Franklin gets ready for a home game against Phillipsburg on April 24, 2025. The Warriors beat Bound Brook in their first-round SCT game Wednesday. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
The opening round of the 2025 Somerset County Tournament is a split, with one game Wednesday and one Thursday, since 12th-seed Montgomery already had a regular-season game scheduled the day the tournament was supposed to start.
But the Cougars will hope to bottle whatever their secret sauce was against Manville Wednesday in a 5-2 win at TD Bank Park heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio when they take on 13-seed Pingry at 4:30 Thursday afternoon out at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
(11) Franklin 11, (14) Bound Brook 1
The Warriors got out to an early lead in this one, scoring twice in the bottom of the first on a double-steal and a groundout. After Bound Brook got one in the top of the second on a double by Jon Coiro to cut the deficit in half, the Warriors plated seven in the bottom of the inning to take a 9-1 lead.
Dylan Shah drove in two, two errors by the Crusaders led to the next two runs, and a Manny Vasquez bases-clearing double drove in three.
Franklin added six more in the fourth on a sac fly by Elijah Zavatsky, two walks, two hard ground balls in the infield, and a sac fly by Stanley Madera.
Starter Shayne Rooney got the win, allowing five hits and one run in four innings of work, with a very efficient 70-pitch outing as Franklin improves to 6-7. The Warriors will play at 6-seed Bridgewater-Raritan Monday in the first round, the round of 16.
Montgomery (4-11) vs. Pingry (3-13)
Thursday, 4:30 pm at Diamond Nation, Flemington
Montgomery had about as solid a win as they had all season Wednesday in a 5-3 regular-season victory over Manville. They played great defense, executed two sac bunts including a suicide squeeze, got solid pitching and timely hitting, even caught a runner stealing who had reached on an tough error in the second. What else could you ask for?
Now, they’ll need to bottle that up against the Big Blue.
Montgomery had been hitting just a shade over .200 coming into Wednesday’s game, but they scored six runs on five hits to get the win, an efficient effort. Senior John Donahue has been their big bopper, hitting .436, but even more impressive was that the bottom third of the order went 3-for-6 against the Mustangs with two walks, three runs scored, two sac bunts, and two RBIs.
Pingry’s top hitters include sophomore Riley Wong (.469, 9 RBI) and senior Joaquin Stevenson (.432) while senior Matt Carrieri is hitting .346 with three home runs, and freshman Sam deLaurier (.342) has knocked in a team best 12 runs.
UPCOMING SCT SCHEDULE:
First Round – Monday, May 12
(9) Gill St Bernard’s at (8) Bernards, winner at (1) Ridge
(12) Montgomery/(13) Pingry at (5) Somerville, winner at (4) Rutgers Prep
(11) Franklin at (6) Bridgewater-Raritan, winner at (3) Watchung Hills
(10) Manville at (7) Hillsborough, winner at (2) Immaculata
The quarterfinals will be played Wednesday, May 14, at higher seeds.
Central Jersey Sports Radio’s live coverage – presented by Zoned Sports Academy of Bridgewater – will begin on Monday, May 19 with the semifinals at 1 and 4 pm at TD Bank Park in Bridgewater.
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