Hillsborough hosts Bridgewater-Raritan in a Skyland Conference Delaware Division game on April 25, 2024. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
Their first meeting was a 3-1 Ridge win. In their second, Hillsborough led 2-0 heading into the seventh before the Red Devils came alive and won 3-2.
The third time is always the most difficult.
But they will indeed play for a third time – ideally Thursday, weather permitting – in the quarterfinals of the Somerset County Tournament, in a game that can be heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, presented by Zoned Sports Academy of Bridgewater.
Weather will be a factor throughout the weekend, but the teams want to get it in as early as they can with the SCT semifinals at TD Bank Park coming up next Monday. With Ridge having a natural grass surface, the game has been moved from Basking Ridge to Field 3 at Diamond Nation in Flemington, but still with first pitch at 4 pm, with pregame set for 3:45. Mike Pavlichko will call all the action; click here to listen.
Third-seed Ridge (16-7) started the season just 1-5 but quickly rolled off seven straight wins, and comes into the Hillsborough game with a four-game winning streak.
The sixth-seeded Raiders beat 11-seed Pingry 2-1 in eight innings Monday in the second round of the SCT, but then lost 6-4 to South Brunswick on Tuesday. They have had an up-and-down season, quite literally: they’ve never lost more than two in a row (that happened twice) but they also haven’t won back-to-back games all season.
Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with both head coaches ahead of their SCT quarterfinal game Thursday:
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