Chiefs.

 Pitching

Top Hitters

Gloucester Catholic 5, No. 2 Red Bank Catholic 3

Miami commit Tate DeRias followed up his five-inning no-hitter vs. Williamstown on April 10 with 6 2/3 no-hit innings in a Rams win over the Caseys. DeRias also doubled twice and drove in two runs after shaking off surrendering a pair of runs in the top of the second inning.

Pitching

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Postponements/Cancelations

Monmouth County Tournament

Opening Round

(15) Monmouth at (10) Middletown North -- PPD, April 27, 1 p.m.

(22) Freehold Twp. at (3) Matawan -- PPD, TBA

Ocean County Tournament

First Round

(14) Manchester at (3) Jackson Memorial -- PPD, Sunday, 10 a.m.

Class A Central

Raritan at Holmdel – PPD, TBA

Non-Division

Pinelands at Long Branch – PPD, TBA

Ranney at St. Rose – PPD, TBA

Non-Conference

Westfield at CBA – Canceled