Special 1TV: The end of the season

The Special One puts all of his chips on red for the Champions League Final.

There is no reason for Rutgers to be this bad at lacrosse

During the last couple of weeks, Only Time Will Tell officials have been spending a lot of time watching lacrosse and specifically college lacrosse.

During that time one thing has become clear, there are a lot of good players from New Jersey that are playing in other states.That got me to thinking, if there are so many good players coming out of the Garden State, then why is the Rutgers Lacrosse program a train wreck.

Just look around at lacrosse's traditional powers and you will see a Garden State flavor. Duke features three kids from Jersey. Virginia features four kids including Scott McWilliams, defender, from Mountain Lakes and Chris LaPierre, midfielder, from Medford. Johns Hopkins features five kids including standout midfielder Rob Guida from Chatham. Notre Dame features six kids from the Garden State. While Syracuse features five kids from New Jersey. The situation is almost as bad as the situation that Rutgers football was in about a decade ago and they have seemed to turn it around.

Now the school has the chance to turn everything around. On Monday Jim Stagnitta, who spent the past nine seasons coaching the Rutgers men’s lacrosse team, has announced his resignation. Stagnitta’s nine-year tenure was highlighted by consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances in 2003 and ’04, but the program languished in recent years. The Scarlet Knights turned in losing seasons in six of the last seven years, including a 6-9 mark this spring. Stagnitta compiled a 58-82 record after taking over for Tom Hayes — the winningest coach in program history — in 2001-02.

With the search for a new coach on, this is the chance for Scarlet Knights to make a real impact on the lacrosse field again. The school has to go out and spend the money and hire someone that will help bring recruits to the State University of New Jersey. If they don't make a splash there is a chance that Rutgers lacrosse will continue to be irrelevant.

Prospects 'R Us

While most of the focus on Friday night in Lakewood was on Bryce Harper, there were a ton of other prospects on display at First Energy Field. From AJ Cole to Jesse Biddle to Aaron Altherr, they were all on display during the game. Here is a breaking down of them:

BlueClaws left hander Jesse Biddle started and went 6 innings allowing 4 earned runs. All of his earned runs came in the second inning after which he settle down. He has good stuff and was very impressed. Biddle is ranked as the 7th best prospects in the Phillies system. The highlight of his night was striking out Bryce Harper


Blueclaws outfielder Aaron Altherr was also impressive. Altherr, 10th ranked prospect in the Phillies system, went 1 for 5 with a run scored. While still raw, Altherr could potentially be a chip that can be traded.


For Nats fans, the night was not only about Harper but also AJ Cole. Cole, the fourth ranked prospect in the Nats system, was a fourth round pick in the 2010 draft that the Nationals paid a bonus of $2 million to. Cole went four innings striking out four and allowing 2 hits and an earned run. Cole showed why baseball people think so highly of him. Below Cole strikes out form Phillies first round Anthony Hewitt