No. 8 North Brunswick topples No. 7 St. Joe’s to earn home-and-home Red Division sweep

He was no Zack Konstantinovsky.

Alejandro Jabar didn’t strike out 12 hitters, or pitch a shutout, or mow through the opposition’s lineup.

But he got out of some jams, pitched through adversity, battled his tail off, and helped his 8th-ranked North Brunswick Raiders beat No. 7 St. Joseph of Metuchen 4-3 on the road Tuesday afternoon, in a GMC Red Division game game heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

That’s exactly what head coach Mark Blevins needs the other members of his pitching staff not named Zack to do, and that’s what Jabar did.

The win was critical, getting North Brunswick closer to first-place Old Bridge, which lost 5-4 to East Brunswick Tuesday, leaving them 4-2 in the Division, while the Raiders are 5-3, 5-4 overall.

St. Joe’s dropped to 3-4, 2-4 with the loss.

Jabar was handed a 2-0 lead before he ever took the mound, as North Brunswick got to Joe’s early. Falcons’ starter Joseph Barca hit leadoff man EJ Accetura, then walked Yomar Carreras and Konstantinovsky. Omar Carreras drove in a run with a fielder’s choice to short, and Frankie Garbolino knocked in another on an unassisted groundout to first.

Jabar almost gave it right back. After a leadoff single by Mark Gialluisi, who was erased on a fielder’s choice on a ball hit to short by Robbie Carvelli, he walked the bases loaded with Josiah Brown and Christian Azcona before Joseph Zammitti knocked in a run with a sac fly to center. But he got out of the inning with a 2-1 lead when get got Tyler DelVecchio to do the same.

No one would score again until the fourth, when St Joe’s got two more runs. Jabar walked the first two hitters, got a pop up, then walked another to load the bases. After getting the second out on a strikeout, he walked Zammitti to bring in a run, then hit DelVecchio to drive in another, making it 4-3 Joe’s. But lead wouldn’t last for long.

In the bottom of the fifth, Konstantinovsky led off with a single, then Carreras walked, and they stole second and third on a botched check down to first by the Falcons, who tried to catch Carreras leading, then decided to try to get Zack at third, instead getting neither. Chris Rosario drove in both with a single to center to put the Raiders up 4-3.

That’s when Connor Levine came in from left field for North Brunswick to shut down St. Joe’s. He got the Falcons 1-2-3 in the sixth, then got in a little trouble in the seventh when he hit a batter and, after a fielder’s choice, allowed a Gialluisi single. BUt with two out and two on, he struck out centerfielder Robbie Carvelli to end the ballgame.