Monmouth All-Stars ride 16-hit attack to victory
Beat Ocean in Shore Coaches game
BY TIM MORRIS Staff Writer
Brian Olofson started the seven-run outburst and the Henry Hudson High School senior ended it.

TIM MORRIS Colts Neck High School's Ethan Jackson in action during the Shore Conference Coaches All-Star Game, played at FirstEnergy Park, Lakewood, on June 26. The Monmouth County All-Star squad defeated Ocean, 12-4.

The Monmouth County All-Star baseball team, made up of the top seniors in the county, were locked in a scoreless tie with their Ocean County counterparts in the Shore Conference Coaches All-Star games played at FirstEnergy Park in Lakewood.

Olofson led off the top of the fourth inning with a single. What followed afterward were early July 4 fireworks, with Monmouth producing six straight hits, which produced seven runs that broke the game open. Olofson pushed across the sixth and seventh runs of the inning on a triple off the right-centerfield wall, his second hit of the inning.

Olofson, who got little recognition playing for the unheralded 6-14 Admirals, made the most of his turn in the spotlight, sparkingMonmouth to a 12-4 victory. The Brookdale Community College-bound first baseman would go 3-for-3 on the day, smacking a second triple and scoring in the sixth.

"I was excited and ready to play," he said. "I was really pumped to play here [FirstEnergy Park].

"I saw the ball well today," he added. "I feel good. Now I know I can play with the best."

And both teams had the best in the Shore, including Colts Neck's ace Anthony DeSclafani. The right-hander is headed for the University of Florida unless the Boston Red Sox, who drafted the cougar in the 22nd round of the Major League draft, make him an offer he can't refuse.

DeSclafani was the Monmouth starter and pitched two scoreless innings, setting the early tone.

The game was scoreless until Olofson smacked his single opening the fourth. A wild pitch sent the Admiral to second and he scored on a single by Colts Neck's Chris Coutros.

A walk, infield single and error produced another run and set the table for a big inning. An RBI ground-out by Rumson Fair Haven's D.J. Breckenridge made it 3-0. Neptune's Brandon Lewis kept it going with an infield single, and Manalapan's Pat Flanagan, who batted .500 this spring, delivered an RBI single to right that made it 5-0. It was his second hit of the game. Olofson followed with his triple, and it was 7-0.

Ocean fought back in the bottom of the fourth, scoring three times. The key blow was a two-RBI triple by Central Regional's Chris Simczuk.

Monmouth put the game away for good in the eighth, scoring three more times. Monmouth Regional's Matt Slowinski plated Freehold Township's Chris Ballester (who had walked). Marlboro's Jeff Paglio-Pizzi singled, and Red Bank Regional's Kyle Grant smacked a two-RBI double that scored Slowinski and Paglio-Pizzi.

Freehold Borough's Matt Yuhas pitched the final two innings of the game for Monmouth and held Ocean scoreless.

Matawan's Matt Mizerek pitched the third and fourth inning for Monmouth. Mater Dei's Sean Beinert hurled a perfect seventh inning for Monmouth.