TRN Coach Joins the 300 Club

Toms River High School North baseball coach Ted Schelmay had to wait nearly two weeks between wins, but there is something about playing another Toms River team that can bring out the best in Schelmay’s Mariners.

Toms River North beat cross-town rival Toms River East 5-2 on Wednesday to give Schelmay his 300th career win and end a three-game losing streak for the Mariners. Schelmay joins the man he beat Thursday, Toms River East coach Bill Frank (478 wins), and Toms River South coach Ken Frank (740) as the third coach in Toms River – all of whom are still active – to eclipse the 300 threshold.

“There is a lot of tradition in Toms River baseball and I’m proud to be a small part of that,” Schelmay said. “I was happy to get a win against anybody and I’m glad we could keep it in Toms River.”

Since taking over the program in 1994, Schelmay has guided the Mariners to three NJSIAA Sectional championships, one Ocean County Tournament Championship and four division championships in the always-difficult Shore Conference Class A South. Toms River North’s best run came from 2007 to 2009, when the team won three straight division titles and consecutive South Jersey Group IV championships in 2008 and 2009. Schelmay won the Ocean County Tournament in 2002 and reached the final of the Shore Conference Tournament in the same year.

“There are a lot of great players and great teams to play at Toms River North and this win is about those players and those teams,” Schelmay said. “It takes a lot of contribution from a lot of people for a program to win 300 games, so I’m grateful to those people and proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish.”

The veteran coach has also sent a wave of players to play at four-year colleges and also had one of his players drafted in the first round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft when pitcher J.M. Gold was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers with the 13th overall pick in 1998. With Gold leading the staff in 1997, the Mariners advanced to the Group IV title game for the only championship game appearance in Schelmay’s tenure.

After enduring the three-game skid, the recipe for the win No. 300 turned out to include the Raiders as the opponent and senior right-hander Tyler Lawrence as the pitcher. Schelmay’s 200th win also came against Frank and Toms River East and Toms River North’s last win came on April 14 against Brick Memorial, which was also the last time Lawrence pitched.

Pitching on 12-days rest, Lawrence worked 6 2/3 innings and allowed two earned runs on five hits and one walk while striking out seven. The senior retired the first 16 batters he faced on Thursday before Raiders first baseman Albert Rodriguez singled to left field on a 1-2 count in the fifth inning to break up the perfect game after 4 1/3 innings.

"As nice as this win is for me, I was rooting for Tyler more than anything else," Schelmay said. "I wanted to see him get the no-hitter so he could be the story and with the way he pitched and the way we hit the ball, I still think the players are the story."

The Raiders would go on to score both runs in that fifth frame on an RBI double by senior Joe Clarizio and an RBI single by senior Justin Ashkenis that cut the Mariners’ lead to 4-2.

Lawrence recorded the first two outs in the seventh inning, but after giving up a walk to Clarizio and a single to Ashkenis, his pitch count rose to 115 and Schelmay made the move to sophomore Karl Blum, who struck out the final batter on three pitches to seal the win for Schelmay and the Mariners.

“I told the team to forget about the numbers and just go play baseball,” Schelmay said. “I don’t care about getting the 300th win. I want them to play for themselves and play for each other. I was going to get it sooner or later, so I wanted them to forget about it and just play. Now I’m happier for them that they finally got this win than I am for myself.”

Toms River North had scored only three runs in the three losses prior to Wednesday’s game, but busted out of its hitting slump with four runs on eight hits through the first four innings. Two batters into the game, sophomore Ron Marinaccio belted his first career home run, a solo shot to left field that put North on top 1-0.

Junior catcher Adam Chiaravalloti hit the first of two RBI singles in the second to bring home junior second baseman Scott Buxbaum and make it 2-0. Chiaravalloti also drove home the third run with a single to plate Buxbaum from second and came home on an RBI single by senior center fielder Eric Pecoraro.

The three-game losing streak started with an extra-inning, 3-2 loss to Central Regional, followed by losses to Jackson Memorial and Manalapan, both of which are ranked among the top 10 teams in the state by the Newark Star Ledger. Now that the Mariners are back on the winning track, Schelmay is focused on preparing his team to make a late run at the Class A South championship, followed by Ocean County, Shore Conference and NJSIAA Tournament titles.

“Now numer 300 doesn’t matter anymore,” Schelmay said. “The only one that matters is number 301.”