Wall and Dan Camano (above) are ranked No. 6 after a recent hot streak in which they clinched the Class B North title.
As the weeks go by, one of the harder things to do is figuring out where St. Rose fits in the Top 10. The Purple Roses are the only undefeated team left in the Shore Conference at 19-0, but have not defeated a team ranked in the DigitalSports Top 10 this season.
I like their pitching depth a lot, which is always key in the postseason, so we'll see what happens as the games get harder. I am keeping them below the Class A South contingent, but I could easily see them shoving it down my throat for not respecting them by winning some key tournament games. We will find out almost immediately if the weather holds up, as St. Rose will square off against No. 1 Toms River North in a nondivisional game on the road at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.
I thought I had a better handle on the lower half of the top 10, but then Central lost to Manchester in extra innings and ended up sharing the Class B South title with Barnegat, and Toms River East has come on late to throw a monkey wrench into it as well. Also, Wall knocked off Colts Neck, which then blanked Rumson, but then Wall had a tough loss to Monmouth. Not easy to figure out, but there's no shame in trying.
DigitalSports Top 10
1. Toms River North (15-2) - Last week: No. 1. Just when it looked like the Mariners might lose this spot to Jackson, the Jaguars fall to Toms River East and the Mariners go on their way to wrapping up their second straight Class A South title. They have a big nondivisional game scheduled with No. 4 St. Rose for Thursday night, where they could be the first team this season to hand the Purple Roses a loss.
2. Jackson (12-3) - Last week: No. 2. The Jaguars lost a tight one to Toms River East to halt their momentum, but came back with a win over perennially state-ranked St. Joseph (Montvale) in the Shore Challenge. Their offense has had some trouble against top pitchers, but this team's lineup is still as strong as anybody's from top to bottom while Kevin Needham is one of the best big-game pitchers in the Shore.
3. Toms River South (13-5) - Last week: No. 3. The Indians lost a 1-0 game to No. 2 Jackson and fell in the Shore Challenge, but came back by beating nemesis Toms River East in a 1-0 game on Tuesday night. Their pitching continues to be excellent, but scoring runs in big games continues to be a major Achilles' heel.
4. St. Rose (19-0) - Last week: No. 4. The Purple Roses survived their biggest scare yet, outlasting Shore, 2-1, in 10 innings thanks to a brilliant performance by senior righty Connor Smith. They play No. 1 Toms River North on Thursday night in a bid to shut some people up, move up to No. 1 in the rankings and beat the Mariners for the second straight season.
5. Christian Brothers Academy (11-6) - Last week: No. 8. The Colts wrapped up a tie for the overall Class A North crown with Colts Neck, helped greatly by a win over the Cougars on the road. They dropped a 2-1 game to Lawrenceville on Tuesday, but other than that outing, their bats are starting to warm up a little bit, which would make them dangerous heading into the postseason.
6. Wall (14-4) - Last week: No. 7. The Crimson Knights wrapped up the Class B North title and knocked off Colts Neck in the Monmouth County Tournament during an eight-game winning streak before dropping a 4-1 game to Monmouth and ace Brian Schopka. Wall has solid pitching depth and 10 seniors, which always bodes well when the stakes get higher.
7. Colts Neck (15-6) - Last week: No. 6. Losses to Wall and Christian Brothers Academy drop the Cougars a spot, but they rebounded nicely with a 3-0 win over a Rumson-Fair Haven team that only had one loss heading into the game. Colts Neck has the pitching, it just needs to shore up the defense in big games and come through more with hits with runners on base. It still stands that if the Cougars can reach a championship game and put Anthony DeSclafani on the mound, it's a wrap.
8. Rumson-FH (11-2) - Last week: No. 5. The Class A Central champs lost 3-0 to Colts Neck and are looking for that signature nondivisional win after rolling through their divisional opponents.
9. Toms River East (10-7) - Last week: Unranked. Yes, I know that the Raiders had some tough losses early in the season, but they also boast wins over No. 2 Jackson, No. 3 Toms River South and No. 10 Central and have been really coming on in the past two weeks. They nearly made it two wins over Toms River South before falling 1-0 to the Indians on Tuesday night.
10. (tie) Central (11-6) and Barnegat (13-5): The Class B South co-champs are hard to sort out considering that Central has the most recent win over the Bengals in their two-game, regular-season series, but then Central fell to Manchester, allowing Barnegat to tie for the title. Maybe the Ocean County Tournament will give more clarity to this situation.
Knocking on the door:
Shore (15-2): The Blue Devils had No. 4 St. Rose on the ropes for the second time this season but couldn't pull it out in their search for that signature victory over a Top 10 team. However, you could still make the argument that the Blue Devils should be ranked considering their only losses are to undefeated St. Rose. On the other hand, their only wins over teams with winning records are against Keyport and Point Beach.
E-mail: stump@digitalsports.com