Old Bridge standouts John Smith, Akhil Penkala, talk offense, defense, and being a role model

The Old Bridge baseball team is having a great run of success these last two seasons.

The Knights won the Central Jersey Group 4 championship in 2023, and Saturday will play for the GMC title for the second time in five seasons, having won it most recently in 2019.

While many look at Old Bridge as having a strong pitching staff – with Options 1a, b and c being Frank Papeo, Justin Hascup and JT Meyer, in no particular order – the bats also have some spark, and the thing about the Knights is this: they do all the little things right.

That attention to detail is instilled in them from the very moment they enter head coach Matt Donaghue’s program. They’re good at the fundamentals. They make few errors in the field, and even make the great plays. They can hit the long ball and get extra base hits to the gap, but they can also play small ball.

Two players who tipify that are shortstop John Smith and right fielder/first baseman Akhil Penkala. Both are juniors, both big parts of last year’s team, and this year’s.

John Smith – no relation to Evan Smith, a senior who plays left field – is hitting in the mid- to upper-.300s this season, and Penkala is well into the .400s. We talked with both of them this week in advance of Saturday’s GMC Tournament final, in which the third-seeded Knights will face top-seed South Plainfield at 2 pm at Ray Cipperly Field in East Brunswick. You can hear the game on Central Jersey Sports Radio by clicking here.

Click below to hear John Smith talk about the Knights’ 2024 season:

Some of what these two do doesn’t even show up in the box score. A prime example came in the GMC Tournament Quarterfinals last week, where with two down and two on, leading 8-5 in the top of the seventh, Penkala saved the game with a diving catch on a shot into the gap by North Brunswick’s Avery Price.

Penkala said it might have been his first diving catch ever. Donaghue called it “routine” for Penkala.

Either way, it was critical, and it’s a big reason why not only is Old Bridge where it is now, but why they’ll also be considered a favorite to defend their 2023 CJ4 crown.

Click below to hear Akhil Penkala talk about the Knights’ 2024 season: