The opening round of the Somerset County Tournament saw the Rutgers Prep and Manville baseball teams pick up wins, advancing to Saturday, where they will play opponents that had a first round bye.
No. 12-seed Rutgers Prep (3-6) beat 13-seed Watchung Hills (2-6) by a score of 8-0 in Somerset, while 11-seed Manville (6-2) picked up a 10-5 home win over Gill St. Bernard’s (2-6).
Rutgers Prep 8, Watchung Hills 0
The Argonauts got a complete game shutout from Max Treonze, who needed only 100 pitches to get through the Warriors’ lineup, striking out 14, walking none. Prep scored five times in the third to take a lead they would never relinquish. Zach Fronio homered, while Evan Laub went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs.
Prep moves on to play the other Warriors in the SCT, 5th-seed Franklin (4-4) Saturday morning at 11:00. In the teams’ first meeting back on April 11th, Franklin won 15-3, putting up an eleven-run fifth inning.
The winner will play at 4th-seed Somerville in the quarterfinals next Tuesday.
Manville 10, Gill St. Bernard’s 5
The Mustangs fell behind 1-0 before even getting a turn at bat, but scored eight runs over the next two innings – including three in the bottom of the first and five in the second. Josh Barrio had a big night, going 1-for-2 with a walk and a hit-by-pitch, picking up four RBIs, while James Mascola was 2-for-4 with three runs batted in. Starter Nick Bentz went six innings, allowing four earned runs on ten hits, striking out seven to get the win.
Next up for the Mustangs is 6th-seed Pingry (4-3) up in Martinsville, Saturday at noon. Going back to the 2013 season, The Mustangs have lost at least 19 straight against the Big Blue dating back to 2010, but at 6-2 Manville already has matched its win total from last season, when it went 6-15.
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