Seton Hall Prep wins third straight New Jersey title

	Steven Brooks took to the air after Seton Hall Prep won its third straight New Jersey title on Saturday. Richard Morris/Seton Hall Prep

TOMS RIVER, N.J. -- When it was all over, Seton Hall Prep (West Orange, N.J.) coach Mike Sheppard Jr. was left to worry about his star pitcher's arm breaking.

After watching sophomore shortstop Sean O'Hare field a ground ball and throw to first for the final out in the Pirates' 10-1 victory over St. Joseph's (Metuchen, N.J.), Sheppard Jr. looked away. His team had just won its third consecutive New Jersey Non-Public A title, but the coach could not bear to watch. Gloves flew in the air, players leapt up and piled on top of one another in between the pitchers mound and home plate.

"I turned away. I can bet that Steve Brooks did another one of his jumps at the end," says Sheppard of his center fielder who did, in fact, perform a kamikaze-style landing atop the pile with fellow professional pile diver Nick Natale following behind. "I tell him not to do that, to worry about the pitcher on the bottom of the pile, but he does it title after title."

Buried beneath the Pirates' championship pile was winning pitcher Rick Porcello. Just 48 hours after being taken by the Detroit Tigers with the 27th selection in the MLB first-year players draft, Porcello's teammates came reigning down on him. Having begun the game by surrendering a walk on four consecutive pitches, the righty scattered five hits over seven complete innings and conducted his post game interviews with a grass and dirt stain around his right shoulder. "You know, it's enough to have the whole pile on you, and I know Steve loves to come in with that extra jump," says Porcello, who has been on the bottom of the pile five times in his three-year varsity career. "But, ugh, it just takes the rest of your strength out."

Finally relieved of the pressure and expectations that came with a lineup full of Division I talent, Porcello and Seton Hall Prep completed a wire-to-wire run atop the RISE/SI.com Top 25. Though the Prep lost once to Roxbury (Succasunna, N.J.) on May 11, the Pirates never suffered defeat again, finishing their season with an Essex County title, a Great Newark Tournament championship and a state title. "It wasn't that we had a lot to overcome this year, but that we had a lot to live up to," says Porcello, who finished his senior season with a 10-0 record.

While the team played in a fishbowl all year, Brooks broke down crying after the game, not because Porcello and Sheppard frown upon his pile jumping, nor because he was one of five Seton Hall Prep players selected afterward for state-mandated drug testing. Rather he said, "To come in and play as a freshman right away and form the bonds that I have, it's hard to walk away from playing with your best friends like this."

Seton Hall's 32-1 record is the best in school history and the senior class finishes with three titles in four years as Brooks was the only one to play varsity all four seasons. He will now go on to Wake Forest, while Porcello debates whether to sign with the Tigers or attend North Carolina. Likewise, No. 2 starter Evan Danieli will most likely attend Notre Dame after being chosen in the 33rd round by the Minnesota Twins and Natale will take his pile diving to Rice.

"I kept tunnel vision with the ideas of winning three straight throughout the season until the bus drive down here, and I was like, 'Man, this really has been incredible to get three in a row,'" says Sheppard, who was soaked with water from the cooler dumped on him by his players. When he looked around, he saw Brooks and cohorts having the last laugh.