The 2018 high school baseball season saw sensational performances on the mound, incredible web gems, and clutch hits. Jersey Sports Zone captured hundreds of great moments and here are the Top 10 most viewed games on Jersey Sports Zone from last season in New Jersey high school baseball:
#10: Toms River South 6 Brick Township 5
Legendary Coach Ken Frank and The Toms River South Indians found themselves in a rare position on Monday afternoon, winless through the first 3 games of 2018. Tied at 5 with Brick Township in the bottom of the 7th, South got a clutch double down the line in left by Jordan Erbe, followed up by an infield single off the bat of Shane Gibson to give the Indians a 6-5 walk-off win. Monmouth University commit TJ Scuderi continued his hot streak at the plate, going 2 for 3 in the win, while John Coppola hit a double & triple in the loss for the Dragons. Watch the Highlights from Toms River on JSZ!
#9: St. Joe’s-Metuchen 4 Don Bosco Prep 1
St. Joseph Metuchen gave a new meaning to playing “lights out” baseball. Falcons had a 1-0 lead after 3 innings when the lights went out at Don Bosco Prep due to an electrical problem, a 20 minute delay followed before play would resume. The lights may have came back on, but the St. Joes defense kept Don Bosco in the dark. The Falcons, led by pitchers Nicolas Estes (Win) and Jake Hellwig (Save), shut down the Ironmen offense and got a 4-1 win on the road. Watch the Highlights from Ramsey on JSZ.
#8: CBA 6 Wall 5 – Strike Out Autism at Central Regional High School
Thomas Rodgers delivered a bases-loaded single in the 7th inning to give the Colts a walk-off win and a historic 800th career win for long-time CBA coach Marty Kenney. JSZ’s Jay Cook has highlights and post-game reaction from Bayville:
#7: Middletown South 7 Middletown North 0
Sophomore Chris O’Connor had three hits, 2 RBI’s and a critical defensive play at third base in his varsity debut to lead Middletown South to a 7-0 win over their crosstown rival on opening day. Joe Sprake and Robby Zega combined on the shutout. Sprake threw four scoreless frames with 8 K’s and Zega got out of a jam in the 5th inning that allowed the Eagles to bust the game open. Middletown North starter Tyler Ras struck out 12 in five innings in front of multiple MLB scouts who watched his first start of 2018. O’Connor made a diving play at third base to get South out of a bases-loaded jam and doubled off of Ras to set up the game’s first run. JSZ has the highlights of another great battle of Middletown:
#6: Seton Hall Prep 5 Caldwell 3
The Pirates of Seton Hall Prep, (5-1 on the season, No. 12 in NJ Top 20) found themselves trailing Caldwell on two separate occasions in the late innings. Down by 1 run in the 6th, Ryan Sheppard came through with an RBI double off the wall in right to tie the game at 3. Sheppard then scored on a base hit by Anthony Peterson to give Seton Hall a 4-3 lead. The Pirates would add one more run in the 6th to make it a 5-3 lead and RHP Ryan Toal took care of the rest in the 7th. Toal picked up the save and Seton Hall Prep came away with the comeback win. Watch Highlights of SHP and Caldwell on JSZ!
#5: Saint Augustine 6 Delbarton 1
The rematch from last year’s Non- Public A State Final between No. 1 Delbarton and No. 2 St. Augustine was the must-see game for any baseball fan. Both teams came in undefeated and let’s just say the flames haven’t cooled down just yet from last June. The Green Wave struck first off a wild pitch from Cole Vanderslice to go up 1-0 in the third. That would be the only run given up from Vanderslice in his 7 strikeout game. The Hermits got the bats going in the fifth to put 4 runs on the board and took a commanding lead heading into the seventh. Virginia Tech commit Jack Billings helped add 2 more runs in the final inning to bring his stats to 2-4 with 3 RBI’s. Billings then closed out the game on the mound to earn strikeouts 4 and 5. Watch the highlights now:
#4: Perth Amboy 1 St. Joe’s-Metuchen 0 (12 innings)
Pitching duel or defensive showdown, call it what you want, hits and runs were tough to come by for Perth Amboy and St. Joseph Metuchen. After 12 innings of scoreless baseball, Bryan Valenzuela came to the plate with a runner on 3rd base and one thing on his mind; Winning. Valenzuela did just that, a walk off basehit to right field from the junior third baseman gave Perth Amboy a 1-0 victory over St. Joes. Jose Peralta picked up the W on the mound coming on in reflief for starter Virgilia Cabrera who went 9 1/3 innings, with 5 K’s and zero runs for the Panthers. His counterpart Jake Hellwig kept pace with 9 IP, and 6 K’s in the loss for St. Joes. Watch highlights of the extra inning thriller on JSZ!
#3: Don Bosco Prep 11 Bergen Catholic 3
Don Bosco Prep traveled to Lyndhurst looking to take down their rival school Bergen Catholic for the second time in just three days. The Ironmen placed Iona bound Drew Helmstetter on the mound, and the lefty did his job. Helmstetter struck out 9 in 6 innings while allowing just 2 runs. The Don Bosco offense did its job as well, erupting for 7 runs in the 4th inning, and would go on to score 11 in the game, led by Ryan Carr (3 for 4 2RBI). Watch Highlights of Bosco – Bergen on JSZ!
#2: Red Bank Catholic 7 Monmouth Regional 6 (8 innings)
One of the top individual performances of 2018 came from the Shore Conference. David Glancy launched three towering solo homers in three consecutive at-bats as the Caseys rallied for an extra-innings win. RBC had a 6-2 lead in the 6th inning after Glancy’s third blast of the game, but Monmouth Regional rallied for four runs in the bottom of the frame starting with an Eli Rife 2-run homer, a Justin Scotto RBI double and a Ricky Voss base hit to left that plated Scotto. In the 8th, Ryan O’Hara hit a fly ball to left that was dropped bringing home Glancy with the game-winning run. Watch the highlights of a wild game in Tinton Falls!
#1: Saint Augustine Prep 1 Delbarton 0 – Non-Public “A” State Championship
It was one of the best pitchers duels of 2018. Cole Vanderslice and Jack Leiter were sensational under the lights at Hamilton Veterans Park. In the end, Vanderslice threw a complete game shutout to give the Hermits the state crown. Watch the highlights and post-game reaction from a tremendous game:
2018 JSZ Web Gems of the Year!
Thanks to the great efforts from the diamond all year long. Take a look back at the best web gems captured by our cameras!