Stars have their chance to shine in Lakewood

CHRIS KELLY staff Above, Shrewsbury’s Kevin Snyder fires a pitch to the plate during the ABCCL All-Star game on Sunday at FirstEnergy Park in Lakewood. At left, Nate Buchte, of Rutgers University, slides safely into third base in front of MonmouthUniversity’s Marc Weres.

The Atlantic Baseball Confederation Collegiate League (ABCCL) Annual Showcase was held at FirstEnergy Park in Lakewood on Sunday.

Several professional scouts were in attendance to measure the performance of 66 collegiate players during pregame drills, and later watch them perform in a showcase game in which the Berra Division had an uncontested 10-5 victory over the Doby Division.

The Berra Division included players from the Jersey Shore Tides, Manchester Yankees, Ocean Giants, and Protocall Starz. Representatives from those teams contributed to the lopsided victory over the Doby Division, represented by the Toms River Black Sox, Freehold Clippers, Central Jersey Cougars and Middletown Monarchs.

The Berra Division sprung to an early lead in the second inning by scoring two runs off Black Sox pitcher Bobby Darling (Tusculum College) and one in the third off Erik Holik (Rider University). The Doby team had key hits from the Tides’ Sean Abate (Penn), the Giants’ John Wilkes (Siena College), and the Starz’s Tim Querns and Vic Cegles (both of Rutgers).

The lead grew to 9-0 as the Berra team sealed the victory in the first six innings, led by hits from the Tides’ Chris Kapsales (Middlesex) and Mike Pahira (Pace U), and the Yankees’ Tom Letizia (Rider) and Mike O’Malley (St. John’s University). The Tides’ Tom Rinaldi contributed a hard-hit sacrifice fly for an RBI, and teammates Chris Wilson (The College of New Jersey), John Walsh (Seton Hall), and Cody Caughenbaugh (Ohio State) all scored runs.

Walsh also had an RBI and Wilson added a hit later in the game to complete his offensive contribution, while the Giants’ Jim DaSilva (FDU-Madison) had a sacrifice fly for the Berra team’s final run.

The Berra pitchers coasted the rest of the way with the big lead never in question. Perfect innings were pitched by Tom Ford (Rutgers-Camden), Mike Downs (Richard Stockton College), and Matt Coulson (Rowan), and the winning team’s pitching staff was rounded out by Berra teammates Erik Chandler (Virginia), Kevin Snyder (Siena), Zachery Clark (York College), Anthony DeRogatis (Caldwell College), Santo Maertz (St. Peter’s College), Tim Woodhull (Rutgers) and Chris Kapsales (Middlesex). They combined for a total of 13 strikeouts of Doby players.

The ABCCL playoffs will be starting today. The schedule can be seen at www.abccl.com.