With the first round in the books in the NJSIAA baseball tournament, Old Bridge pulled off one of the upsets of the day.
The 12th-seeded Knights knocked out 5th-seed South Brunswick – one of the GMC Tournament finalists this weekend – with a 6-2 road win in the opening round of the Central Jersey Group 4 section.
Mike Villani had two hits and three RBIs in the win, while Thomas Papeo was 2-for-3 with a run batted in,
Starting pitcher Justin Herbstman went 4 1/3 innings, fanned nine Vikings, and didn’t surrender a single earned run. He allowed just four baserunners, one by virtue of a hit.
And because of another upset, Old Bridge will play a home game in the quarterfinals Saturday afternoon.
Fourth-seed Edison was knocked off by 13th-seed Princeton Wednesday 6-4, as the Little Tigers got to starter Sal DellaFave for three runs in the first, then chased him from the game in the fifth, scoring three more.
Now, Old Bridge – a double digit seed – will get to host a home game when the Little Tigers travel to Fred Cole Field.
Meanwhile, North Brunswick won a wild one.
The 7th-seeded Raiders got by 10th-seed Hightstown 1-0 on a walk-off, bases loaded single with two outs by Pat McCann.
And that wasn’t the extent of the key plays for North Brunswick, which saw outfielder Sean Anderson pull a Hightstown homer back into the yard with a leaping catch at the wall in the third, while the Raiders threw out a runner at home in the fifth to keep the game scoreless.
North Brunswick will travel Saturday for a second round game at 2nd-seed Hunterdon Central.
We’ll have a closer look at those two games later Thursday here on cjsportsradio.com.
With Timothy Christian being eliminated by St. Rose of Belmar Tuesday, only seven out of 23 GMC teams that qualified remain in the state tournament, with one of them – St. Joseph-Metuchen – yet to play, having a first round bye in Non-Public South A.
Here are Wednesday’s results, section by section, for games involving GMC teams, which are noted in CAPS:
Central Jersey, Group 4
(1) Manalapan def. (11) SAYREVILLE 11-1
(9) Marlboro def. (8) MONROE 11-4
(12) OLD BRIDGE def. (5) SOUTH BRUNSWICK 6-2
(13) Princeton def. (4) EDISON 6-4
(6) Freehold Twp. def. (11) EAST BRUNSWICK 2-0
(7) NORTH BRUNSWICK def. (10) Hightstown 1-0
Central Jersey, Group 2
(8) Robbinsville def. (9) EAST BRUNSWICK TECH 13-0
(5) SPOTSWOOD def. (12) Johnson 3-2
(3) SOUTH PLAINFIELD def. (14) Manasquan 4-2
(10) Holmdel def. (7) METUCHEN 5-1
Central Jersey, Group 1
(1) MIDDLESEX def. (16) PISCATAWAY TECH 16-1
(12) Florence def. (5) PERTH AMBOY TECH 15-4
(4) SOUTH AMBOY def. (13) Bound Brook 6-5
(14) Riverside def. (3) SOMERSET TECH 10-7
North Jersey-Section 2, Group 4
(8) Franklin def. (9) JP STEVENS 2-1
(3) Watchung Hills def. (14) PERTH AMBOY 5-0
North Jersey-Section 2, Group 3
(4) Ferris def. (13) COLONIA 2-1
(11) Chatham def. (6) WOODBRIDGE 5-0
(7) West Morris def. (10) JFK 10-4
Here’s the upcoming schedule of state tournament games involving GMC teams, noted in CAPS:
FRIDAY, JUNE 4
Non-Public, South A
(5) ST. JOSEPH-METUCHEN at (4) Red Bank Catholic
*both teams had a first-round bye
SATURDAY, JUNE 5
Central Jersey, Group 4
(13) Princeton at (12) OLD BRIDGE
(7) NORTH BRUNSWICK at (2) Hunterdon Central
Central Jersey, Group 2
(5) SPOTSWOOD at (4) Voorhees
(11) Raritan at (3) SOUTH PLAINFIELD
Central Jersey, Group 1
(8) South Hunterdon at (1) MIDDLESEX
(12) Florence at (4) SOUTH AMBOY