Baseball – 2022 All-Shore Final Vote Winners

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2022 All-Shore Final Vote Winners

Top five vote-getters listed at each position

Catcher

Nick Quagliato, Jr., Neptune

Quagliato was a standout defender behind the plate with a solid overall offensive profile that included some big swings against noteworthy competition. The Scarlet Fliers junior backstop had two two-homer games – one against Manasquan in a regular-season win and the other coming off All-Shore left-hander Chris Sasso in an NJSIAA Central Group III opening-round win over Jackson Liberty. Quagliato hit his first homer of the season on opening day off St. John Vianney ace and West Virginia commit Aiden Cody and also went 1-for-3 vs. Colts Neck left-hander and All-Shore First-Teamer Anthony Gubitosi.

First Base/DH

Andrew Lombardi, Sr., Designated Hitter, Middletown North

Lombardi’s high-school career got off to a promising start when he hit three home runs as a starting freshman catcher for Middletown North and he showed an all-around game the following summer. Injuries, however, kept Lombardi from catching for most of his junior season and all of this past season. Up until the stretch run of 2022, Lombardi’s offense took a dip as well, but over the final two months of the season, his hot bat transformed the Middletown North lineup. Lombardi hit two of his three homers during the state tournament and both were go-ahead blasts: one a three-run shot to put the Lions ahead of Colts Neck, 8-5, and the other a solo shot to break a 2-2 tie against Cranford in the Group III final. He also hit a game-tying RBI single in the sixth inning against Cranford and finished the season ranked No. 6 in the Shore Conference in on-base percentage and No. 13 in slugging percentage.

Infield

Joe Zito, So., Third Base, Howell

Zito got off to a scorching start to his varsity career, hitting .476 with two doubles, a homer and six RBI in the first seven games of the season. The middle part of the season was more of an adjustment for the sophomore third baseman, but down the stretch, he re-emerged as a clutch hitter for the eventual Group IV champions. Zito drove in a run in three straight Group IV playoff games, capped by a two-run home run in the Central Jersey Group IV final vs. East Brunswick. He did not extend his RBI streak in the Group IV semifinal, but his leadoff double in the top of the ninth ignited the winning rally against Cherokee.

Outfield

Jack Meyers, Sr., Red Bank Catholic

Meyers was in and out of the lineup early in the season, but proved a valuable member of the starting lineup of the Shore Conference Tournament champions by finishing 10th in the Shore Conference in on-base percentage. During RBC’s four-game run to a third straight Shore Conference Tournament title, Meyers was a tough out in the bottom half of the order, going 3-for-6 for the tournament with a double, five walks, four runs scored and three RBI, including a solid, left-on-left single against Jackson Memorial ace and Shore Sports Network Pitcher of the Year Zach Crotchfelt in the SCT final.

Utility

Nick Gomes, Sr., OF/LHP, Howell

Unlike his teammate, Zito, Gomes got off to a slow start at the plate but finished his season on fire, both at the plate and on the mound. Gomes rounded into form on the mound as the season progressed, winning four key games: the first in relief against Middletown North in the Monmouth County Tournament; a 6-2/3-inning performance in a win over Rumson-Fair Haven in his first start of the season; and state tournament wins over Monroe and East Brunswick. In the state tournament, Gomes doubled home two runs in a 3-1 win over Manalapan in round one, then tripled and scored a run while picking up the sectional quarterfinal win over East Brunswick.

Pitcher

Shaun O’Keefe, Sr., LHP, Donovan Catholic

After coasting his way to a 4-0 record through the end of April, O’Keefe turned in his two best starts of the season in back-to-back Donovan Catholic postseason games. The first was a one-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts and four walks in a win over Jackson Liberty in the Ocean County Tournament, which came 16 days after his last start. One week after the OCT win, O’Keefe pitched a six-inning three-hitter with seven strikeouts in an 11-1 Donovan Catholic win over CBA in the Shore Conference Tournament. After winning his first six starts of the season, O’Keefe’s first loss came in a head-to-head showdown with Zach Crotchfelt in a Jackson Memorial win over the Griffins in the Shore Conference Tournament final.