The two teams that reached the Jim Muldowney GMC Championship Tournament final have similar, but very different histories in the event.
Each team has won eight titles. Edison is 8-1, the best win percentage of anyone who’s won more than one title. St. Joseph is 8-2, right behind them.
But it’s been a long time since the Eagles have been to the finals, winning in their most recent trip, 24 years ago – more on that number later – in 2001. The Falcons have been in three of the last four seasons since the COVID pandemic, winning two of them.
But other than that, these two teams are very similar: hitting, pitching, even down to Saturday’s starting pitchers in the GMCT title game.
JIM MULDOWNEY GMC CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT FINALS AT-A-GLANCE
Teams:
(2) St. Joseph Falcons (14-6, 7-6, 5th place in the GMC Red)
(11) Edison Eagles (15-9, 5-8, 7th place in the GMC Red)
Head Coaches:
St. Joseph: Dennis McCaffery (1st season at St. Joe’s, 525-160 overall, including 25 seasons at Cranford)
Edison: Vinnie Abene (23rd season, 313-254)
Probable Starters:
St. Joseph: Joseph Barca (4-0, 1.97 ERA) or Richard Zangara (3-2, 1.32)
Edison: Connor Murphy (5-2, 1.04)
Date and Time: Saturday, May 24 at 2 pm (pregame 1:30)
Location: TD Bank Park, Bridgewater
Listen On: Central Jersey Sports Radio audio stream
Watch On: Our YouTube Channel
Announcers: Mike Pavlichko & Justin Sontupe
PREVIEW STORIES and INTERVIEWS:
- St. Joseph in GMC Tournament final again in first season under new head coach Dennis McCaffery
- An 11 seed? Don’t know, don’t care: Edison is one of last two standing in Jim Muldowney GMC Championship Tournament
- Business as usual for St. Joseph’s Bobby Christensen, as senior leads on and off the field for GMCT finalist Falcons
HOW THEY GOT HERE:
St. Joseph:
First Round: def. (12) Sayreville, 1-0 (8 inn.)
Quarterfinals: def. (13) Metuchen, 1-0 (9 inn.)
Semifinals: def. (8) Spotswood, 4-3
Edison:
First Round: def. (6) Old Bridge, 2-1 (12 inn.)
Quarterfinals: def. (3) St. Thomas Aquinas, 9-1
Semifinals: def. (10) Middlesex, 3-0
TEAM LEADERS:
St. Joseph:
- Batting Average: Luke Palermo (.413), JP Zayle (.419), Bobby Christensen (.400)
- RBI: JP Zayle (21), Luke Palermo (20), Bobby Christensen (17)
- HR: JP Zayle (2), four others with 1 (Luke Palermo, Bobby Christiansen, Logan Ring, Matthew Ferber)
- Walks: Owen Krulikowski (12), Joseph Barca (11), JP Zayle (10)
- Stolen Bases: Bobby Christensen (13), Luke Palermo (9)
- Wins: Joseph Barca, Domenic Erbafina (4)
- ERA (min 12 innings): Domenic Erbafina (1.27), Richard Zangara (1.32)
- Strikeouts (Pitcher): Joseph Barca, Richard Zangara (44)
Edison:
- Batting Average: Dom Innocenti (.409), Robert Roma (.385), Daren Tirado (.345)
- RBI: Dom Innocenti (20), Connor Murphy (19), Robert Roma (18)
- HR: Dom Innocenti (3), Connor Murphy (2), Fobert Roma, Sam Kentos (1)
- Walks: Robert Roma (23), Connor Murphy (16), Sam Kentos (15)
- Stolen Bases: Anthony Calantoni (10), Robert Roma (5), Sam Kentos (4)
- Wins: Connor Murphy (5), Ray Tavarez (4)
- ERA (min 12 innings): Connor Murphy (1.04), Brayden Roma (2.62)
- Strikeouts (Pitcher): Connor Murphy (69), Robert Roma (48)
Team Stats:
- Batting Average: St. Joseph .322, Edison .292
- Home Runs: St. Joseph 6, Edison 7
- Stolen Bases: St. Joseph 52 (2.6 per game), Edison 30 (1.3 per game)
- Runs Scored: St. Joseph 111 (5.5 per game), Edison 118 (4.9 per game)
- Runs Allowed: St. Joseph 82 (4.1 per game), Edison 83 93.5 per game)
- Strikeouts (Pitchers): St. Joseph 149 (7.45 per game), Edison 191 (8 per game)
PREVIOUS COVERAGE
Edison
- INSTANT REPLAY: GMCT Semifinals – (11) Edison 3, (10) Middlesex 0
- Back again! Edison clinches first GMCT finals berth in 24 years with 3-0 win over Middlesex
- A battle of double-digit seeds pits small-school Middlesex against big-school Edison in first GMCT semifinal Saturday
- Final Four is set for the Jim Muldowney GMC Championship as St. Joseph, Spotswood, Middlesex, Edison all advance
- INSTANT REPLAY: No. 6 Old Bridge 6, Edison 2
- Old Bridge earns split in split series with Edison, 6-2 behind solid start from Penkala
- Edison vs. Old Bridge home-and-home finale moved to Wednesday due to rain in forecast
- Edison baseball honors Muldowney with trio of first pitches from Lehman, Appelman, Brownlie
Coverage of Edison
- INSTANT REPLAY: GMCT Semifinals – (5) St. Joseph-Metuchen 4, (8) Spotswood 3
- St. Joseph wins 3rd straight GMCT game with a walk off, as 7th inning rally tops Spotswood 4-3 to clinch finals trip
- Runs will be at a premium when St. Joseph, Spotswood play Saturday for a trip to GMC Finals
- Final Four is set for the Jim Muldowney GMC Championship as St. Joseph, Spotswood, Middlesex, Edison all advance
- INSTANT REPLAY: St. Joseph-Metuchen 6, No. 6 Old Bridge 3 (Autism Awareness Challenge)
- St. Joseph scores early and often, then holds off No. 6 Old Bridge for 3rd straight win, 6-3 victory in Autism Awareness Challenge
- St. Joseph-Metuchen, No. 6 Old Bridge take two-game win streaks into GMC Red Clash, Autism Awareness Challenge game Sunday evening
NOTES AND NUGGETS:
Edison and No. 24…
This year, the Greater Middlesex Conference honored two baseball legends by naming its postseason tournaments after them. The Invitational got the Ray Cipperly moniker; he’s the former coach and AD from then-East Brunswick Tech, and his most lasting achievement was the grass field he built at the school, which was nationally-recognized for its impeccable quality, rare at the high school level. He even went on to build the field when the Patriots opened what was then known as Somerset Ballpark in 1999. The Championship tournament got the name of Muldowney, who passed away last year at the age of 68.
His number was 24, and it was retired at the Edison baseball field, and eventually, school-wide across all Eagles’ sports teams. But there’s more to this year’s final than just that. Consider:
- Muldowney wore Number 24.
- He passed away in 2024.
- His teams at Edison won 24 championships, according to Athletic Director Dave Sandaal: 10 Red Division titles, 7 GMC Tourney titles, 5 Central Jersey Group 4 crowns, two overall Group 4 titles.
- Edison’s last trip to the finals and its last title were 24 years ago.
- Edison has played 24 games heading into Saturday’s final…
- …which will be played on May 24th.
Coincidence? You decide.
Losing to each other…
Edison comes into this Saturday’s title game with a nine-game winning streak, St. Joseph with an eight game win-streak. But each team’s last loss was to the other, in their two-game, regular season Red Division series. The Eagles’ last loss was on May first, 3-1 to the Falcons. Joe’s last loss was the first game of that two-game set, 5-0 back on April 28th.
Comeback (or Cardiac) Kids…
Speaking of the Falcons eight-game winning streak, their last five wins have all come in their last at bat. It started with a 5-4 win over Bridgewater-Raritan on May 7th, where they scored three in the bottom of the seventh to walk it off, literally, on a bases loaded walk by Bobby Christensen. Then, in the GMC first round, they beat Sayreville 1-0 in eight on a Walter Christian RBI single in the bottom of the eighth. They followed it up with a 1-0 win in nine over Metuchen in the quarterfinals out at Diamond Nation in Flemington, Luke Palermo singling home the game-winning run. Against Spotswood last week in the semifinals, the Falcons were down 3-1 in the seventh when Bobby Christensen’s double to deep center scored two and tied the game at three, then JP Zayle’s single won it. And even in between, Joe’s beat Westfield in eight innings on the road Tuesday, with Palermo again singling in the go-ahead run. Domenic Erbafina shut down the Blue Devils in the bottom of the inning and got the win.
CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY (wins in bold)
Edison (8-1):
- 1990: (1) Edison 9, (10) South Plainfield 3
- 1992: (1) Edison 1, (7) Bishop Ahr 0
- 1993: (1) Edison 12, (2) JFK 3
- 1994: (1) Edison 10, (3) Monroe 3
- 1995: (1) Edison 5, (6) Piscataway 3
- 1996: (2) Bishop Ahr 4, (1) Edison 3 (13 innings)
- 1998: (1) Edison 2, (11) East Brunswick 1
- 1999: (1) Edison 7, (3) Bishop Ahr 2
- 2001: (2) Edison 4, (13) Spotswood 1
St. Joseph (8-2):
- 2004: (1) St. Joseph 6, (6) Carteret 0
- 2005: (2) East Brunswick 8, (1) St. Joseph 1
- 2006: (5) St. Joseph 11, (6) South Amboy 0 (5 inn, walk-off grand slam)
- 2008: (10) St. Joseph 3, (4) Old Bridge 2
- 2009: (1) St. Joseph 6, (7) North Brunswick 0
- 2014: (4) St. Joseph 1, (6) South Plainfield 0 (walk-off bases loaded walk)
- 2017: (1) St. Joseph 1, (6) Monroe 0
- 2018: (14) South Plainfield 2, (12) Perth Amboy 1 (12 innings)
- 2021: (2) St. Joseph 2, (5) South Brunswick 0
- 2023: (3) St. Joseph 2, (1) North Brunswick 0
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