Bridgewater-Raritan’s Jason Cozzi – shown here pitching against Ridge in the Somerset County Tournament semifinals on May 9, 2022 at TD Bank Ballpark – got the win Thursday against Hunterdon Central. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
They’ve knocked off a pretty solid North Jersey program in St. Joe’s of Montvale. Earlier this week, they blanked defending Somerset County Tournament Champion and state-ranked Ridge.
And Thursday afternoon, Bridgewater-Raritan knocked off another state-ranked foe, defending North 2, Group 4 champ and 2022 statewide Group 4 runner-up Hunterdon Central.
The 4-2 victory puts the Panthers in first place in the Skyland Conference Delaware Division at 4-0, a half-game ahead of the Red Devils, who are 3-1 in the Delaware.
But not only that, it makes a strong case that Bridgewater-Raritan should be the top seed in the Somerset County Tournament. With a compressed season this year after the NJSIAA made changes to the year-round sports calendar, the seeding meeting is Monday night at Immaculata High School, and this was BR’s last conference game before the confab at Immaculata.
Tournament play opens Wednesday, April 19th, with the top four teams getting byes to the qaurterfinals, to be played at higher seeds, on Tuesday, April 25th.
The Panthers – who are now 5-1 overall – scored three times in the third inning, and though Central got back two in the fourth, BR added an insurance run in the seventh and hung on with some solid starting and relief pitching.
Starter Jason Cozzi went four innings for the win, allowing two runs and striking out six, Cory Rible and Stephen Colon combined for three shutout innings to close it out.
Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with Bridgewater-Raritan head coach Max Newill about the win, and the Panthers; hot start to the season so far:
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