How tough is the GMC Red Division?
With just seven regular season wins, Old Bridge is a game away from competing for a sectional title.
Everyone else in the Red Division is home. And almost everyone else in the Greater Middlesex Conference.
And doesn’t that just tell you all you need to know?
The 12th-seeded Knights (9-17) play 9th-seed Marlboro (14-8) – and the Mustangs are a bit of a surprise themselves – in the Central Jersey Group 4 semifinals Tuesday.
They will also do so with heavy collective hearts, after longtime coach Fred Cole passed away Sunday morning at the age of 74. The Knights’ home field was named after him in a ceremony earlier this season.
But to look at all those losses alone is missing the big picture.
Of the Knights’ 17 losses this season, 13 have been by four runs or less, and ten of them have been by three runs or less. They’ve also lost three one-run games.
Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with Old Bridge head coach Matt Donaghue about how the challenges of the 2021 season have helped get the Knights a game away from the Central Jersey Group 4 title final: