Mater Dei Prep Falls To St. Rose In Baseball

By Jim Hintelmann

MIDDLETOWN TOWNSHIP – Mater Dei Prep has won three straight Shore Conference B Division Central baseball championships, but the fourth will be difficult after the Seraphs dropped a 6-3 decision to St. Rose Friday.
The loss followed a setback to another B Central contender, Point Pleasant Beach, earlier in the week. Mater Dei assistant coach Mike Eckert, however, remains optimistic.
“We still have much of the season left and will play return games with St. Rose and Point Beach,” said Eckert, who replaced head coach Pat Riddell for this game. Riddell missed the game due to the death of a close friend.
“St. Rose played very well and didn’t make any mistakes,” said Eckert. “We had our chances to open it up in the fourth inning when we loaded the bases with one out and leading 2-0, but we couldn’t get more runs across.”
St. Rose capitalized on this by tying the game with two runs in the fifth inning on an interference call and Brendan Mology’s sacrifice fly.
The Purple Roses then took the lead for good with two more runs in the sixth on RBI hits by John Volpe and Bob Maypother.
“This was a huge game for us,” said St. Rose coach Chris La Morte, who previously was head coach at Red Bank Regional from 2009 to 2012, and an assistant coach at CBA before taking over at St. Rose last year.
“It was a great atmosphere with perfect weather after all the bad days we had,” he said. “I was proud of my kids after Mater Dei got that early lead. They fought back and never gave up.
“We have a young team with only one senior starter,” he said. “There is a great tradition at St. Rose and kids are coming there to play baseball.” The Purple Roses added two insurance runs in the seventh on an RBI single by Will Gannon and Mike Gowen’s RBI double.
The Seraphs (4-3 overall), grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Mike Dowlen singled to right, moved to second on an infield out and scored on a base hit by Joe Ruth. Mater Dei got runners on base in the second and third innings but failed to convert. Ryan Turner lined a leadoff single in the second, but was picked off by a perfect throw by winning pitcher John Crowley.