Old Bridge has had big wins, but knows much more work is to be done to bring home the crown in GMCT

The Old Bridge baseball team has some pretty big wins on its resume.

They’re one of few teams to win a game that North Brunswick ace Zach Konstantinovsky started. That’s happened only twice in his last two seasons, and the one time this year was a lightning-delayed, 10-inning game in which he was no longer a factor.

They are the only team in the GMC Tournament’s top four seeds – the top four teams in the Red Divsion – to have beaten all of the other three teams at least once.

And they knocked off statewide No. 1 Red Bank Catholic by a 2-1 score on April 23rd in the Autism Awareness Challenge.

But with apologies to Sir Duke and Ella, Knights’ head coach Matt Donaghue says “It don’t mean a thing if you ain’t got that ring.”

We’re paraphrasing of course, but Donaghue knows the real goal is the GMC Tournament title. The next step is to get to the Final Four, and to do that, his second-seeded Old Bridge team first has to get by 7-seed South Plainfield in the quarterfinals Wednesday evening at North Brunswick Community Park.

Mike Pavlichko and Dom Savino will broadcast the game live as part of Central Jersey Sports Radio’s doubleheader coverage, presented by Auto Lounge of Edison. Game time is 7 pm; Click here to listen live.

The ball tonight – under the lights – will go to a young sophomore named Justin Hascup. Donaghue calls him a competitor who doesn’t back down, a “bulldog.” He’s put his faith in him.

Hascup has given him good reason to, with a 1.87 ERA in 30 innings pitched, and a record of 5-0. But perhaps more importantly, he’s beaten South Plainfield this year.

In a GMC Red Division game on April 27th – less than two weeks ago – the Knights beat the Tigers 8-3 on a strong start from Hascup, who went 6 1/3 innings, and gave up just two earned runs.