Toms River North Claims Shore Conference Tournament Championship Behind Larsen Three-Hitter

Photos above courtesy of Tom Smith: #10 Larsen, #1 Nyisztor, #17 Feigin and 2017 SCT champs

LAKEWOOD – Craig Larsen was aware he had a perfect game going entering the bottom of the fifth inning after setting down the first 12 Red Bank Catholic batters he faced in Sunday night’s Shore Conference final at First Energy Park in Lakewood.

However, he lost his perfect-game bid when Aiden Supp laced a double into the left-field corner leading off the bottom of the fifth for the first Casey baserunner of the evening. Unfazed, Larsen then retired the next three batters to get out of the inning unscathed and went on to toss a three-hit shutout leading Toms River North to 5-0 victory over fourth-seeded Red Bank Catholic (21-9) for its second SCT title in five years and third in program history.

The junior right-hander faced just three batters over the minimum 21 hitters for a seven-inning game and did not issue a walk while striking out three on 83 total pitches against one of the best hitting teams in the Shore Conference.

“I knew what was going on but I didn’t really care as much as us getting runs,” Larsen said when asked if he was aware he pitching a perfect game. “It’s all about the zero in the run column. It’s not about the zero in the hit column or pitching a perfect game.

“We had the scouting report on them and I knew exactly where to throw to everyone and I just followed it. I trusted my pitching coach and just executed.”

With the win, Larsen completed a brilliant junior season that saw him go 6-2 on the mound with 2.32 ERA. He led the Mariner staff in innings pitched (48 1/3) and wins (6) and was second on the team in strikeouts with 40.

“We expected a big year out of him with his ability,” Toms River North head coach Andy Pagano said. “Why did we give him the ball (tonight)? He earned it. He competes and wants the ball and it’s very important to be like that in a game like this. He was able to get ahead on the hitters and make them hit defensively and he just kept throwing strikes. He’s a kid who we know is going to leave everything on the field.”

The seventh-seeded Mariners (20-7) pushed a run across in the top of the second after loading the bases on hard-hit singles by Austin Feigin and Justin Schaff and a base on balls to Penn St. University commit, Brendan Mullins. Junior left fielder Ian Mindas then hit a high popup in foul territory past first base that Supp made a diving catch on racing all the way over from second base. However, his throw to the plate was late with Feigin tagging and scoring on the play with some heads-up baserunning.

Mike Nyisztor then put the Mariners up by two, 2-0, launching a two-out solo home run that landed half up the grassy knoll way beyond the wall in left field.

It was the senior shortstops second home run of the season and gave Larsen a little more breathing room to work with.

“It felt really good, all day I was thinking about this game,” Nyisztor said about hitting a home run in his final game in a Toms River North uniform. I was just happy for my team because I know sometimes they rely on me a lot and the last thing I want to do is let them down. So it felt good to get one and kind of get them a little motivated.

“It definitely feels a lot better knowing that we can go off on a win. Coming into it we knew it was going to be our last game no matter what and the seniors wanted to finish it off with a ‘W’ but all the younger guys stepped up. Craig pitches an outstanding game and everyone just did their part; it really felt great.”

The Rutgers-bound Nyisztor finished 3-for-4 with a home run, two runs scored and an RBI and upped his season batting average to .458.

“With all the success that he’s had I’m just so proud of him,” Pagano said of his shortstop. “Mike is a kid that no one in New Jersey is going to outwork. Nobody works harder, so to see the kid have success in a game like this, you just feel great for him.”

Success is Nyisztor’s middle name. He led the baseball team to consecutive Ocean County Tournament championships before winning the SCT Sunday and brought three straight basketball division titles to the school while eclipsing the 1000-point scoring mark this season.

Larsen also helped his own cause at the plate starting a three-run uprising in the top of the fifth drilling a one-out double off the top of the leftfield wall that had home run written all over it. Junior Alex Klalo followed with an RBI single into centerfield and moved to third on a bunt single by Nyisztor before a throwing error on the play moved the runners to second and third.

Rutgers commit, Jared Bellissimo, walked to load the bases and Feigin brought both runners home with a ground single through the 5-6 hole for a 5-0 lead.

In the bottom of the sixth, RBC got singles by David Glancy and Mike Veit putting runners at first and second with one out. Glancy represented the only runner the Caseys would put in scoring position the entire game but Larsen would quickly extinguish the mini threat.

Nyisztor cleanly fielded a bad-hop shot to short, tossed to Dylan Feigin at second, who in turn fired a strike to first for what looked like an inning-ending double play but the umpire ruled the runner safe.

Larsen then induced a grounder to Nyisztor, who stepped on second for the final out.

RBC went quietly in the bottom in the seventh with Larsen getting three quick outs on a pop fly sandwiched between two groundouts to end the game the way he started.

Larsen went 2-for-4 at the plate with a double and a run scored while Feigin - a St. Peters University commit - added two singles in four at bats with two RBI and two runs scored.

“It means a lot,” Pagano said about winning the SCT title after somewhat of an up-and-down season. “After the lowest point of our year the kids had a meeting themselves and got rid of any individual awards that we used to give out after the game. They took down our record and stats and wrote new season and our new season has been pretty good. We got some redemption on some teams in the OCT and I think we’ve proved we’re one of the top teams in the Shore in the SCT.”

Follow @getmready