Seven-run third, solid start from Mulvaney puts St. Joseph-Metuchen in first sectional final since 2019

GMC Tournament champion St. Joseph-Metuchen will get a chance to add to its trophy case this season.

They’re in the Non-Public South A championship game Saturday after an 11-3 win for the second-seeded Falcons over sixth seed Notre Dame at Diamond Nation in Flemington in the semifinals Wednesday afternoon.

St. Joe’s got on the board in the first when leadoff man Mark Gialluisi reached on an error. After a Robbie Carvelli single and a sac bunt, Tyler Delvecchio’s groundout to third made it 1-0.

But the big inning came in the third, when Joe’s sent 12 hitters to the plate and scored sevent imes on just four hits, along with two walks, a hit batter and two errors on Notre Dame shortstop TJ Magliozzo.

Will Ramsay led off with a double, and Gialluisi reached again on an error. After Carvelli struck out, Josiah Brown reached on another error on Magliozzo, which drove in Ramsay to make it 2-0. Delvecchio walked to load the bases, and Kosuda did the same to make it 3-0. Joseph Zammitti then knocked in two with a single to make it 5-0.

After a pitching change, with Tristan Stephenson relieving starter Luke Foley, a Bobby Christensen single loaded the bases, a Christian Azcona fly to left scored Kosuda for the sixth run. Ramsay got hit by a pitch to load the bases again, then Mark Gialluisi had a two RBI single to make it 8-0 before Carvellli grounded to short to end it.

Notre Dame got three back in the fifth after starter Jimmy Mulvaney was pulled to conserve pitches for, at that point, a potential final Saturday.

But Joe’s got them right back in the bottom of the fifth, with back-to-back singles by Christensen and Azcona, and then a two-out, three-run inside-the-park home run by Robbie Carvelli. The ball was hit to short center and Lance Eilbacher slid for it, but missed the ball, which went all the way back to the wall.

Mulvaney got the win, improving to 6-0, while the Falncons improve to 21-9. Mulvaney struck out seven in 4 1/3, with two of the three Notre Dame runs charged to him.

St. Joseph will play for the Non-Public South A title Saturday (time TBA) against Red Bank Catholic, the top seed and No. 1 team in the state, at Count Basie Field in Red Bank.

In their last appearance in a sectional final, they lost 5-3 to St. Augustine in 2019. That’s the Falcons only finals berth under Mike Murray, whose first season was in 2016.

Their most recent appearance before that was when they won Non-Public South A in 2010, beating Bishop Eustace 12-3. They would fall, though, in the state final, 7-5 in 8 innings to Immaculata.