Jaguars earn their shot
at a county championship
BY MIKE WHITE
Staff Writer

STAFFORD TOWNSHIP — It’s been a little more than three decades since the Jackson baseball team last won the Ocean County Tournament.

The last time the Jaguars captured the event was in 1972. Yet, if all goes according to plan, Jackson could be wearing another crown.

Jackson advanced to the championship game of the OCT with a 7-4 win over Central Regional High School last Saturday at Southern Regional High School.

The Jags were scheduled to meet Brick in the title game Monday at FirstEnergy Park in Lakewood, but heavy rains postponed the event until Tuesday.

"We’re real happy with the way we have played in this tournament," second-year Jackson coach Ken Sims said. "Our bats have definitely come alive, and we’re getting very good pitching at crucial times."

For the second time in a week, junior left-hander Ari Goldberg put the clamp on the Central Regional offense. Goldberg tossed 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to preserve the victory as Jackson improved to 6-7 overall.

Goldberg entered the game in the fourth after Central Regional scored five runs to knot the game at 6-6. With bases loaded, Goldberg got Central’s No. 3 hitter Billy Spano to line into an inning-ending double play.

Spano smashed a line drive to Jags shortstop Joe Schroeder, who flipped to second baseman Bruce Reibis for the final out of the frame.

"He came on in a very tough spot," Sims said. "But I had a lot of confidence in him. He has been throwing very well. He does an excellent job of keeping batters off balance. Getting that out was huge. If they get a base hit there, who knows what happens."

Indeed, Goldberg had the number of the Central batters. Earlier in the week, Goldberg threw two hitless innings as Jackson held on for a 5-3 win.

"I’d say that is a pretty solid week of pitching from him," Sims said. "He’s come up with a couple of bulldog performances — that’s for sure."

Goldberg allowed just two runners in the final two innings. After hitting a batter with one out in the fifth, Goldberg used his sharp-breaking curve to strike out the next two hitters.

One other runner reached in the sixth on a one-out error, but a pair of fly balls wiped out the threat. Goldberg picked up his first win of the year with a 1-2-3 seventh inning.

"He did it two games in a row for us," Sims said. "It was his game to win for us."

Jackson scored the winning run in the fourth inning. With two outs, Matt Kaspervicious singled and then scored on a RBI double by Ryan Andrews. Kaspervicious came all the way around from first base to score.

"He is one of the better base runners on this team," Sims said. "I saw that we had an opportunity to score him and we went for it. The throw was a little off line."

Andrews finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Kaspervicious added two hits and scored a pair of runs.

"He’s [Andrews] been hitting the ball well lately," Sims said. "He came up at a key time and delivered for us. That is the kind of hitting we’ve been getting from a lot of people as of late. Hopefully, we continue to do it."

The Jags built an early lead by scoring six runs in the third inning. Danny Morvay provided the key blow — a two-run double to cap the rally.

"We jumped on them early, but we knew they weren’t going to lie down. They’re a good hitting team," Sims said. "But it was a quality win. We did the little things we needed to get the victory."