Letter Of Intent Day

I know winter weather is still on the horizon but it really feels like baseball season is around the corner. Now that the football season is over many sports fans are thinking baseball and with the recent weather, why not?

I was at FirstEnergy Park Tuesday for a meeting with the Lakewood BlueClaws and you could almost hear the sounds of fans cheering and smell the hot dogs. The BlueClaws open in just eight weeks and I know General Manager Geoff Brown would sign right now for the weather we’re having for opening day of April 3. Unfortunately what usually happens is the early weeks of the baseball season here are filled with cold and damp days in which hats, gloves and blankets are necessities.

Today is a big one in college football because it’s National Letter of Intent Day which is the first day high school seniors can accept and sign college scholarships. Rutgers University is expected to sign 17 players and their recruiting class includes offensive tackle Art Forst of Manasquan, who has already enrolled at Rutgers after graduating early from high school. Greg Schiano’s class is ranked second best among Big East schools behind only Pittsburgh.

The most highly-recruited player in Ocean County will officially becoming a Hurricane today when Toms River North linebacker Zach Kane signs with the University of Miami. Kane was a key part of the Mariners undefeated state championship team in the fall and is part of what’s considered a top 10 recruiting class being brought in to Miami. Kane’s signing will take place during a celebration this afternoon at Mulligan’s Bar & Grill in Toms River.

Anthony LaBruno became just the fifth Ocean County College men’s basketball player to score 1,000 points in his career Tuesday night during the Vikings 68-53 victory over Atlantic-Cape Community College. The first player to reach that milestone was Hall of Famer Herb McGrath and the most recent before last night was Jordan Kreczekowski. LaBruno a sophomore guard from Bayonne is averaging 20 points a game this season. Ironically last night’s opponent, Atlantic-Cape also had a player score his 1000th career point and both players were honored during the game. OCC is 18-3 under second-year coach Ryan O’Rourke.