Seton Hall Prep continues its reign over Garden State

	Major League prospect Rick Porcello has signed with North Carolina, but he's focused on leading Seton Hall Prep to state and national titles. Richard Morris/SHP

WEST ORANGE, N.J. -- No parking in the upper lot after 3:30 p.m.

Baseball Practice

Thank you.

The dry erase board propped up against a pole along the Seton Hall Prep driveway greets all comers to the home of the nation's top-ranked baseball team.

Unable to continue their preseason growth on the lawn of Anthony J. Verducci field due to recent rainfall, the Seton Hall Prep Pirates are landlocked. Wearing sneakers, not cleats, fielding yellow dimpled batting cage balls bouncing on the blacktop, coach Mike Sheppard, Jr.'s players need only broomstick bats and "Spaldeen" balls to complete their stickball setting.

"You call this a baseball field?" Frank Tone, the school's physical plant director, quips as he ignores the sign and interrupts practice to park his white van by the makeshift second base. "Looks more like my parking lot."

Two days prior to their opener against Morristown (N.J.), the Pirates are awash in the ebb and flow of the rain-soaked spring in the Garden State. Though relegated to the adjoining asphalt of the school's upper parking lot, the two-time reigning New Jersey state champions' development is not curtailed. Whether it is North Carolina signee Rick Porcello practicing snap throws to first base or team speed man and Wake Forest recruit Steven Brooks running like a rabbit between bases, the Prep looks like a championship team.

"Everyone hears of our winning and comes in expecting these great facilities, but we get by with our fields and equipment just fine," says Sheppard, who is 463-152-4 in 20 years as Seton Hall's coach. "Sure it's annoying that we had time on the field last week and now we have to go back to our adjustment practices. But we're used to it. There's no dome in the works here."

Weather aside, Sheppard has never before herded this much talent. Fifty of his players have gone on to Division 1 colleges, including Duke freshman starter Mike Ness and Vanderbilt sophomore starter Nick Christiani. Major League Baseball scouts frequented his team's games and practices back in 2003 to see third baseman Eric Duncan, who was drafted with the No. 23 in the first round after leading the Pirates to a 30-1 record as well as league, county, and state titles.

"I remember the February of my senior year that we had to shovel snow off the field to work out," says Duncan, who just moved up to Scranton, Pa. to play for the Yankees Triple-A team. "To have four guys on the team with such talent like they do now, we definitely don't get as much attention in Jersey as the big three states of Florida, Texas, and California, but I'm bragging to my buddies now about the Prep."

What Sheppard currently has is a pitching rotation that doubles as a perfect storm, swirling around lineups with two hurlers who throw mid-to-high 90 mph fastballs, not to mention devastating changeups and knee-buckling curves. In his outfield are right fielder and Rice recruit, Nick Natale, and center fielder, Brooks, both of whom have been clocked in the six second range during the 60-yard dash.