2025 SSI Baseball Pitcher of the Year: Collin Denton, Monmouth

Collin Denton watched from behind the backstop at Point Pleasant Borough High School’s baseball field as his team’s chances to qualify for the NJSIAA Playoffs evaporated – maybe the only thing in New Jersey evaporating on a rain-soaked Wednesday in late May.

As Point Boro polished off a 10-0 win over Carteret to jump Denton and his Monmouth Regional squad for the 16th and final spot in the Central Jersey Group II Tournament, the other 15 teams in Central Group II breathed a sigh of relief that, perhaps, the best pitcher in the entire 20-team section would not be part of the state tournament.

“When we saw we would have a shot at Governor Livingston, we were excited and so was everyone else in our bracket,” Monmouth coach Paul Crivello said. “I was getting text message from a bunch of the coaches (saying), ‘Collin can beat them.'”

Denton, however, did not shut down for the season. He had one more game to pitch and while most teams would have called it a consolation prize, the Monmouth Regional senior ace and St. Peter’s commit saw it his chance to leave a last impression while delivering his Falcons team a title that means more to them than any other team in the Shore Conference.

Denton closed out his high school career with one more masterful performance, striking out 13 while pitching Monmouth to a 3-1 victory over Middletown South in the championship game of the Monmouth County Tournament Ted Jarmusz bracket on May 24.

Denton’s final outing propelled him past 200 career strikeouts, made him the Shore Conference leader in innings pitched for 2025 and was closing argument in his successful case as the 2025 Shore Sports Insider Pitcher of the Year.

“It was difficult not making the states and seeing everybody upset over it,” Denton said. “But the coaches kept us positive. Ending with a win, getting to 200 strikeouts was a good outcome, but I would definitely rather be playing for a state title.”

Although he did not get a chance to pitch against Governor Livingston – the No. 1 team in New Jersey after finishing the season 28-0 – in the first round of the NJSIAA Tournament, Denton passed every test put in front of him in 2025 and did so with fly colors. In doing so, he led the Shore Conference in both innings pitched (59 2/3) and earned-run average (0.47) – placing him among exclusive company that includes three pitchers in the last 15 seasons: Luca Dalatri of Christian Brothers Academy (2014), Trey Dombroski of Wall (2019) and Anthony Gubitosi of Colts Neck (2022).

This season marked the second straight in which Denton was the Shore’s workhorse. He led the Shore Conference with 60 innings pitched as a junior and finished fourth in ERA (0.92) and if not for a combination of frequent rain in the final week of the regular season and an unforgiving set of conditions that caused Monmouth to miss out on the state tournament, Denton likely would have delivered more innings this season. Even with the earlier-than-planned ending, Denton crossed the 200-strikeout mark for his career in his final game.

Season	IP	W	L	H	R	ER	HBP	BB	SO	ERA	WHIP
2022	4.2	0	0	4	2	1	0	3	2	1.50	1.50
2023	37.1	3	4	32	25	17	2	17	39	3.19	1.31
2024	60.1	6	1	32	16	8	3	22	78	0.93	0.89
2025	59.2	7	1	41	16	4	1	14	83	0.47	0.92
Totals	162	16	6	109	59	30	6	56	202	1.30	1.02

“Me and (pitching coach) Scott (Simpson) were talking in the winter time and he asked me, ‘What do you want to do this season? You had a great year last year and it’s going to be really hard to beat that,'” Denton said. “I told him, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ So we did the same routine, a lot of same stuff and we beat it. We had an even better season and the coaching was a big part of it. They really wanted me to do my best and it was like that with everyone: my brother (Aiden), my family, my friends and that put me in a good head-space. I came out this year and I really stepped it up, which is what I’m hoping to keep doing.”

Collin Denton strikes out the side in the 5th to run his count for the game to 11 and 201 for his career. Monmouth leads Midd South 3-1 through 5. pic.twitter.com/Ajz5NLIY7h

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) May 24, 2025

Despite the what-ifs that will define much of the 2025 Monmouth Regional baseball season, Denton delivered more than his fair share of signature performances. After a hard-luck, 2-1 loss to Ocean on opening day, Denton won seven of his last eight starts, with the lone no-decision coming in a career-best performance that exemplified both Denton’s excellence and his team’s struggles when he was not pitching.

On April 22, Denton finished the sixth inning vs. Shore Regional with his 14th strikeout of the game, leaving him three shy of a single-game career high that he set on April 6, 2024 against Wall. The only downside to his dominant performance was his pitch count, which was at 103 heading into the final inning.

With Monmouth leading, 4-1, Denton just needed to record as many outs as he could in the seventh inning before reaching the single-game limit of 110. When he retired the first batter of the seventh on a one-pitch ground-out, his hopes of striking out 17 disappeared, but the odds of a complete-game victory increased. Denton then jumped ahead, 1-2, in the count, but Shore’s Enzo Cagliostro before Cagliostro came back to work a seven-pitch walk.

Colts Neck brings the tying run to the plate and on his 109th pitch of the game, Collin Denton finishes up the complete game with his 9th K. Final: Monmouth 3, No. 5 Colts Neck 1. 1st loss for Colts Neck. pic.twitter.com/8heXnqOBlM

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) April 14, 2025

With Denton out of the game, Shore scored three runs to tie the game and won it, 5-4, in nine innings.

From that point on, Denton did not lose. He surrendered four unearned runs in an 8-4 win on Howell’s home-run-friendly field, then scored a revenge win over Shore in the MCT Ted Jarmusz Bracket.

Earlier in the season, he struck out nine in a complete-game, 3-1, road victory over Class B North champion Colts Neck.

Denton’s only tournament start outside of the Jarmusz Bracket – named after the longtime coach of Monmouth Regional who is now an assistant at Red Bank Catholic – came vs. Wall in the Shore Conference Tournament opening round. Facing off against John Catanio in a game that carried major NJSIAA Tournament seeding ramifications on top of the usual SCT drama, Denton dealt seven shutout innings, but Catanio matched him to send the game to extra innings with no score.

Monmouth scored three runs against the Wall bullpen to grab the lead in the eighth inning and Denton recorded the first two outs of the eighth, but not before allowing an unearned run and reaching his single-game pitch count. This time, however, fellow senior Will Theobald closed out the win, giving Denton a 3-1 SCT victory in which he pitched 7 2/3 innings with six hits, no walks and 10 strikeouts.

Denton’s devastating slider was on display in that SCT win, as it was throughout the season. Although his fastball was effective, his best pitch was a slider that he could throw for a strike in any count.

Wall gets runners to 1st and 3rd with 1 out in the 4th but Collin Denton strikes out 2 in a row to get out of it. Going to the 5th, Monmouth and Wall still 0-0. pic.twitter.com/qBEpNTOu9x

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) May 10, 2025

“His slider is the pitch for him,” Crivello said of Denton. “It’s a Division I slider. Not only does it move, but he can locate it and take a little off of it.”

The Falcons’ win over Wall figured to give Monmouth the edge over Wall for the final spot in the Central Group II playoffs, but as it turned out, neither team made it despite pulling in enough power points to qualify in every other section in the state. Monmouth is the first team since the NJSIAA opened up its tournament to teams with a winning percentage below .500 to win a Shore Conference Tournament game, but fail to make the state tournament.

Instead of taking a shot at a Governor Livingston team that nearly lost on two occasions before winning the Group II championship and finishing No. 1 in the state, Denton settled for a Jarmusz Bracket plaque and a 13-strikeout performance vs. a team ranked No. 8 in the Shore Sports Insider Final 2025 Top 10 as his send off game. He did not get a chance to show how far he could lead his team in the state tournament, but Denton did have enough time to prove that he was the Shore Conference’s best ace in 2025.

“That tournament definitely means more to us than it does to anyone else,” said Crivello, who was an assistant coach under Jarmusz. “(Jarmusz) taught me everything I know as a coach in the 11 years that I was with him. It meant a lot, so having a chance to give Collin the ball for the last game of his senior year in this game was special. It’s not exactly how we wanted the season to end, but our kids made the most of it and I’m proud of that. Not many teams get to finish the season celebrating a win.”

 

Matt Manley’s 2025 Pitcher of the Year Ballot

1. Collin Denton, Sr., RHP, Monmouth

2. Dan Nafziger, Sr., RHP, Toms River East

3. Shane Langan, Sr., RHP, Christian Brothers Academy

4. Leo Vitale, Sr., RHP, Manalapan

5. Chase Kaplan, Jr., LHP, Manasquan

6. Danny DiTullio, Jr., LHP, Christian Brothers Academy

7. Zach Pirnik, So., LHP, Brick Memorial

8. Brody Moore, Jr., LHP, Brick Memorial

9. Dylan Iwanyk, Jr., RHP, Christian Brothers Academy

10. Luke Meyers, Sr., RHP, Red Bank Catholic