Media Release May 27

Ewing, NJ – The College of New Jersey’s senior first baseman William Kropp (Pottstown, PA/Owen J. Roberts) has been named to the 2008 CoSIDA ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America College Division Second Team for his outstanding play on the field and excellence in the classroom.

Kropp becomes the fourth baseball player in program history to achieve this honor, while TCNJ has now produced 49 student-athletes that have earned CoSIDA Academic All-America citations. He follows in the footsteps of former Lion baseball players, Jeff Nevitt (1989 and 1991), Howard Forman (1992) and Dave Ceccanechio (1998) to have earned CoSIDA Academic All-America honors while wearing a Lion baseball uniform.

Kropp, who was a second team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Team honoree a year ago, started 37 games for the Lions and excelled at first base in 2008. He earned NJAC All-Star Honorable Mention honors and the Senior Award from the NJCBA after capping his career at TCNJ. He finished the 2008 season with a .320 average at the plate with seven extra-base hits and 24 RBIs. He has committed only three errors in 345 total chances this season for a .991 fielding percentage and has helped the Lions turn 32 double plays. Overall on his career, he played in 128 games at TCNJ while collecting 127 hits and 74 RBIs in 104 starts with a .302 average. He also has a .991 career fielding percentage having been charged with just seven errors in 799 total chances. He ranks among the career leaders at TCNJ having collected 24 doubles, which is 21st best in school history, while his four career triples is 10th best as well.

He boasted a 3.93 gpa as a business major at the College and had the second highest gpa of TCNJ’s senior male student-athletes this year. He is a Dean\’s List student as well as a four-time TCNJ Scholar-Athlete and a three-time NJAC Scholar-Athlete honoree. He missed five games in mid-March with a hamstring injury and returned to help the Lions make a run for the 2008 NJAC championship and post-season acclaim.

TCNJ went 30-12 on the season, while earning the No. 3 seed in both the 2008 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional and NJAC tournaments. TCNJ, which captured three NJAC Championship titles from 2005-2007, earned one of the 14 at-large bids to the 2008 NCAA Division III Tournament and went 2-2 to advance to the final day of the 2008 NCAA Regionals, only to fall to Kean University in their bid to earn a trip to the 2008 College World Series.

To be nominated for CoSIDA’s ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America program, the student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.20 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) for his/her career. No athlete is eligible until he/she has reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at his/her current institution (thus, true freshmen, red-shirt freshmen and ineligible transfers are not eligible). In the cases of transfers, graduate students and junior college graduates, the athlete must have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution to be eligible

By Albert Countryman Jr.

On a beautiful, crisp night for softball with a huge crowd in attendance, the Gloucester City High School team defeated cross-town rival Gloucester Catholic, 4-2, using the long ball.

In the top of the first inning, Sam Dobleman crushed a fast ball way over the left field fence to give the Lady Lions a 1-0 lead.

Meanwhile, behind some great defense, Gloucester City pitcher Taylor Chain kept the Lady Rams from scoring over the first five innings.

In the fourth inning, Erica Smizer led off with a single and Dobleman hit a ball to deep center. The crowd roared as it soared through the night sky.

Lady Rams centerfielder Kristin Collins made a mighty leap for the ball against the fence, but it glanced off her glove and into the crowd for a home run.

Kelsey Cutler led off the top of the fifth, and smoked a fast ball for a home run to left to give the Lady Lions a 4-0 lead.

It was the first win over the Lady Rams for the Gloucester City seniors, who were honored before the game. They are Jackie Leafey, Tiffaney Stiteler, Smizer, Cutler and Dobleman.

Also honored were the Gloucester Catholic seniors, Melissa Jackson, Shauna Vennell and Amanda Rice.

Both teams have qualified for the state playoffs, and the annual rivalry game is a great tune-up.

 

 

http://www.nj.com/sports

Davis was an unknown in the Trenton-area when he was hired by the Broncs to take over for the legendary Sonny Pittaro.

And that was no easy task in itself all Pittaro did was win 766 games and have the field where Davis\’ team now plays named after him.

For that matter, Rider had just two baseball coaches from 1961 Pittaro and Tom Petroff, both of whom are in the school\’s Hall of Fame before Davis arrived in Lawrenceville in 2005.

A southerner who grew up in Bridgewater, Va., and coached at George Mason, Frostburg State and Georgia Southwestern, Davis made a name for himself in South Jersey where he won four National Junior College titles at Gloucester County College.

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The City of Gloucester City made the Friday, May 23 edition of Star Ledger. In a story somewhat critical of the Abbott District school construction program the City was used as one example of how poorly the program was run.

The article written by Bill Wolfe states in part, Inspector General Cooper\’s April 21, 2005 Report to former Governor Codey found that $330 million had been spent on sites \”patently unsuitable\” for schools -perhaps the poster child for these findings are the purchase of a Superfund site in Gloucester City and former Manhattan project site in Union City. Cooper\’s Report also found Full Report Here

One section of the report that particularly bothers me (quoting findings) SCC has minimal guidelines for what constitutes an acceptable site for a school and generally accedes to the site submitted by local school authorities.

To Read the entire article

It was a well known fact that the area surrounding the Pop Corn building was listed as a federal government Superfund site. Yet our school board and administrators choose this area to build a new school. The school never got built because the state School Construction Corporation (SCC) mismanaged the $8.3 billion it was given to construct schools in the Abbott Districts.

But don’t despair. According to the same article state legislators are still looking for more money to spend on this program. See Lawmakers Ask for an Extra $2.5 billion

Neighboring Brooklawn made the headlines on Monday, May 26, 2008. Courier Post columnist Jim Walsh took the Town Fathers to task for evicting a family of seven from a borough home two years ago. According to Walsh who quoted from court documents, \”In September 2003, Laura Burrough\’s family of five rented a three-bedroom duplex under an affordable-housing program. Over the next two years, she had two babies.

In June 2006, the Borough said those babies violated an occupancy limit. It then opposed a finding by an administrative law judge and the state Department of Community Affairs that the uprooted family was owed about $4,100 for moving expenses.

Walsh writes, \”In its appeal, the borough put a creative spin on how to view a family of seven that moves after receiving one month\’s notice that its lease won\’t be renewed. \”Finding that this matter was an eviction was arbitrary and capricious,\” Brooklawn contended.

That wasn\’t good enough for the judges, who ruled against Brooklawn on May 14.

Read the entire article

Congratulations to Walt Burrows, Courier Post Sports writer who is retiring after 58 years of reporting on local sports. Walt grew up in Gloucester City and graduated from Gloucester City High School. While in school he worked as a stringer for the Gloucester City News, and continued to do so after he graduated. Later he got a job with the Courier Post and as they say the rest is history.

For many years, up until he had a health problem, Walt continued to write for the City News. Each week he would hand deliver two articles one on the Rams and the other on the Lions. He lived in Marlton and Sunday night he would drive over to Gloucester City and leave the stories in the NEWS mailbox. Walt never forgot his home town. And this was his way of saying \”Thank You\” to my Dad for helping him out when he was just beginning his illustrious career as a sports reporter.

CHEERS TO YOU WALT! May you have many happy years of enjoyment. You certainly deserve it.

The Classic Sportsman, Walt Burrow Retires

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