Seton Hall Prep baseball looks to have stellar year

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WEST ORANGE, NJ — The Seton Hall Prep baseball team will open the season on Friday, April 1, against West Essex at home at 4 p.m.

Head coach Mike Sheppard Jr. enters his 36th year at the helm.

The Pirates, perennially one of the top teams in the state, are coming off a 20-6-1 season last spring in which they captured their fourth consecutive Super Essex Conference–American Division title — the team’s ninth in the 11-year history of the conference. They also were runner-up in the Greater Newark Tournament, and they finished as New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s Non-Public, North A, tournament semifinalists.

Sheppard Jr. last season captured his 800th career victory, becoming only the third coach in New Jersey high school baseball history to achieve this mark. He currently stands third in New Jersey, with an overall record of 810-214-5, behind Ken Frank of Toms River South High School with 906-314-3 and Marty Kenney of Christian Brothers Academy with 832-349.

For SHP, the seniors are outfielder/pitcher Sam Nomura; pitchers Nicholas Pomponio, Patrick Shamieh and John Cerwinski; pitchers/infielders Ryan Sprock and Chris Maldonado; infielders Liam Cavanaugh and Alex Kim; outfielders Matthew Monteleone and Luke Mahala; pitcher/first baseman Patrick Walega; and catcher Aaron Bertone.

The juniors are pitchers Luca Rispoli, Freddie Berger, Andrew Merklinger and Justin Shadek; infielders/pitchers James Macko and Elijah Foster; infielder Ryan Probst; outfielders Owen Baratta and Evan Ravalli; catchers William Kahney and James Grizzetti; outfielder/pitcher Berkeley Harsch; and first baseman/pitcher Garrett Grubbs.

Last season, in the All–SEC–American Division, Maldonado and Sprock were named to the first team; Cerwinski was named to the second team; and Nomura received honorable mention. In addition, Maldonado, Cerwinski and Sprock were named to the all-state non-public group second team by NJ.com.

Sheppard Jr. cited the team’s strengths and talked about the goals for the season.

“Our strength and experience is located among our pitching staff,” he said. “We should have depth there. Our position players have limited varsity experience. We hope to gain skill and confidence as the season progresses.”

Maldonado, who has committed to Clemson University in South Carolina, was recently selected by Collegiate Baseball Preseason Second Team All-American and Third Team Preseason All American by Perfect Game. “I am very excited to see what we are capable of doing this year,” he said about the upcoming season. “We have a lot of great talent and great leadership that I believe can lead us to a state, county, and conference championship. We are really working on building a culture that everybody will buy into this year. I feel that having really strong team chemistry is what wins championships, and that is our ultimate goal.”

Cerwinski, a University of Pennsylvania–bound right-hander who was selected as one of the top pitchers in the state by the Star-Ledger, added, “The team has been working hard and are dedicated to having a winning season. I am excited for the upcoming season. We have a lot of returning seniors and some really talented juniors. Talent, hard work, and great coaching is the formula we have for success on and off the field.”

Here are the other college commitments:

Kim, Brandeis University, Waltham, Mass.
Nomura – Lafayette College, Easton, Pa.
Pomponio, Rowan University, Glassboro.
Sprock, Elon University, Elon, N.C.
Walega, Lafayette College, Easton, Pa.

Following the season opener, the Pirates will host Monsignor Farrell of Staten Island, N.Y., on Saturday, April 2, at 1 p.m., and Nutley on Monday, April 4, at 4 p.m., and visit Livingston on Wednesday, April 6 at 4 p.m.

Here is their schedule.