The North Brunswick Raiders celebrate winning the 2022 GMC Tournament Championship, their first ever. (Photo from video by Mike Pavlichko)
When you have natural born leaders like Frankie Garbolino and strikeout machines like Zack Konstantinovsky returning for their senior seasons, as well as a host of other talented players like Kyle Anderson, Omar and Yomar Carreras and a host of others, it would be easy for outsiders to pin expectations on a baseball team like that.
Especially coming off their first ever Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament championship.
But North Brunswick’s Frankie Garbs, Zack K, their teammates and head coach Mark Blevins aren’t having any of it.
“This year, it feels like there’s a little bit of a weight off. You just relax and play, and whatever happens, happens,” says seventh-year head coach Mark Blevins.
“You can play very, very well and you can lose,” Blevins says, adding he’s “a baseball realist.”
But one would be hard-pressed to look at all the key contributors coming back for the Raiders and not consider them a favorite to win the GMC Tournament again this year.
Note: that says “a” favorite, as in there may be several teams with a very good chance to claim a trophy in the middle of May in East Brunswick. And even though that’s less than two months away, there’s a lot of baseball to be played between now and then.
Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with North Brunswick head coach Mark Blevins about the upcoming season: