BY DOUG McKENZIE
Staff Writer

PHOTOS BY RICH GRAESSLE Above, the Ocean Township players watch dejectedly as the Morristown Colonials celebrate their Group II championship in Toms River on Saturday. Below, Ocean third baseman Greg Spatz puts the tag on a Morristown player. Ocean Township entered Saturday's Group III championship game at Toms River East High School as the hottest team in the state.

Riding a 12-game winning streak, head coach Del Dal Pra's team looked to be on the same kind of run that the Monmouth Regional baseball team got on last season en route to the overall Group championship.

Unfortunately for the Spartans, they ran into a Morristown team that cared little about Ocean's brilliant play down the stretch, and who subsequently out-slugged the Spartans to win an 11-7 contest and claim the state title.

In winning their second NJSIAA title in the past three years (and third overall), the Colonials took advantage of some shaky Ocean defense to build a 9-2 lead in the fifth inning. Paced by West Virginia-bound shortstop Zack Brown (4-for-4 on the day), the Colonials scored four unearned runs in that fifth inning to pad their lead.

To their credit, the Spartans fought back, scoring four runs in the sixth - two on a home run from Jamie Rosenkranz, and two on a single off the bat of John Ernst - to get within 9-6. But Morristown came right back in the bottom of the sixth with two runs on a John Lombardi double, and it was too much for even the Spartans to overcome.

Junior catcher Keith Weincofsky launched his customary home run in the top of the seventh (his 11th of the season and the 19th of his career - both school records), but it was too little, too late.

With the loss, the Spartans finished 26-7 on the year, and one win shy of their second NJSIAA title, and first since 1985.

But the truth of the matter is, this group had nothing left to prove even before Saturday's game. They entered the game having won 17 of their last 18 games, and having already collected A North Division, Shore Conference Tournament and Central Jersey Group III titles.

So at the end of the day, they finished 3-for-4 in their title hunt - the kind of numbers we'd come to expect from their hitters, game in and game out.

They didn't win their fourth title on Saturday. And that takes nothing away from all that they already had accomplished.