Thursday Stuff

A little of this and a little of that as we’re about to experience our first summer-like weather:


Congratulations to Jackson’s Anthony Ranaudo, who helped lead LSU to its sixth College Baseball World Series title. The sophomore pitched into the 6th inning of last night’s 11-4 win over Texas in the third and deciding game of the final in Omaha, Nebraska. Ranaudo finishes the year with a 12-3 pitching record for LSU. He is a 2007 graduate of St. Rose High School where he was both an outstanding baseball and basketball player for the Purple Roses.

Many of the best just-graduated senior football players from Ocean and Monmouth Counties will meet in the US Army All-Shore Gridiron Classic on Friday, July 17th at Brick Township High School. Sponsored by the Shore Football Coaches Foundation, the game was originally scheduled at Middletown South but had to be moved after some difficulty with approvals. The rosters have been set and the head coaches will be Southern’s Chuck Donahue and Mark Ciccotelli of Freehold Boro. Millennium Radio’s Shore Sports Network will broadcast the game live from Keller Memorial Field.

The Lakewood BlueClaws open the second half of the season with a 9-game home stand beginning tonight at FirstEnergy Park. The BlueClaws won the Northern Division first-half championship of the South Atlantic League and will be in the playoffs no matter what happens the rest of the season. They will play the winner of the second-half in a best-of-3 series that will start September 9th. If the BlueClaws also win the 70-game second half then they would take on the team with the second best overall record in the Northern Division. This is the first time Lakewood has ever won the first half title…of course in 2006 they did win the South Atlantic League Championship.