By Scott Stump - Senior Editor


     TOMS RIVER - Slugging first baseman Bill Hoermann has returned to supercharge Toms River North's offense, helping the Mariners run right down their agenda in ruthless fashion in a 6-1 nondivisional win over previously undefeated St. Rose at Ryan Field on Thursday night.
      Hoermann belted a three-run homer in the first inning and then added a double and a run scored to continue his ferocious hitting since returning to the clean-up spot from a nagging back injury from basketball season that kept him on the shelf for the majority of April. That opposite-field blast allowed sophomore righty Rudy Ferrentino to settle in immediately, and he responded with a complete-game five-hitter and a career-high 10 strikeouts to improve to 2-0.
      "(Hoermann's return) gives us a lot of confidence and it puts fear into pitchers,'' said junior Steve Nyisztor, who has been inducing plenty of nightmares of his own as he belted a solo homer as part of a two-hit night on Thursday.
      Besides realizing that Ferrentino can perform in a big spot and showing that the offense is now back at full tilt, the other items the Mariners (16-2), ranked No. 1 in the DigitalSports Top 10, crossed off the list against the No. 4 Purple Roses (19-1) were avenging a lop-sided loss to St. Rose from last season as well as potentially locking up the No. 1 seed in the Shore Conference Tournament as long as they emerge from Saturday's Ocean County Tournament games unscathed.
       "(St. Rose) beat us pretty bad last year, so that was in the back of our heads,'' Nyisztor said.
      Hoermann set the tone immediately, when he crunched an 0-2 pitch from St. Rose's Casey Cannon (5-1) the other way to bring home Nyisztor and Mitch Johnson for his second homer of the season and a 3-0 lead with one out in the first inning.
      "(Cannon) started me off with a curveball that made me look silly, then threw a nice pitch on the second one in a perfect spot fo a pitcher,'' Hoermann said. "On the last one I was looking for a fastball and he left one up there, and I just went the other way with it.''
      "That let them know that we're here to play,'' Nyisztor said.
       It also was an unfamiliar position for a Purple Roses team that has won 56 straight Class B Central games and rolled through a majority of its schedule, with two one-run victories over Shore serving as the main tests.
       "We got punched in the teeth first for once,'' said St. Rose coach Jim Agnello. "We got stunned a little bit, and it took us a while to get going.''
        Ferrentino, who has a live arm for a young player, only ran into trouble in the top of the second inning when Monmouth University recruit Owen Stewart led off with a double that was followed by an RBI double by sophomore Kyle Kennett that cut it to 3-1. A single by Connor Smith and a walk by Matt Rodgers loaded the bases with two outs, but Ferrentino halted St. Rose's attempt to get right back into the game by getting leadoff man Chris Bresnahan to fly out to center field.
        "I did