S. Jersey Boys: Millville's Mike Trout breaks S. Jersey home-run record

Millville's Mike Trout broke the South Jersey record for home runs in a season yesterday and powered the Thunderbolts to the championship of the Grand Slam Classic, a baseball tourney that began April 4.

Millville defeated Bishop Eustace, 17-7, in the final at Washington Township after Eustace had knocked off Gloucester Catholic, 8-2, in the morning semifinal.

Trout, a centerfielder who is hitting .520 this spring, tied the record of 16 homers in a season with a two-run blast in the first, and broke the mark with a three-run homer in the fifth. The old record was shared by Buena's Angelo Santiago and Audubon's Andrew Noe.

"It's a thrill," Trout said. "I wasn't trying to do it entering the season - but it happened, and it's nice to break the record."

Eustace's Jimmy Yezzo and Chris Bzozowski also homered.

Warrior Classic. Scott DeCecco finished his career at Middle Township by throwing five innings of no-hit relief and getting the win in a 4-1 victory at Wildwood in the tournament finals.

DeCecco, a senior lefthander, struck out 10 and finished his four years with 302 career strikeouts and a school-record 103 this season.

Nick Poling, who also doubled, singled in two runs in the third inning.

Egg Harbor Township's Tejay Johnson won the 100 and 200 meters, and anchored the Eagles' winning 4x400 relay in the NJSIAA state Group 4 championships on his home track.

Johnson won a pair of close races, clocking 10.92 seconds in the 100 to beat Plainfield's Daniel Woods by 0.02 seconds; his time of 21.30 in the 200 was 0.06 faster than Plainfield's Isaiah Gill. Johnson joined Scott Miller, Joe Magosin and Ben Nealy on the winning relay (3:17.79).

Also in Group 4, Washington Township's Xavier Fraction beat Lenape's Ryan Garvin to the finish line in the 1,600 with a 4:16.72 clocking, and Township also got a gold-medal effort from Tim Carey in the 400 hurdles (52.10).

Washington Township finished second in the team scoring behind Plainfield.

Non-Public B. Holy Cross set a meet record of 3:26.08 in taking the 4x400 relay with Dan Gasper, Al Freeman, Justin Ramsey, and Rich Fisher.

The Lancers, who finished second behind Pingry in the team competition, also got a first place from Matt Scioli, who threw the javelin 163 feet, 10 inches.

Non-Public A. Paul VI's Brett Pierce went home with a gold medal after a winning effort of 6-4 in the high jump.