baseball preview

The defending Shore Conference Tournament champs are No. 1 to open the season. Find out who else is challenging for a top spot at the Shore as opening day arrives.

Jackson Liberty and Pinelands return a host of talented juniors and enter the season as the co-favorites in Class B South.

St. Rose is once again the dominant force in B Central, but is this the year the Purple Roses - and any other team in the division - break through in the postseason?

CBA enters as the favorite to reclaim the A North crown, but the division is loaded with teams that can compete for championships in 2018.

Raritan outlasted Matawan for the 2017 A Central title and returns a deep pitching staff ready to pursue a repeat.

In one of the Shore's deepest, most unpredictable divisions, Middletown North has a pitching staff that could separate the Lions from the pack.

Three of the top four teams in the final 2017 SSN Top 10 came from Class A South and the division is poised to produce at least one more powerhouse team in 2018.

Class B Central has traditionally been St. Rose’s division to lose and while the Purple Roses have usually made good on those expectations, there have been some teams to spoil the party over the years. Point Beach has been that team and Mater Dei most recently won the title in 2015...

The crosstown rivalry between Toms River South and Toms River North intensified last year as the two foes battled to the end for the Class A South title, with Toms River South winning an outright title for the first time since 2010. Toms River North got the Indians back by beating them in the Ocean County Tournament final, so the two teams – both restocked with experienced, talented rosters – have

In recent years, Class B North has been a division of have and have-nots: four very strong teams good enough to advance deep in a county or conference tournament, and maybe one other team that can make a state-tournament run. This year, B North is arguably the most loaded division in the Shore Conference – a title that has always been reserved for either Class A North or Class A South...

By just about any measure, Class A North has been the best top-to-bottom division in the Shore Conference for at least the last three seasons and probably even farther back in time. Christian Brothers Academy has ruled the Shore Conference and Monmouth County Tournaments in that time, Middletown South was the No...

Last year’s Class B South race was supposed to be a formality, with Barnegat returning the best pitching in the country to a team that already figured to be in the hunt. As it turned out, the race was a formality, but it was Point Pleasant Boro that ran the table and won B South going away...