Spotswood bats erupt for 16-5 win over South Amboy in first game on Chargers’ new turf field

New turf, new season, same old Spotswood baseball.

On Opening Day for both teams, the No. 9 Chargers exploded for six runs in the second inning, and eight in the third – fueled by a Sebby Saracino grand slam – en route to a 16-5 victory over visiting South Amboy Saturday, in a GMC crossover game heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

It was also the first game on Spotswood’s new turf field, and they christened it not only with a big win, but with a blast from the past.

Pitcher Willie Beard and catcher Anthony Addone from the 2007 GMC Tournament and state championship team – which was inducted into the Spotswood Athletics Hall of Fame in 2022, along with Beard as an individual – teamed up for a ceremonial first pitch.

Then the game began, and it was almost like going back in a time machine 18 years, as Spotswood got on the board with two in the bottom of the first.

Sarracino’s slam in the third was the first home run of his varsity career, and he finished the day with a career high five runs batted in.

Starter Carter Cumiskey was excellent as well, able to stay fresh with the weather unseasonably warm – 74 at game time and over 80 by the time the final out was recorded – as the senior pitched four shutout innings, allowing one hit and just two base runners – a second reached on an error – to get the Opening Day win.  He struck out four and pitched three one-two-theee innings.

South Amboy got its five runs in the top of the fifth, helped by a hard liner off the third baseman’s glove and a chopper that left shortstop Ryan Orth with no real option to make a play.  But they needed seven runs to keep the game going, and fell just short.

Starter Micah Nemeth took the loss in relief for the Governors. 

Spotswood did what it wanted to do at the plate, scratching and clawing when they needed to early, and getting some big hits when they needed them. Besides the Grand slam, the Chargers also got two ground rule doubles, one from Will Buchan and another from freshman catcher Tyrus Lazar.

Click below to hear postgame reaction from Spotswood’s Sebby Saracino, Carter Cumiskey, and head coach Glenny Fredricks, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen: