Shore Conference Week 3 Player and Pitcher of the Week Winners

The fans of the Shore have made their choices, which means it is time to reveal the Week 3 selections for Player and Pitcher of the Week. We will start with Shore Sports Network's picks, followed by the winners of the fan vote.

Shore Sports Network Shore Conference Week 3 Player of the Week

Mike McCormack, Jr., 1B, St. John Vianney

McCormack has been scorching extra-base hits from the time he hit the scene as a sophomore in 2023 and has not let up as a junior. In the last three games of last week, McCormack was 6-for-10 with four doubles, a triple and six RBI.

St. John Vianney earned a big sweep of Red Bank in a Class B North divisional series and McCormack provided pleny of production, going 4-for-7 with four RBI in those two games. He also went 2-for-3 with two doubles and two RBI against Middletown South in a 3-2 Monmouth County Tournament loss.

Shore Sports Network Shore Conference Week 3 Pitcher of the Week

Jovani Hallihan, Sr., RHP, Jackson Memorial

Jackson Memorial senior Jovani Hallihan. (Photo: Stephanie Hallihan)

Hallihan opened this season pitching in relief for Jackson Memorial and last week, he got his first chance to start and made quite the first impression as a starter.

In his first of two starts last week, Hallihan fired a six-inning no-hitter with eight strikeouts and three walks in a win over Brick. He pitched into the seventh inning and recorded the first two outs, but lightning stopped the game and it was called through six innings, with all scores and stats reverting back to the end of the sixth inning. Hallihan actually struck out the first two batters of the unofficial seventh inning, but he also would have had to have been removed from the game as he had also reached the single-game pitch limit.

As a follow up, Hallihan was almost as sharp when he took the mound against Manchester in the Ocean County Tournament first round on Saturdaty. The senior right-hander struck out 11 strikeouts, walked two and allowed two runs on six hits over six innings in Jackson Memorial’s 6-2 win over the Hawks.

Fan Vote Player Shore Conference Week 3 Player of the Week

Gavin Toth, Jr., Catcher, Toms River East

Toms River East junior Gavin Toth. (Photo: Tom Smith | tspsportsimages.com)

The Raiders catcher went off last week, going 6-for-11 at the plate (.545) with a triple, home run and 10 RBI. Toth picked up at least one hit in all four of Toms River East's games last week, starting with a 2-for-3 game with an RBI in a win over Central. In that game, Toth also caught a no-hitter by senior teammate Jack Mika.

Toth went 1-for-3 in a loss to Southern -- Toms River East's first of the season -- then closed out his week with nine RBI in two games. He went 1-for-3 with a triple and three RBI in a 16-0 drubbling of New Egypt in the Ocean County Tournament first round on Saturday, then closed out the week by going 2-for-2 with a homer and five RBI in an 11-1 win over Bayonne Sunday at the Autism Awareness benefit in North Brunswick.

Toth won this week's contest with 39 percent of the vote, beating out the runner-up, St. Rose's Brennan Sherman (18 percent). Rumson-Fair Haven senior Jack Riva (14 percent) and McCormack (10.5) also collected double-figure percentages of the vote.

Fan Vote Shore Conference Week 3 Pitcher of the Week

Andrew Gendi, Sr., RHP, Matawan

Matawan senior Andrew Gendi. (Photo: Tom Smith | tspsportsimages.com)

Gendi pitched just once last week, but was at the top of his game for the red-hot Huskies. The senior right-hander overpowered St. John Vianney in a four-hit shutout with 12 strikeouts and one walk -- part of a 9-0 win for a Matawan team that entered play Thursday with a 9-0 record.

The performance vs. St. John Vianney was also a milestone one for Gendi, who picked up his 100th career strikeout at the varsity level during the outing. Gendi is part of a Matawan pitching staff that has allowed a Shore-Conference-best six runs this season and while Gendi has allowed four of them, he also leads the Huskies with 17 2/3 innings and only two of those runs were earned, giving him a 0.79 ERA on the season to go with a 3-0 record.

Gendi won this week's award with 30 percent of the vote to top runner-up Jack Mika of Toms River East (23 percent). Donovan Catholic's Hunter Lefkus (13 percent) and Toms River South right-hander Aiden Lynch (12) each cracked double-digit percentages as well.