TR South rolls on over Memorial Day Weekend..

TR South 7, Point Boro 6 - SCT semifinal
TR South 9, Absegami 4 - SJ Group IV semifinal...


Congratulations to the Toms River South baseball team for winning two key games this weekend as they advanced in two separate post season tournaments.

The 22 and 5 Indians came from behind one more time as the defeated visiting Point Pleasant Boro on Saturday night, 7 to 6, in the Shore Conference Tournament semifinals. With the win, South advances to the Shore Conference Tournament Championship tomorrow night at First Energy Park, home of the Lakewood Blue Claws. At 7 p.m., the Indians will meet Ocean Township of Monmouth County.

Last Friday, South defeated Absegami and the undefeated pitcher Mike Isgro, 9 to 4, to advance to the next round of the NJSIAA South Jersey Group IV Tournament. South will travel to Eastern Regional today for a 4 p.m. game.

Ryan Kapp and Rick Petrosino were the offensive heroes Saturday night as Petrosino singled to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth and Kapp doubled to the left centerfield gap to put South up 7-6. Freshman Tyler Gebler, pitching in relief of starter Evan Bigler, came on to get the win downing the heart of the potent Point Boro batting order in the top of the 7th inning.

On Friday, junior Joe Talerico provided the big blast as he ripped his 9th homer of the season and drove in a total of five runs to propel the Indians past the Braves. Senior catcher Casey Chant went 3 for 3 at the plate with two RBI. Junior Marc Potter struck out 8 in five and one-third innings to improve his record to 4 and 1. Gebler got the save, striking out five for all of the outs in his one and two-thirds of work.

Moving on in the SCT

TR South 3, St. Rose 2 (8 Inn., SCT quarterfinals): Congratulations to the Toms River South baseball team for winning its 20th Game of the season on Wednesday May 24th as the topped UNDEFEATED St. Rose, 3 to 2 in eight innings at the Ken Frank Baseball Stadium. With the win, the 20 and 5 Indians advance to the semifinals of the Shore Conference Tournament where they will host Point Pleasant Boro on Saturday.

Senior Evan Bigler provided much of the South heroics last night as he pitched five strong innings for the victory to improve his record to 11 and 0 on the season and 19 and 4 in his career.

Junior Mark Perry drove in pinch runner Nick Roma with the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning with a bases loaded grounder up the middle. Junior Steve Wagenhoffer started the rally, when he got hit by a pitch. Joe Talerico followed with a single and Bigler worked a walk to load the bases.

Bigler drove in the Indians other run in the fourth inning with a laser double off the left-centerfield wall.

Junior Marc Potter pitched three key innings for the Indians, shutting down the Purple Roses who were 20 and 0 had won 27 straight games since TR South had beaten them last season. Defensive standouts included catcher Casey Chant, shortstop Tyler Gebler, first baseman Perry and second baseman Chase Gray made an outstanding play in the top of the eighth inning to give South momentum into the bottom of the eighth inning.

South will travel to Absegami today for a 3 p.m. NJSIAA South Jersey Group IV match up.

Exorcism

TR South 6, TR East 5: The Indians overcame a two-run deficit and won the game with a two-out rally in the bottom of the seventh to defeat the Raiders in a key Shore Conference Class A South contest.

With the win, the Indians (19-5 overall, 8-3 in A South) tie the Raiders (20-5, 8-3) for first place in the division. Each team has a game remaining as South has to travel to TR North and East has to play Brick Memorial.

Freshman Tyler Gebler proved to be the Indians hero for the second straight day as he smacked a looping shot down the left field with two on and two out in the seventh. The ball hit the ground and bounced off the East left fielder, who was shaded to the gap, allowing courtesy runner Ron Roma and sophomore right fielder Ryan Kapp to score from second base and first base, respectively. Roma was running for senior Evan Bigler, who drew a two-out walk to start the rally. Kapp singled Roma to second base.

Bigler, who was three for three at the plate with two doubles, pitched two innings of relief to get the win and improve his season record to 10-0. Bigler came into a tie game in the top of the sixth with a man on second, and allowed his only hit - a two-run homer to TR East's Steve Elliott. But from that point, he was flawless retiring six straight and striking out three in the stretch.

South scratched one run back in the bottom of the sixth to cut the lead to 5-4 when sophomore Chase Gray driled a double and went to third on a ground out by Joe Bellavance. Gray would score on a two-out wild pitch.

Bigler provided some key offense early in the game when he smacked an RBI double in the third. Two batters later, Gebler drew a bases loaded walk for an RBI which tied the game at three.

South's Joe Talerico, who pitched the first three innings of the game, drilled a solo homer to give the Indians an early 1-0 lead.

South hosts St. Rose tomorrow night at 7 p.m. in a Shore Conference Tournament quarterfinal match-up. On Friday, South will travel to Absegami for a NJSIAA South Jersey Group IV match-up.

This was the Indians first victory over TR East since the 2002 season when TR South defeated then senior (and current Arizona Diamondbacks farmhand) Ryan Doherty. With the win today, Bigler is now 18-4 in his career and needs just two wins to join the prestigous "Twenty Win Club" at TR South.

No Pitchers Duel Here...

TR South 14, TR North 12: The Indians rallied from being down all day as they scored 6 in the 6th to evenually take the lead and win this NJSIAA South Jersey Group IV opener.

Joe Talerico, who was three for five on the day, smacked a solo HR to get the Indians' sixth going and cut the Mariners (11-12) lead to 11-9. Evan Bigler, who hit a solo HR in the 4th - the first of his career- drew a walk and Chase Gray followed with a bases on balls as well. With one out, Ryan Kapp singled in a run and Tyler Gebler followed with an RBI single to tie the game.

Senior Joe Bellavance broke the tie with an RBI single off the TR North second baseman's face. Pinch runner Ron Roma scored on a wild pitch and junior Steve Wagenhoffer plated the Indians' final run with a squeeze bunt. It was 14-11 when the damage was done.

The 18-5 Indians had one more jam to elude as Gebler replaced the eventual winner Rick Petrosino (1-0) on the mound with men on first and second and one run in - now a 14-12 game. Now making his second relief appearance in the game (he pitched from the first into the fourth inning), Gebler beared down and struck out the Mariners' third, fourth and fifth hitters of the batting order to seal the win and save the game.

There was only one half of an inning in which no runs were scored - the top of the sixth. Petrosino got out of it with a key double play when he took a nubber back to the mound and hit Gebler at short who fired to Scott Potter at first.

South will most likely play at fourth-seeded Absegami on Friday. South hosts TR East tomorrow at 7 p.m. and St. Rose on Wednesday in the SCT semifinals.

Nailbiter..

TR South 1, SJ Vianney 0: The Indians played some classic baseball as they defeated the Lancers in the Shore Conference Tournament.

Senior Evan Bigler pitched five strong innings and sophomore Ryan Kapp blasted a long homer to left-centerfield to push the Indians to 17-5 and into the Shore Conference quarterfinals. With the win, Bigler improves to 9-0 on the season and 17-4 in his career.

Freshman Tyler Gebler, after playing five great innings at shortstop, came in to nail down the win pitching the last two innings. He made a great play on the final out on a ball hit hard back to the mound with the potential tying run dancing off thrid base.

Kapp was 3 for 3 and senior Casey Chant was 2 for 2 for the Indians - accounting for all five of South's hits. With the loss, St. John Vianny falls to 15-8.

South will host its next three games:

Mon - TR North at TR South - 3:45 p.m. - NJSIAA South Jersey Group IV
Tue - TR East at TR South - 7 p.m. - Class A South
Wed - St. Rose at TR South - 3:45 p.m. - SCT

St. Rose is currently 18-0 and the defending NJSIAA Parochial B champs.

Schedule

Here is the updated TRS Schedule

Sat - St. John Vianney at TR South (shore conference tournament) 7 p.m.

Mon - TR North at TR South (South Jersey Group IV tournament) 3:45 p.m.

Tues - TR East at TR South (Class A South) 7 p.m.

Old Rivals..

TR South 4, Lakewood 3: Senior Jared Tramutola, who had walked, scored on an overthrow at third after a single by freshman Tyler Gebler to give the Indians (16-5) the win.

Gebler, who was 2 for 2 at the plate, pitched three and two-thirds of strong relief to get the victory. Gebler gave up a single and that was it. He retired the last 10 batters straight and improved his record to 3-2.

Sophomore Chase Gray hit a two-run homer and Mark Perry added an RBI double.

Marc Potter started and pitched the first three and one-third innings.

Pick up game...

Here's the schedule update for TR South ....

Wed - Lakewood at TR South (Non-conference) 6 p.m.
Thurs - Possible SCT game - Shore or St. John Vianney 3:45 p.m.
Fri - ?
Sat - ?
Mon - NJSIAA First Round at TRS?
Tues - TR East at TR South 7 p.m.

That's all we know at this point. We still need to make up a game with TRN.

One Week

Hey All,

Sorry for the delays in posting but a combination of poor weather and busy-ness on my part have kept me from writing here.

Our game against Monsig. Donovan was canceled yesterday due to unplayable fields and we've been waiting around looking to bounce back from a 2-1 loss to Point Boro - which I didn't write about last week. We fell to the then 17-3 Panthers, mainly due to a lack of hitting. Give Point Credit - they made the plays and we didn't. The only TRS run came on a Sac Fly by junior Mark Perry who blasted one to the wall in right-center. A great Point Boro catch prevented further damage.

The Indians were only 1 for 8 at the plate with men in scoring position.

Freshman Tyler Gebler threw 6 pretty good innings, only allowing five hits. But not good enough as he took the loss and dropped to 2-2 on the season.

South was awarded the fourth seed in the Shore Conference Tournament last night, they will host the winner of St. John Vianney and Shore Regional hopefully on Thursday.

The Indians are scheduled to travel to TR North today for a Shore Conference Class A South match up.

John Garabrant, a 1991 TRS Grad and member of the 1990 state championship team, stopped by practice yesterday to wish the team luck. It was good to see John G.

Bounce back

TR South 14, TR North: Evan Bigler pitched a two-hit gem to defeat the crosstown Mariners (9-9) as the Indians improved to 15-4 overall and 7-3 in the A South. South bounced back from a 5-0 defeat at the hands of TR East on Saturday in the semifinal of the OCT.

Keying the offense for South was junior first baseman Mark Perry who went 3 for 3 with a two-run double in the first and RBI single in the second. He also had an RBI double in the third. Senior centerfielder Jared Tramutola had two hits in two at bats, a double and a two-run single. Ryan Kapp and Chase Gray each had RBI singles.

Bigler struck out five and walked none in the five inning game.

South travels to Point Boro tomorrow for an important non-conference game.

Bats?

Brick Memorial 3, TRS 1: The Indians (13-3, 6-3) couldn't manage enough clutch hits as they fell to the host Mustangs in a Shore Conference Class A South match-up.

Junior righty Joe Talerico (2-1) took the loss, allowing two earned runs in the second inning before being relieved by freshman righty Tyler Gebler. Gebler pitched three and two-thirds innings of no-hit relief. Senior Evan Bigler, making his 40th career appearance for TR South, allowed one run in the bottom of the sixth.

South had several attempted rallies and could not get runs across. Gebler and Talerico opened the seventh with a single and double respectively, and after a walk to senior Rick Petrosino it looked like South might get some runs across. A grounder back to the pitcher, a strikeout and a ground out finished them off however.

The Indians take on TR East tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. in the OCT semifinals at TR East.

The Bats Come Alive..

TR South 9, Brick 1: Senior righty Evan Bigler pitched four strong innings and had two hits at the bat to help propel the Indians to another Shore Conference Class A South victory. South (14-2, 6-2 in A South) took a one-run lead in first on an RBI single by sophomore Ryan Kapp.

In the second, South added four runs as Bigler singled and was followed a Steve Wagenhoffer double, a Mark Perry double, a Tyler Gebler single and a Rick Petrosino single. The Indians got three more in the third on a Perry RBI single and a Joe Bellavance two-run single.

Defensive stars included catcher Casey Chant and freshman shortstop Tyler Gebler who had six assists and one putout at shortstop. Gebler started a key double-play in the the second inning to get Bigler out of his only jam.

Senior lefty Jared Tramutola threw three innings of relief to get the save, striking out five, walking two and allowing the only run.

South travels to Brick Memorial tomorrow for its next A South contest and will take on TR East on Saturday afternoon in the OCT semifinal.

And the Beat Goes On...

TR South 5, Southern 1: The Indians improved to 13 and 2 overall and 5-2 in A South as the defeated the host Rams behind junior righty Marc Potter. Potter, who scattered five hits, struck out two, walked two and allowed just one earned run.

Sophomore DH Ryan Kapp provided all the offense South would need as he followed a Chase Gray walk with a blast over the leftfield fence for his 4th homer of the year.

Mark Perry, Evan Bigler and Steve Wagenhoffer each had key RBI for South. Defensive standouts included Gray, Perry, Tyler Gebler, Joe Talerico and Jared Tramutola.

South will host Brick tomorrow and travel to Brick Memorial on Friday before facing Toms River East on Saturday in the semifinal of the Ocean County Tournament. Saturday night's game against Spotswood has been postponed.

In Class A South action last night, TR North defeated the Raiders and Casey Gaynor, 4-3. South and East each have two losses in Class A South action and are tied for first place in the division.