Piscataway Magnet, Somerset Tech win Ray Cipperly GMC Invitational First Round games, but rain continues to wreak havoc on schedule

Two of the three first round games in the Ray Cipperly GMC Invitational tournament finally were played Thursday, after rain obliterated the schedule Tuesday and Wednesday. But one more has yet to kick off tournament play, as Dunellen and Timothy Christian were scheduled to go Friday at 4 pm at Columbia Park.

That game has now been moved to 4:15 pm Friday at Edison High School.

But that will still throw off the schedule a bit, with quarterfinal games also set to be played Friday, which means East Brunswick Magnet will have to wait until Saturday to play its quarterfinal round game against either the Destroyers or Tigers. And the other question is where, since the Tigers are the high seed and should host, but Ray Cipperly Field is being used at noon and 2:30 for the Championship Tournament semifinals, and grounds crews will need to get the field ready, with even possible Saturday morning showers to contend with.

But, on to the baseball that was played Thursday:

(8) Piscataway Magnet 11, (9) Highland Park 6: The Raiders (10-9) banged out 14 hits in the win, as both Brody Guthrie and Vincent Canavan went 3-for-3, while Canavan and Derek Scotillo each knocked in three runs, and A.J. Skara had two RBIs. The Owls (3-14) actually got on the board first with three in the first inning, but Piscataway Magnet got two back in the bottom of the inning, then took a 5-3 lead at the end of two. That quickly evaporated, as the Owls went ahead 6-5 in the top of the fourth, but the next two innings proved costly, as Magnet got two in the bottom of the inning, and four more in the fifth. Guthrie got the start for the Raiders and struck out nine in four scoreless innings to get the win. Piscataway Magnet will play at top-seed JP Stevens (6-14) in the quarterfinals on Friday afternoon.

(7) Somerset Tech 10, (10) Perth Amboy Magnet 1: The Jaguars (8-6) worked out seven walks and stole ten bases in the win, while Alex Morales and Nate White drove in runs for Tech. Nate White scattered four hits and gave up just one unearned run, while walking only two and striking out 12 in the complete game effort. Somerset Tech led 3-0 after two, gave up their only run to Perth Amboy Magnet (3-13) in the third, then scored seven more over the next three innings, including a five-run fifth. The Jaguars now face second-seed North Brunswick (3-13) in the quarterfinals Friday afternoon.

FRIDAY SCHEDULE:

First Round
(6) Dunellen vs. (11) Timothy Christian, 4:15 pm at Edison High School)

Quarterfinals:
(8) Piscataway Magnet at JP Stevens, 2:30 pm (*lightning delay)
(5) New Brunswick at (4) Piscataway, 4 pm (Saturday, 9 am at North Plainfield)
(7) Somerset Tech at (2) North Brunswick, pp’d

North Brunswick head coach Jake Rosenberg says they are looking for alternate sites with Community Park unplayable. Check back here for updates as we get them.

SATURDAY SCHEDULE:

Quarterfinals:
(3) East Brunswick Magnet vs. (6) Dunellen/(11) Timothy Christian winner, location and time TBA