Toms River East’s 6th-inning eruption leads to first Ocean County title since 2007

Matt Ferrara could hear the chants from his team’s dugout.

In the 51st Ocean County Tournament championship, Toms River East was tied at 4 against Jackson Memorial in the bottom of the 6th inning. It was TR East’s biggest game in quite some time and their players were well-aware of everything on the line.

The pressure was immense, but Toms River East had the exact guy they needed at the plate to get the job done on Friday at Central Regional High School.

“There’s no moment bigger than this one right now, Matt,” a TR East player shouted from the dugout.

“No one better than you, Matty. Let’s go right here. This is all you,” another Raider said.

A composed Ferrara dug into the box for his fourth time of the game and convincingly left his legacy with the Toms River East program.

With two runners aboard, he sent an opposite-field double to plate two runs, which was the eventual game-winning hit.

Top-seeded Toms River East held on to the lead, defeating 3-Jackson Memorial in an 8-5 effort for the team’s first county title since 2007.

“I knew that I was given a fastball, I’d be confident to rope one in the gap. I thought it was gone at first, but wow what a rush,” Ferrara said.

“The adrenaline was rushing. These boys are awesome and this win means so much to us. I’m glad we could bring a title back here.”

Ferrara barely had a minute to bask in his glory before his teammate, Gavin Toth provided the insurance.

Toth, who was named the Most Valuable Player of the Al Kunzman Memorial Ocean County Tournament, launched a two-run home run to left field to seal the win.

“It’s crazy. I never thought I’d have something like that happen to me. I got a good pitch on the inside and turned on one. It was awesome,” Toth said.

Toth also earned the win on the mound. He did his best to remain poised in the top-half of the 7th inning to get those last three outs, but after cranking an unforgettable home run, it’s not so simple to let those emotions be halted.

“I was happy, but I needed to finish out the game. I let up a run and walked some guys, but I just had to get back to focusing on the next guy,” Toth said.

Ryan Koman also played the role of Captain Clutch. After Jackson Memorial’s Tyler Huzzy smoked a three-run double in the top of the 4th, Koman responded in the home-half with a two-run base hit to make it a 4-3 Raiders lead.

“Ryan is so clutch. That was a huge hit for us,” Toth said.

This was the third time this week that Toms River East (15-3) and Jackson Memorial (10-7) faced off.

TRE won on April 30 in a 10-9 brigade. The Jaguars came back on May 2 with a 14-7 tally to leave Friday’s championship bout as a rubber match.

It started rather slow with eight combined walks and hit-by-pitches in the first two frames, but the pitchers found their groove and the hitters were scattering hits earlier in the count. This all led to a nail-biting 6th inning where momentum sat on the fence pitch-by-pitch.

“We have a good group that play hard and are fun to be around,” Toms River East head coach Keith Smicklo said.

“We want to be one of the top teams in the Shore [Conference].”

Mason Pentz, Brendan Lavin and Gavin Toth pitched for the Raiders. Danny Hutchison and Collin McCaron tossed for the Jaguars.

Ferrara, Toth each scored twice. Joey DiMeo, Adrian Aleman, James Whalen and Koman had one run apiece.

For Jackson Memorial, Julian Caruso, Jack Osmond and McCarron scored once each. Joe Naffaa reached base four times and scored twice.

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PJ Potter may be reached at PPotter@njadvancemedia.com.