High School Baseball: Shawnee Advances in Diamond Classic's First Weekend Saturday, May 10, 2003 By Jerome Michaels SJSports Special Correspondent Another year has arrived to welcome the South Jersey Baseball Coaches Association's Diamond Classic Tournament celebrating its 30th anniversary. Sixteen teams will compete for the championship that will be held this year at Campbell's Field in Camden. Before that can happen, games will be played at Washington Township High School, Maple Shade High School and Rowan University during the first round. The Shawnee Renegades were one of those teams hosting Paul VI in Washington Township. The Renegades exploded in the second inning to easily defeat the Eagles by a 7-1 margin. They will now face the winner of the Bishop Eustace against Florence game. Earlier in the day, Pennsville had defeated Rancocas Valley by a score of 8-1 and will be matched up against the winner of the Sterling/Cinnaminson game. Once that game was over, Shawnee and Paul VI took the field thankful the rain held off allowing them to compete on the diamond. Freshman Ryan Brecko got the call to start this year’s run for Shawnee to capture the Diamond Classic tournament title. He would get plenty of support in the second inning when the Renegades’ bats came alive. All of Shawnee’s runs were scored during the inning as the Renegades scored seven runs during the inning. The inning was highlighted by Sean Doolittle’s solo home run to left. That was all the run Brecko needed as he only give up two hits during the game. Photos by Art Redd

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