Zach Konstantinovsky of North Brunswick bats against South Brunswick in a GMC Red Division game on May 4, 2023 at Rowland Park in South Brunswick. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
Thursday afternoon’s 6-2 win for the North Brunswick Raiders on the road at South Brunswick was a big one in a number of ways.
Moving up to the GMC Red Division, it gave the Raiders at least a share of the division title in their first year playing with the “big boys” in the Greater Middlesex Conference. And by extension, it will wind up earning them the top seed in the GMC Tournament, which will be seeded Friday morning in East Brunswick.
In a game heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio, the Raiders got a complete game out of Kyle Anderson, who threw seven innings and allowed seven hits and three runs, two of them earned. He got the win for North Brunswick (10-5, 8-4 GMC Red) while starter Ethan Fantel took the loss for the Vikings (5-11, 3-9 GMC Red).
South Brunswick scored in each of the first two innings to take a 2-0 lead on North Brunswick. Ryan Kessler had an RBI double in the first, while Joey Sanchez knocked in another run in the second with a single.
But it didn’t deter Anderson on the mound, who only allowed one run on four hits the rest of the afternoon, which started overcast, but turned out sunny, much like the Raiders’ fortunes in the game.
North Brunswick cut it to 2-1 South in the third when Yomar Carreras led off with a double down the right field line and Zack Konstantinovsky drove him in with a single.
Then, after a scoreless fourth, the Raiders took the lead for good.
Carreras again led off, this time with a single. With Konstantinovsky at the plate, he took off a bit too soon, and Fantel had him picked off, but threw it away into foul territory, and Carreras scored all the way from first with the ball getting lost in the wide expanse of foul territory down the right field line.
Konstantinovsky ended up with a walk and Omar Carreras singled. After Justin Batts popped out, Chris Rosario singled to load the bases, and Frankie Garbolino gave North a lead they would never relinquish with a two-RBI single. Sammy Berardo knocked in another run with a ground-out, and the Raiders had a 5-2 lead through four-and-a-half.
South Brunswick would add another run in the fifth on a single by Brian Culhane, while Konstantinovsky – who finished with a single, two walks and two runs scored in four times at the plate – scored the sixth run on a Justin Batts hit to third that turned out to be an E5.
Click below for postgame interviews, sponsored by the SportsPlex at Metuchen:
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