April 3 GMC baseball roundup
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Woodbridge 1, Piscataway 0: Senior left-hander Harry Rutkowski, a Rutgers University signee, earned his 19th career victory with his 12th career shutout, a two-hit masterpiece.
Rutkowski is now just two wins shy of setting the all-time school record for victories. Rutkowski fanned 13, raising his career strikeout total to 248. He needed just 79 pitches to outduel sophomore right-hander Jason Mahmood and blank Piscataway in its season opener. Mahmood was also brilliant, scattering five hits on 77 pitches.
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"He kept them off balance the entire game," Piscataway head coach Scott Gleichenhaus said of Mahmood, who did not issue a walk. "He was in command. He kept them out front and his defense did the rest."
The Barrons (2-0) scored the game's lone run in the second inning. With Joe Dunn on first and Justin Silva on third, Silva scored on the back end of a double steal after Dunn got caught in a rundown with two away.
Piscataway had a chance to forge a tie in the home fifth. Chris Corvil led off with a double and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt. With the infield playing in, Rutkowski fanned the next two batters to work out of the jam.
Trevor Cykowski went 2-for-3 for Woodbridge, while teammates Carlos Marte and Silva each had a hit.
J.F. Kennedy 3, North Brunswick 2: The Mustangs rallied for two runs in the home sixth to erase a 2-1 deficit.
Vivek Patel, who was 2-for-3 on the day, plated the winning run with a sacrifice fly. Earlier in the inning, Matthew Godlewski (3-for-3) evened the score at 2-2 with an RBI single.
Winning pitcher Mike Matusz fanned nine, scattered five hits and walked two.
Andrew Tan doubled twice and scored a run for North Brunswick. Danny Reardon’s RBI in the top of the sixth gave North Brunswick a 2-1 lead.
Reardon pitched six innings. He allowed three earned runs. He fanned three and walked two.
North Brunswick took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third. The Mustangs answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the frame.
Perth Amboy Tech 4, South Amboy 0: Brian Arocho clubbed a solo homer, singled and scored another run, and hurled two scoreless innings with three strikeouts to lead the Patriots to their first victory over the Governors during sixth-year head coach Frank Paprota’s tenure.
Starting pitcher Aaron Batista threw two innings and was credited with the win. Anthony Niech, who loaded the bases with two walks and a hit batsman in the seventh, also struck out the side in that inning to earn a save.
Paprota used four pitchers with three hurling two frames apiece and Niech throwing one. The coach said he will utilize a similar strategy for the remainder of Perth Amboy Tech’s games to deal with the NJSIAA’s new pitch-count limit.
“I came to that conclusion about three weeks ago,” Paprota said. “I’ve got six guys. None of them are all-star pitchers, but they are all good pitchers. So I figure if I can let them throw two innings each and keep their pitch counts under 50, they will always be available. And the other side doesn’t get to see them through the order more than once.”
Victor Caraballo contributed a double to the win over the Governors, who played well in a season-opening loss to Woodbridge, ranked No. 4 in the Home News Tribune Top 10, on Saturday.
South Plainfield 8, Sayreville 1: Chris Shine’s three-run double highlighted a five-run rally in the sixth inning when the Tigers built a 7-0 lead to put the contest out of reach.
Billy Keane followed Shine’s hit with an RBI double of his own. Sayreville’s Jayson DeMild answered with an RBI double in the top of the seventh to produce the final margin.
Leadoff batter Roberto Gonzalez, a transfer from Dickinson, went 2-for-5 with a two-out RBI single in the early going for the Tigers. Newcomer Connor Adams, who went 2-for-4, was the only other Tiger with a multiple-hit game.
South Plainfield built a 3-0 lead in the fourth inning, scoring one run on an error out of a first-and-third situation and plating another on Mike Stanczak’s sacrifice fly.
Winning pitcher Jean Sapini fanned 10 over five innings and allowed just one hit. Gonzalez and Dylan O’Connor each hurled an inning of relief.
East Brunswick 19, St. Joseph 7: The Bears (1-1) parlayed 14 hits, six walks and four hit batsman into the most runs ever scored under a Chris Kenney-coached team.
Centerfielder Ryan Flynn collected three hits including a double. He also had two RBI and scored twice. James Schuld contributed a double, two runs and two RBI to the victory. Nick Martino (four RBI) and Brad Edwards (two doubles and three RBI) combined for five hits. Winning pitcher Mike Falco had two hits, two runs and an RBI.
St. Joseph (1-1) took a 5-1 lead into the third inning, a deficit East Brunswick erased with a 12-run rally. The Falcons won the first meeting between the schools on Saturday, 9-5 in eight innings.
Ross Maertz went 2-for-3 with a homer, a double and two RBI for St. Joseph. Teammate Gabe Mejias also doubled. Jon Sot, Brandon Warick, Kyle Angel and Mike Farr each had a hit for the Falcons.
“One through nine today, everybody contributed,” Kenney said, noting that when catcher Jay Marchese, a quintessential team leader and two-year starter, left the game after being hit in the chest with a pitch, others stepped up. “When Jay went out and we had to bring guys in for him off the bench, they also hit.”
Kenney said he believed the defending Red Division and Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament champion Bears were “going to be a pretty solid hitting team.”
“With the guys coming up (from last year’s GMC junior varsity tournament championship squad), I thought they were going to step right in. I thought they (Schuld, Edwards and Brandon Rosenthal) would have an easy transition. They are three very good hitters.”
Kenney said he likes the top of East Brunswick’s lineup, particularly Flynn out of the two hole.
“They are going to be pretty tough for anybody to get out,” Kenney said of the top of the order, which includes leadoff hitter David Bermudez and Tyler Burnham. “Flynn has been awesome. He doesn’t get much credit. People tend to overlook him, but he’s a good player.
“Last year he didn’t make an error in the outfield and he’s got a hose out there. He hit .340 last year and I expect him to hit better.”
South Brunswick 6, Old Bridge 5: The Vikings snapped a 5-5 deadlock on Kevin Reyes’ bases-loaded single through a drawn-in infield with none away in the home seventh as they recorded a wild comeback victory in the season-opener for both schools.
South Brunswick rallied for five runs in the home sixth to erase a 4-0 deficit. Ryan Moran’s three-run homer to left-centerfield fueled the outburst. The Vikings could have taken a 6-4 lead in the sixth but Old Bridge successfully defended a safety squeeze, erasing the lead runner at the plate.
Jon Sammarco concluded an eight-pitch at-bat off reliever Jacob Ciccone in the top of the seventh with a grounds-rule RBI double to help the Knights forge a 5-5 tie.
Marco DiIusto, who went 3-for-3 with a walk, led off the home seventh with a single. Chris James followed with a walk and Moran legged out an infield hit to load the bases for Reyes, who grounded his walk-off single through the right side of the infield.
South Brunswick starter Troy Sweeney pitched five innings for a no-decision. Marcus James threw an eight-pitch inning that bridged a gap for Ciccone, a sophomore left hander, who entered in relief to earn his third career victory. Ciccone fanned two and walked one in one inning.
Designated hitter Will Beck went 2-for-2 with a double and an RBI for South Brunswick. Moran finished 3-for-4
Ryan Bradley went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI for Old Bridge, while teammates Joe Papeo and Sonny Fauci also had base hits.
Papeo hurled five and a third innings. He fanned two, walked five and allowed seven hits in a no-decision.
The Vikings played solid situational baseball, utilizing a double steal and a bunt-and-run to manufacture runs.
Monroe 6, Perth Amboy 4: After ace Eric Heatter, a Rutgers University commit, hurled four shutout innings, he gave way to the bullpen, against which the Panthers scored all four of their runs in the seventh inning to produce the final margin.
Heatter fanned seven, walked two and allowed two hits. Virgilio Cabrera, who pitched one inning, endured the defeat for Perth Amboy, which trailed 6-0 in the sixth inning.
Nick Payero homered in the first inning for Monroe. The Falcons plated another run on a wild pitch in the second inning.
Devin Rodriguez singled, Darius Diaz doubled and Bryan Marte walked to highlight Perth Amboy’s seventh-inning rally.
Diaz finished with two RBI. Payero and teammate Matt Sorrento each had multiple-hit games for Monroe.
The Faclons did not commit an error.
Wardlaw-Hartridge 12, Piscataway Tech 2: Winning pitcher Ovidio Chavez allowed one hit over three innings and reliever Sandy Miller allowed two hits over two innings as the Rams opened the season with a mercy-rule win.
Chavez helped his own cause, going 1-for-2 with a pair of RBI and two runs scored. Teammate Ryan Petela singled and scored three times. AJ Massaro (2-for-3) had a double, a run and an RBI. JJ Stueck also went 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run.
Emanuel Arriaza singled, scored and plated two runs for Wardlaw-Hartridge, which rallied for eight runs in the second inning.
Victor Caraballo went 2-for-2 for the Raiders.
Carteret 2, South River 1: Winning pitcher Michael App outdueled Nick Errico with a complete-game four-hitter in the season-opener for both schools. App struck out eight.
Angelo Golina scored both Carteret runs. He crossed on a wild pitch in the fourth and scored on Mike Bennett’s fielder’s choice groundout in the sixth.
App doubled and Chris Pena singled, accounting for Carteret’s lone hits. Joey Leviton had an RBI single for the Rams.
Errico allowed one hit, fanned two, hit three batters and walked four over six innings.
Spotswood 6, New Brunswick 0: Senior left-hander Matt Ciaccio (five innings) and reliever Chris Auciello (two innings) combined on a no-hitter in the season-opener for both schools. Ciaccio fanned 12 and walked one. Auciello struck out three for the save.
The Chargers registered 10 hits. Ryan Szatkowski and Vincent Guardiola had multiple-hit games for Spotswood, which doubled its 3-0 lead with three runs in the sixth inning.
Losing pitcher Kalbin Rodriguez allowed nine hits and three earned runs over six innings. He fanned six and did not issue a walk.
Szatkowski, Guardiola and Nick Vincelli had doubles for Spotswood. Szatkowski's double scored two runs to extend the Chargers' lead to 5-0 in the sixth.
Middlesex 11, Bishop Ahr 1: Winning pitcher Kyle Nepton went the distance in a game shortened to six innings via the mercy rule. He fanned eight, scattered five hits and walked three.
Jared Venutolo (3-for-4 with a walk) and Matt Carovillano (3-for-4 with a triple and three RBI) paced Middlesex’s 17-hit attack.
Nick DiMaggio, Mike Salerno, Mike Schweyher and Jared Zimbardo contributed two hits apiece to the victory. Teammate Jarrett May went 1-for-4 with a double.
Andrew Brazicki, Rich Albrecht, Sean Flynn, Kyle Orta and Brandon Rodriguez each singled for Bishop Ahr. Flynn had the Trojans’ lone RBI, plating a run in the top of the first.
Losing pitcher Matt Smith allowed five earned runs on eight hits and four walks. He fanned three. Smith left the game with one away in the fifth after throwing 104 pitches.
The Blue Jays, who rallied for five runs in the fifth, scored twice in the sixth to invoke the mercy rule.
Highland Park 7, Dunellen 4: Winning pitcher Ryan O’Shea went the distance, scattering seven hits over seven innings while throwing 107 pitches. He fanned four, walked three and allowed just two earned runs.
O’Shea helped his own cause, going 2-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and two RBI.
Batterymate Marcello Herzog, Evan Lanaris and Brent Szklaruk each contributed a hit and a run scored to the victory. Aiden Weinstein went 1-for-2 with two runs scored and two RBI.
After Dunellen took a 3-0 lead in the third inning, the Owls scored twice in the fourth, narrowing the deficit to one run. Highland Park evened the score in the fifth and broke the 3-3 deadlock with a four-run rally in the top of the seventh to make a winner out of rookie head coach Rich McGlynn.
The Destroyers, who scored a run in the home seventh to produce the final margin, stranded seven runners.
East Brunswick Tech 13, Timothy Christian 1: Dylan Johnson (3-for-4) and Dylan Montuoro (3-for-5) each had two RBI for East Brunswick Tech, which scored five runs in the seventh inning to produce the final margin.
Timothy Christian was outhit 14-1. Jonathan Thiero had Timothy Christian’s lone hit and Daniel Lai scored the team's only run.
Austin Montgomery (two runs), Garrett Allo (3-for-5 with two runs), Pat Temenski (three runs) and RJ Jobin (three runs) contributed to East Brunswick Tech’s offense.
Elizabeth 9, J.P. Stevens 3: The Hawks dropped their season-opener.