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Schmidt Happens: Brothers Set Tone for Toms River South Win vs. Point Boro

Matt Manley|April 5, 2026|Last Updated April 5, 2026

TOMS RIVER — Evan Schmidt admits his Toms River South baseball team’s play at the end of 2025 caught him by surprise, but that is understandable considering Schmidt was a sophomore starter on a Toms River South team that won only five games one year earlier.

Following a loss in the NJSIAA South Jersey Group III championship game to end their 2025 season, Schmidt and the Indians are done surprising themselves, at least early on in the 2026 campaign. The senior pitcher and infielder expects his team to win every time out and thanks to another strong all-around performance, that is what Toms River South has done so far this season.

Schmidt and his freshman brother, Andrew, set the tone Saturday at Ken Frank Baseball Stadium with a pair of nifty defensive plays, Andrew Schmidt and sophomore Logan Weed delivered at the bottom of the batter order and Evan Schmidt finished off a complete-game three-hitter on the mound to help Toms River South upend Point Pleasant Boro, 4-1, in a key, early-season match-up in the Shore Conference Class B South divisional race.

After teammates Christian Mascaro and Aiden Moylan started the first two Toms River South games of the season — two wins over Toms River North by a combined score of 22-4 — Schmidt took his turn and one-upped both with his performance on Saturday. Facing a Point Boro team that outscored Brick, 17-0, in its two-game series with the reigning Class C South champion, Schmidt pitched Toms River South’s first seven-inning complete game of the season, during which he allowed one unearned run on three hits and a walk while striking out four on a tidy 85 pitches.

“Christian was out next guy in line today and he is a stud,” Schmidt said. “Going in, knowing that we have a guy behind me, I’m comfortable throwing how I want to throw. Watching Moylan throw up no runs vs. North, that just amps you ump. You can’t get more amped than that.”

Schmidt’s lone walk of the game came on the first batter of the game, with Panthers senior second baseman Nick Carmino taking first on four pitches. Schmidt rebounded by jumping ahead of junior catcher Fin Caplinski, 0-2, then gloving a comebacker to the mound in starting a 1-6-3 double-play to clear the bases. Andrew Schmidt then ended the top of the first inning on nine pitches by running down a pop-up well into foul territory behind the first-base bag.

“Plays like that just get the energy up,” Evan Schmidt said. “Momentum is huge. Since I played here for coach Frank freshman year, momentum was always the word. The ‘big mo’ is what he always said. Making that double-play after that four-pitch walk, that just sets a tone for us in the field.”

Andrew Schmidt and his fellow underclassman, Weed, were defensive standouts on the right side of the field, as well as clutch hitters in the bottom two spots in the batter order. Weed made two diving catches coming in on the ball in right field and also added an outfield assist when Carmino took a wide turn around first on his third-inning single with two out. Weed picked up the ball after Carmino’s blooper dropped, fired the ball to second base, where Mascaro received it and slung it to first to erase Carmino.

Point Boro senior starter John Loizos, meanwhile, was tasked with extending Point Boro’s scoreless innings streak, which was 12 innings entering Saturday and extended to 13 after Loizos spun a perfect first inning on 10 pitches. In the second, Toms River South loaded the bases with none out on an error, an infield single by senior Brett Rankin and a bunt single by junior catcher Logan Sowa. Loizos struck out the next batter and had Andrew Schmidt behind in the count, 1-2, but Schmidt worked it to 2-2 and ripped a single through the left side to plate his older brother with the game’s first run.

Two innings later, Schmidt walked with a runner on third to set up Weed with an RBI chance and the sophomore stroked a 3-2 breaking ball from Loizos into left for a 2-0 Toms River South lead in the bottom of the fourth. Senior centerfielder Cannan Sanzone came up two batters later and delivered a two-run single into centerfield to make it a three-run fourth and a 4-0 Indians lead.

“That’s been a consistent theme for us so far,” Evan Schmidt said of the production from the bottom of the lineup. “The first game of the year at North, it was the bottom of the order that started us. The next game, we didn’t score in the first and then in the second, it was the bottom of the order. That’s been our theme: the top of the order gets the nerves out and the rest of the team takes it from there. Logan Sowa (2-for-3 on Saturday) has been the guy there. You can’t get him out right now.”

Through the first six innings of his outing, Evan Schmidt struck out two and walked one, which left 19 balls put into play. Fifteen of those 19 were converted into outs by the Toms River South defense, including the outfield assist on Carmino’s single in the third.

“It’s mostly just hitting my spots,” Schmidt said. “I don’t throw that hard. I just keep them on their toes with the fastball and mix in the curveball trying to get them to jump. I got a couple ground balls on curveballs. Most of it was defense today. When you are facing guys who can hit, you’ve got to throw the ball over the plate and hope the defense makes the play.”

In the top of the seventh, Point Boro junior Jaden Druiett reached on a two-out error, stole second base, reached third on a wild pitched and came home on another wild pitch to break up the shutout. Toms River South coach Jim Rankin allowed Schmidt to finish the game and he rewarded the decision by ending the game with his second strikeout of the inning.

Rankin’s first season as head coach at his alma mater was a smashing success and his year two is off to a 3-0 start. Toms River South will have a chance to complete a regular-season sweep of Point Boro on Tuesday in Point Pleasant — a potential giant step toward winning the program’s first division championship since 2017.

“Last year was eye-opening,” Evan Schmidt said. “We were 5-18 (in 2024) and a year later, we were 18-10. Having a lineup that uses all returning starters except for two kids — Aiden Lynch and Ruben (Febres) are big losses, but coming in with so many of the guys we already had last year, it shows that last year was kind of just the start.”

Box Score

Toms River South 4, No. 10 Point Boro 1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Pt Boro (2-1, 2-1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 1
TR South (3-0, 3-0) 0 1 0 3 0 0 X 4 10 3

Pitching

Point Boro IP H R ER BB SO PC
John Loizos (L, 0-1) 4 9 4 3 1 4 61
Mike Metcalfe 2 1 0 0 0 2 20
Toms River South IP H R ER BB SO PC
Evan Schmidt (W, 1-0) 7 3 1 0 1 4 85

Top Hitters

Point Boro Game Stats
Nick Carmino 1-2, BB, R
Jake Clayton 1-3
Aidan Dombrowsky 1-3
Toms River South Game Stats
Andrew Schmidt 1-2, BB, R, RBI
Cannan Sanzone 1-3, 2 RBI
Logan Weed 1-3, RBI
Logan Sowa 2-3
Evan Schmidt 1-3, R
Brett Rankin 2-3
Christian Mascaro 2-3

 

 

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