BASEBALL - SENIOR ALL-STAR GAME: THE BIG STAGE

By Scott Stump - Senior Editor
E-mail: stump@digitalsports.com

Click here for video highlights from this season of the Monmouth County players

Click here for video highlights from the season of the Ocean County players

     For Henry Hudson's Brian Olofson and Monsignor Donovan's Ken Ouimet, it's a chance to go out on a high note after bittersweet senior seasons that came on the heels of heightened expectations for their teams.
     For Point Beach's Nick Ardito, it's a chance to add another positive memory after helping the Garnet Gulls make big strides as a program in the past two years. It also will give him his first and last chance to play at FirstEnergy Park, where he also happens to work, as he is a summer employee of the building's inhabitants, the Lakewood BlueClaws, a low Class A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies.
     "I don't even know how much I'm going to play, but just to be there is great,'' Ardito said. "I'll have fun pitching off that mound. I always wanted to play there."
     For all of them, it's a chance to prove that the players from the small schools can play some ball as well when they suit up for Wednesday's Shore Conference Baseball Coaches Association Senior All-Star Game at 4:30 p.m. at FirstEnergy Park in Lakewood. The game, which pits a team of Monmouth County all-stars against their counterparts from Ocean County, was originally scheduled for June 16 before being postponed to Wednesday because of field conditions. The game will be followed at 7:30 p.m. by a game pitting a group of Shore Conference alumni against a team of New Jersey state troopers, with all the proceeds going to charity.
      While stars like Boston Red Sox draft pick Anthony DeSclafani of Colts Neck and Seton Hall recruit Charlie Rivera of Raritan will be participating, the game also gives the chance for standouts from smaller programs to get their day in the sun. Two of them, Olofson and Ouimet, thought that the spotlight might shine a little more on their teams during their senior seasons, but after junior seasons in which Henry Hudson and Monsignor Donovan each qualified for the postseason and had more success then they had in years, this season the Admirals and the Griffins came up short of playing in late May and early June.
      "We just didn't do as well as we were supposed to,'' said Olofson, a pitcher/outfielder/first baseman. "It bothered us. We just had so much high expectations, and everything was crushed. We just don't know what happened. We didn't live up to it.''
     Olofson still had a strong season as he was selected to the All-Class B Central team by the coaches after hitting .439 with 20 runs scored, four homers, 15 RBIs and 11 stolen bases, and he hopes to continue his career at Brookdale Community College. He will take with him the memory of a junior season in which the Admirals made the state playoffs under coach Tom Lynch for the first time in 10 years at the smallest public high school in Monmouth County and helped resurrect a program that had been stuck near the bottom of the standings.
     "It felt good because it was the first time in years that people were giving our school some respect,'' he said. "We showed that a small school can produce some ballplayers.''
      With numerous players returning from that club, the Admirals had high hopes for this season but struggled under the weight of expectations.
      "We felt good to be the first class of juniors to really bring it back, but we couldn't get it back again,'' Olofson said. "Still, we had some good freshmen and we had (sophomore) Jerry Vasto, who will be dominant in a couple of years. Hopefully we can stay competitive and build up to consistent winning seasons.''
      Ouimet knows how Olofson feels because Monsignor Donovan was coming off a season in which it won its first Shore Conference Tournament game in years and returned a host of young talent. However, Ouimet was the only senior starter on the team for most of the season, and the Griffins had their ups and downs and failed to qualify for the postseason with a young team.
      "We felt more pressure to do well and had high expectations this year, so it was very frustrating,'' Ouimet said.
      However, if you like seeing baseballs fly over the fence, Monsignor Donovan was one of the teams to follow this year as Ouimet launched seven and junior Nick Nigro belted seven as well, including four in one game against Mater Dei. Ouimet, an outfielder who was a third-team DigitalSports All-Shore Conference selection, had a big year, hitting .507 with 35 hits, 24 runs scored, 22 RBIs and 12 walks, while also registering 11 outfield assists and throwing out seven runners at the plate. His college plans are undecided, as he said he turned down an offer from St. Peter's earlier this year.
      For both Olofson and Ouimet, Wednesday's game is a chance to end their careers with an uplifting memory and one final honor.
     "It's great,'' Ouimet said about being selected. "I never expected it, and it means a lot to me.''
     "It's pretty exciting because no one ever gives us credit because we're from the small schools, but we're just as good,'' Olofson said.
      Ardito, another small school player and Point Beach's No. 1 pitcher, leaves high school with the memory of the Garnet Gulls making consecutive playoff appearances under coach Ray Ellis after struggling in the early part of the millennium. He will be joined by teammate Shane Ferguson, a great all-around athlete who hit .420 with 17 stolen bases for Point Beach this season.
      "It's great, especially because Shane and I get to wear our team's uniform one more time,'' Ardito said. "It's definitely gratifying because we made the playoffs the past couple of years, and before that we hadn't made the playoffs in eight years. I know going into our senior year that Shane and I and the other seniors didn't want to sit back and be happy with what we did last year.''
      Ardito is also pumped because he finally gets to take the field as a player at FirstEnergy Park, where he usually can be found filming the BlueClaws' pitchers and hitters for the coaching staff. He got the job through BlueClaws marketing director Mike Ryan, who was his coach for four years on the Point Pleasant ice hockey team.
      "It's a pretty fun job, and I'm just happy to be able to get a chance to play on that field because I've always wanted to,'' Ardito said. "I don't know how fast I'm going to throw, but it will be cool.''
      Of course, there are also bragging rights at stake as well.
      "I kind of think of it like everybody says how the Ocean County schools are really good at baseball and Monmouth County schools don't get as much respect, so guys will be playing hard,'' said St. John Vianney shortstop Chris Ruffler, who will be suiting up for the Monmouth County side.
       In the end, the SBCA is hoping for Olofson to be speaking for all the players involved.
      "You just hopefully want to end on a good note,'' Olofson said. "You want to say you went to the all-star game and had some fun.''

     Game notes: Ocean's Sean DaSilva will not be participating due to illness, according to Ocean coach Del Dal Pra...Central's Rocco Buglione, who ruptured his spleen in a post-game collision during the regular season, was selected but has not been medically cleared to play, according to Central coach John Scran...Division I recruits selected to play in the game include Toms River South's Ryan Kapp (Rutgers); Raritan's Charlie Rivera (Seton Hall); Colts Neck's Anthony DeSclafani (Florida) and Ethan Jackson (St. Peter's); Red Bank Catholic's Kyle O'Neill (Pacific) and Tom Higgins (Wagner); Marlboro's Jeff Pizzi (NJIT); Freehold's Matt Yuhas (Longwood) and Ryan Kresky (Fairleigh Dickinson); and St. Rose's Casey Cannon (Delaware) and Owen Stewart (Monmouth).

ROSTERS

MONMOUTH COUNTY SENIOR ALL STARS

 

SCHOOL                   PLAYER                               #                      COLLEGE   

ASBURY PARK       FRANKIE VANEGAS        5                               BLOOMFIELD

COLTS NECK                JOE DENORA                      7                     WILLIAM PATTERSON

                                    ANTHONY DESCLAFANI            16             UNIV. OF FLORIDA

                                    ETHAN JACKSON             22                     ST. PETERS

                                    CHRIS COUTROS              13                   STEVENS INST OF TECH

FREEHOLD BORO  MATT YUHAS                   10                            LONGWOOD

                                    RYAN KRESKY                  5                     FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON

FREEHOLD TWP   CHRIS BALLESTER         15                               RUTGERS/NWK.

HENRY HUDSON   BRIAN OLOFSON              5                               BROOKDALE/N.C. WESLEYAN

LONG BRANCH      SHAWN BROWN                4                            COLLEGE OF NJ

MANALAPAN         MATT COOK                       11                        CALDWELL

                                    NICK TURANO                   9                    ROWAN

                                    PAT FLANAGAN                47                   CEN. CONN/RAMAPO

MANASQUAN         THOMAS PHILLIPS           11                          STEVENS INST. OF TECH

MARLBORO            JEFF PAGLIO-PIZZI          6                            NJ INST. OF TECH

MATAWAN              MATT MIZEREK                41                        FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON

                                    DAN GERAN                       5                  RAMAPO

MATER DEI             SEAN BEINERT                  5                         YORK COLLEGE

MONMOUTH REG. MATT SLOWINSKI           14                           FRANKLIN & MARSHALL

NEPTUNE                BRANDON LEWIS            

OCEAN                     SEAN DASILVA                  2                     BROOKDALE

RARITAN                 CHARLIE RIVERA           21                      SETON HALL

RED BANK CAT.    KYLE O’NEILL                   5                            PACIFIC

                                    TOM HIGGINS                    4                  WAGNER

RED BANK REG.    KYLE GRANT                     37                         COLLEGE OF N.J.

RUMSON                  D.J. BRECKENRIDGE        3                         ROANOKE

                                    T.J. GELTZEILER              2                    KEAN

ST. JOHN VIANNEY  CHRIS RUFFLER           11                            N Y INST OF TECH

                                    GREG CASO                      26                 FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON

ST. ROSE                  OWEN STEWART              27                     MONMOUTH

                                    CASEY CANNON               49                 UNIV OF DELAWARE

SHORE REG.           ROB SOMERS                     7                       WILLIAM PATTERSON

WALL TWP.                  DAN CAMANO                   7                 FORDHAM

OCEAN COUNTY SENIOR ALL STARS

 

SCHOOL                               PLAYER                               #          COLLEGE               

BARNEGAT                         SEAN DEERING                 9         BELMONT ABBEY

                                                ALEX TYNAN                     13        BRANDEIS UNIV.

                                                MATT MCNEAL                 11        KEAN

BRICK MEMORIAL          TOM MURRAY                   42        DREW          

                                                EVAN MANCINI                 18        FELICIAN

                                                JOHN ROCA                                                OCEAN CTY COL

BRICK                                   PEDRO SERRANO             7          BROOKDALE

                                                CHRIS SORICE                   13        UNDECIDED

                                                RAY JOHNSON                   15   CARNEGIE MELLON

                                                KURT LOFTUS                   14        VALLEY FORGE

CENTRAL REG.                 EVAN BEATTIE                 4         BLOOMFIELD

                                                MIKE FAY                            7         OCEAN CTY COL

CHRIS SIMCZUK               1         BROOKDALE

ROCCO BUGLIONE          3         OCEAN CTY COL 

JACKSON MEM.                 RYAN GUARINO                22        E. STROUDSBURG

                                                CORY CARR                       18 UNIV OF NEW HAVEN

                                                PAUL ALVEAR

                                                WIL WARDELL

MANCHESTER                   DAVE MURAWSKI                        21          OCEAN CTY COL

                                                MIKE ROBERTS                 3         SETON HALL

                                                BOB JOHNSON                   1           OCEAN CTY COL

MON DON                            KEN OUIMET               7     BROOKDALE/WIDENER

                                                ANDY GANNON                 32        UNDECIDED

POINT BEACH                    SHANE FERGUSON           9      BRIDGETON ACAD.

                                                NICK ARDITO                    33        DESALES

POINT BORO                       WES WATERMAN             11        UNDECIDED

SOUTHERN REG.             SHANE JUNGER                25        FELICIAN

                                                CHRIS LAVOIE                  32        STOCKTON

TOMS RIVER EAST        RYAN DOLAN                    31        ALBRIGHT

                                                CHRIS WEDDING              12        STOCKTON

                                                STEVE FERENO                 14        UCONN


TOMS RIVER SOUTH     VIN VIVONA               FDU

                                     RYAN KAPP              RUTGERS
       
                                      JOHN COPPINGER


TOMS RIVER NORTH      ZACH BREBNER


                                     RYAN FONTENELLI