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South Brunswick baseball reaches Central Group IV final

Greg Tufaro
@GregTufaro
NJSIAA Central Group IV semifinal baseball game between North Brunswick and South Brunswick held at South Brunswick High School on Tuesday May 31, 2016. South Brunswick pitcher # 10- Brandon Siroki on the mound.

After finishing 10 games under .500 a year ago, the South Brunswick High School baseball team, which has enjoyed one of the most remarkable turnarounds in the state, has advanced to a sectional final.

The 12th-seeded Vikings reached the Central Group IV championship with a 3-1 sectional semifinal victory over 16th-seeded North Brunswick on Tuesday.

South Brunswick will play Friday at second-seeded Hunterdon Central, which advanced with an 8-1 semifinal win over Edison and a 1-0 quarterfinal win over Old Bridge.

Winning pitcher Brandon Siroki allowed just two hits — a pair of second-inning singles that led to North Brunswick’s lone run — and the Vikings played small ball to break a 1-1 deadlock with single runs in the fourth and fifth innings.

The Raiders (9-14), who lost 10 games by a total of 17 runs this season, mustered just one ball out of the infield over the final 4⅔ innings off Siroki, who fanned seven and induced seven ground ball outs.

NJSIAA Central Group IV semifinal baseball game between North Brunswick and South Brunswick held at South Brunswick High School on Tuesday May 31, 2016. South Brunswick's # 4 Tom Leavy watches as the ball he hit heads toward the outfield, that resulted in a home run during early inning play.

“I thought I just had to establish the strike zone,” said Siroki, who struggled at times with command off his offspeed pitches but compensated by spotting his two-seam and four-seam fastball, particularly over the outside black.

Siroki outdueled senior left-hander Eric Reardon, a Rutgers University signee who struck out seven and allowed seven hits including two infield singles and three bunt singles.

READ: South River advances to Central Group I final

Only one of the runs off Reardon was earned, that being Tom Leavy’s third-inning solo homer that North Brunswick head coach Ryan Lillis believed should have been called a grounds-rule double because it one-hopped the fence down the left-field line.

READ: Edison and South Amboy fall in sectional semifinals

The plate umpire, who initially pointed to the mound, signifying a fair ball, later waved his index finger in the air in a circular motion, indicating that Leavy had belted a game-tying homer. No. 9 batter Chris James followed with a single to right field, one of just two balls (the other being a line out to center) that the Vikings would launch out of the infield the rest of the way.

NJSIAA Central Group IV semifinal baseball game between North Brunswick and South Brunswick held at South Brunswick High School on Tuesday May 31, 2016. South Brunswick's # 7 Ryan Moran (center) collides with North Brunswick's # 1-Justin Garcia (left) as he attempts to break up a double play as North Brunswick's # 11-Felix Diaz (right) throws the ball to 1st base to make the double play.

South Brunswick took a 2-1 lead in the fourth. Ryan Moran legged out an infield single to lead off the inning. Sean Nally and Siroki, who batted cleanup, followed with bunt singles to load the bases. Reardon fanned Alex Pollock on a 2-2 pitch and retired Kevin Reyes on a pop-up. Garret Byrne plated a run on an infield error before Reardon fanned Leavy to limit the damage.

The Vikings added a paramount insurance run in the fifth. Lead-off batter Marco DiIusto walked on five pitches, stole second and took third on an infield error. With runners on the corners, Nally flawlessly executed a safety squeeze for a 3-1 lead.

NJSIAA Central Group IV semifinal baseball game between North Brunswick and South Brunswick held at South Brunswick High School on Tuesday May 31, 2016. South Brunswick's # 11 Sean Nally lays down a bunt to advance the runners during early inning play.

“When (South Brunswick head coach C.J. Hendricks) gave me the sign, I had faith in myself to get down the bunt, and I had faith in Marco to score the run,” Nally said, adding that he believed Siroki would make the insurance tally stand. “He threw strikes at the batters, and he just let them hit the ball. We made the plays. He had faith in us, and we had faith in him.”

North Brunswick took a 1-0 lead in the second. Cleanup batter Justin Garcia singled to right-center and was erased at second on Christian Petrillo’s fielder’s-choice ground out. One of three freshmen starting for the Raiders, Petrillo stole second and scored on designated hitter Roger Gomez’s single to center with one away.

The only other base runner North Brunswick would get the rest of the way was Felix Diaz, another freshman, who drew a full-count walk with two away in the sixth. Siroki retired 17 of the last 18 batters.

“Our attitude all season has been ‘we’ before ‘me,’ ” Hendricks said. “We’re a small ball team. We don’t have the big Division I guy. We don’t have the big arms. We don’t have the big bats. We are just a team that knows who we are, and we try to worry about us and not what’s in the other dugout.

“If we can control what we are doing and execute and play our game, it puts pressure on the other team, and we just hope we can take advantage of those opportunities.”