Bridgewater-Raritan’s Joe Spirra (left) and Matt Fattore had some fun in the mud during a 5-3 Opening Day home win over Rancocas Valley in the rain on April 1, 2024. (Photo: @brbaseball on Twitter)
Not many baseball teams in New Jersey were able to get their games in on Opening Day Monday, but somehow, some way, Bridgewater-Raritan managed to do it.
And the No. 2 Panthers made it count, facing a tough out-of-conference matchup in their opener against a Rancocas Valley team that – like them – reached a state playoff sectional final last season.
Bridgewater scattered five runs in the first three innings – literally led off by Devin Goldberg, who smacked a home run on the first pitch the Panthers saw all year to give his team a 1-0 lead – then survived a late scare when the Red Devils got the tying run to the plate in the top of the seventh.
JR Rosado added an RBI single in the first to make it 2-0 after one
Then, in the third, Matt Fattore made it 3-0 with a first-pitch RBI double, Joey Letko drove him in with a single, and and JR Rosado scored Letko when he reached on an throwing error by the Red Devils’ shortstop to make it 5-0 after two.
Rancocas Valley added a run in the fifth, although the damage could have been worse. Jack Lanum – working middle relief in his debut varsity appearance – picked up two key strikeouts – the last of which came looking with the bases loaded – to end the inning.
And more drama would follow.
In the seventh, Rancocas closed the deficit to 5-3 with two out in Corey Rible’s second inning of work for the Panthers. But he got out of the jam with a backwards K to end the ballgame.
Click below for postgame reaction from Bridgewater-Raritan head coach Max Newill on the Panthers’ Opening Day win over Rancocas Valley, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:
The Panthers (1-0) are coming off a 23-7 season in which they reached the North 2, Group 4 title game, falling 9-2 at home to Bayonne. Bridgewater is scheduled to be back in action Tuesday morning at 11 am, weather permitting. A number of games were wiped out on Opening Day Monday, and the weather doesn’t look any better until perhaps late Thursday, or even Friday morning, based on the latest forecasts.
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