Raiders Look to Return to Glory in 2011

Some high school sports programs that win any kind of championship are still celebrating three years after the fact. While those teams may still be partying two years later, at Toms River East, there is a different word for the two-year period following the last championship: drought.

For a period from 2001 to 2008, Toms River East did nothing but win championships, whether it was a Shore Conference Class A South division championship, an Ocean County or Shore Conference Tournament championship, or the NJSIAA Group IV championship the Raiders won in 2001. In the last two seasons, however, the championship factory has been closed for repairs and the hope around the Raiders is that Friday’s season-opening game at South Jersey Non-Public A power Holy Spirit of Absecon reopens Raider Ravine for business.

“Expectations are different around here,” 27-year head coach Bill Frank said. “If we don’t win 20 games, I feel like the season’s a disappointment. Other coaches tell me all the time that they’d be happy to win 15 or 16 games, but that’s just not the way I look at it. We’ve built this program on winning championships and that’s always going to be the goal, no matter what happened the year before.”

While the Raiders have not won a division, county, conference or state title in either of the past two seasons, it's not as though they have been bad. Although Toms River East has accumulated a pedestrian 26-26 record over the past two seasons, the Raiders have done the job in the South Jersey Group IV tournament each time. They upset No. 1 seeded Millville as a No. 16 seed in the first round of the 2009 tournament and knocked off No. 7 Shawnee as a No. 10 last season before losing a tough one-run affair to No. 3 seed and eventual sectional runner-up Lenape.

That Millville team was led by Mike Trout, who is now an outfielder in the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim organization and the No. 1 ranked prospect in all of baseball according to several publications and No. 2 by Baseball America. Although the Raiders lost the next game in the 2009 tournament, the sophomores on that team experienced the carry-over into the next season and still carry the belief that they have a championship in them as seniors.

“I remember being a freshman (in 2008) and nobody really had high expectations for that team and they still went out and beat Toms River North to win the Ocean County Championship and the last two years, that’s what we wanted to do,” senior shortstop Joe Clarizio said. “We had that edge about us against Millville two years ago and again last year and we just need to bring that every day. We know we can play with anybody, but it’s about being consistent.”

The offense returns six players to the starting lineup, which includes senior first baseman Alberto Rodriguez, who was a part-time designated hitter last season. Clarizio and double-play partner Dan Wasilick are the top two hitters in this Raiders order, with Wasilick leading off and Clarizio following in the No. 2 hole.

Keith Tappert returns as the center fielder after playing the majority of his junior season in left field. Tappert opened the 2010 season at shortstop before shifting to the outfield thanks to the emergence of Wasilick second base. The insertion of Wasilick into the lineup pushed Clarizio from second to shortstop, where he has established himself as one of the more gifted defensive players in Ocean County at the position.

Even with the shifting of positions, Tappert has remained one of the top hitters in Ocean County and the Raiders are expecting him to be the centerpiece of the offense as the No. 3 hitter.

“We’re going to hit,” Frank said. “Wasilick and Clarizio are guys who know how to set the table and we have a guy like Tappert who drove in a lot of runs for us last year. We just have to throw strikes and catch the ball better than we did. I know we can do it, but we have to do it more.”

Gonzalez is slotted in the No. 4 spot to open the season with senior A.J. Capone following. According to Frank, Capone will mostly pitch and serve as the designated hitter with the occasional appearance in right field.

Senior left fielder Dave Leonard is a potential sleeper in the lineup as the No. 6 hitter. Leonard played a fair amount as a part-time outfielder last season, but has some pop in his bat considering his position in the order. Those first six hitters make the Raiders lineup a scary one for opponents.

Pitching is admittedly somewhat of a question mark according to Frank, with the reliance on two position players – Clarizio and Capone – to follow senior returnee M.J. Popek in the rotation. The rationale behind moving Capone out of right field is to allow him to focus on pitching, which the Raiders will need to compete in a division that includes two of the top public school teams in the state in Toms River South and Jackson Memorial.

The Raiders are also expecting production from two new starters, senior catcher Justin Ashkonis and sophomore third baseman Christian Danyo.

“We play in one of the toughest conferences in the state and that’s the way I like it,” Frank said. “That makes you better. When you’re trying to be the best, you’ve got to play the best and you’ve got to beat the best.

“Getting to the top is tough, but staying on top is harder. We’re trying to get back there and stay there.”