Baseball – Jersey Mike’s Week 2 Team of the Week: Point Beach
The season-long goals for the Point Pleasant Beach baseball team -- a Group I school competing in a Shore Conference with some powerful teams, including one in its own Class B Central division -- essentially boil down to three boxes to check.
Win the public division championship, beat at least one "bigger" school, and win an NJSIAA Central Jersey Group I championship.
Last week, the Garnet Gulls checked one of those boxes and took a big step toward another while standing out enough to reel in the second Jersey Mike's Team of the Week Award of 2022.
With Ranney -- the No. 3 team in the Shore Sports Network Top 10 and a top-10 team in New Jersey, according to NJ Advance Media -- in the B Central division, winning an outright title is a tall order for Point Beach, especially with Ranney already owning a win over the Garnet Gulls in the first meeting. However, Point Beach is still in prime position to win the Class B Central public division championship thanks to a 4-0 week against the division in which the Garnet Gulls allowed just one hit over the four games.
After a lopsided win over Mater Dei Prep, Point Beach took on Asbury Park and tossed a combined no-hitter against the Blue Bishops, with Kyle Kolans and Liam Dolan joining forces to accomplish the feat on the mound.
That was just the beginning of a run of no-hit magic for Point Beach. The Garnet Gulls then played a double-header against Keyport on April 15 and pitched back-to-back no-hitters, one of which was a full, seven-inning no-hitter by five pitchers: Andrew Banick, Nate Van Norman, Jonathan Nasce, Dolan and Phil Trebour.
Jackson Killian completed a five-inning no-hitter on his own in game two of the double-header, giving the Point Beach pitching staff 18 1/3 straight innings without a hit allowed.
West Windsor-Plainsboro South quickly ended that streak with a triple to start Saturday's game against Point Beach, but the Garnet Gulls hung tough with the Group IV Pirates and pulled out a 5-4 win behind a solid collective pitching performance from Owen West, Banick and Trebour.
Trebour also went 3-for-4 with a run scored at the plate and Hunter Roselli delivered the big hit: a two-run triple in a three-run second inning for Point Beach, followed by an RBI single by Braden Ryan to bring him home and stake the Gulls to a 3-0 lead.
West Windsor-Plainsboro South enters play Friday 3-2-1 overall and was coming off a 10-10 tie vs. Allentown (8-2-1) two days prior to taking on Point Beach.
2022 Team of the Week Winners
Week 1: Shore
