Central Jersey Group 4 Finals Preview: Experienced Old Bridge to host Hillsborough, making its first title game appearance in 13 years

One one hand, the two teams that will meet in the Central Jersey Group 4 Final at Fred Cole Field Thursday are very similar, with good pitching staffs, solid defensively, and both can hit.

On the other, this is sort of old hat for Old Bridge, which won the section in 2024, and went to the semifinals a year ago, losing to Monroe. For Hillsborough, it’ll be their first finals appearance since 2012, when they won the section, and went all the way to the Group 4 final.

The second-seeded Knights will host the ninth-seeded Raiders at 5 pm Thursday at Fred Cole Field in Old Bridge, in a game you can hear LIVE on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with pregame at 4:45. Mike Pavlichko will be on the call; click here to listen.

CENTRAL JERSEY GROUP 4 CHAMPIONSHIP

Teams:
(2) Old Bridge Knights (18-10, 7-7 in the GMC Red, 5th place)
(9) Hillsborough Raiders (13-10, 3-7 in the Skyland Delaware, 5th place)

Head Coaches:
Old Bridge: Matt Donaghue (7th season, 120-81)
Hillsborough: Matt Mosko (4th season, 40-56)
Both coaches are alums of their respective schools.

Probable Starters:
Old Bridge: Brady Meyer (0-1, 3.06 ERA)
Hillsborough: James Drinkwater (4-3, 3.00 ERA)

Date and Time: Thursday, June 5th, 5:00 pm (pregame 4:45)
Location: Fred Cole Field, Old Bridge
Listen On: Central Jersey Sports Radio
Announcer: Mike Pavlichko

PREVIEW INTERVIEWS:

Old Bridge head coach Matt Donaghue

Hillsborough head coach Matt Mosko

HOW THEY GOT HERE:

Old Bridge
First Round: def. (15) North Brunswick, 13-0 (5 inn.)
Quarterfinals: def. (10) Manalapan, 1-0
Semifinals: def. (3) Edison, 4-3 (8 inn.) (RECAP)

Hillsborough
First Round: def. (8) Freehold Twp., 6-2
Quarterfinals: def. (1) Hunterdon Central, 3-1
Semifinals: def. (12) Montgomery, 10-0 (5 inn.) (RECAP)

STAT LEADERS:

Old Bridge:
Batting Average: Justin Hascup (.392), Chris Crosta (.353), Brody Nugent (.345)
RBIs: Justin Hascup (17), Akhil Penkala (16), Erich Shickschneit (15)
Walks: Justin Hascup (18), Brody Nugent (13)
HR: Erich Shickschneit (1)
Stolen Bases: Brody Nugent (9), Justin Hascup (3)
Strikeouts (Pitching): John Smith (60), Justin Hascup (53)
ERA: Justin Hascup (1.04), Noah Balbeuna (1.45)

Hillsborough:
Batting Average: TJ Westlake (.370), Shane Kurhana (.333), Elijah Dawes (.309)
RBIs: Alex Reiling (23), TJ Westlake (19), Brayden Fox (12)
Walks: Tommy Kester (16), TJ Westlake (15), Alex Reiling (10)
HR: Alex Reiling (3), Andrew Advani, Brayden Fox, Brian Quabeck (1)
Stolen Bases: Tommy Kester (9), Andrew Advani, Brayden Fox (6)
Strikeouts (Pitching): James Drinkwater (41), Krish Patel (33)
ERA: Brayden Fox (1.65), Krish Patel (2.57)

THE LOWDOWN:

These are two very similar, evenly-matched teams. The Knights are batting .294 on the year and have scored 137 runs, 4.9 per game. The Raiders are hitting .272 and scored 169 runs this year, 7.3 per game, but they have a higher team ERA – 3.65 to Old Bridge’s 2.73 to negate that.

If you asked back on Tuesday around lunchtime who had the pitching edge in this one, no doubt the answer would be Old Bridge, whose combination of Justin Hascup and John Smith have combined for a 12-5 record and a 1.35 ERA. But Smith started Tuesday’s semifinal and had to come out in the fourth inning after feeling “something” in his arm, and not wanting to save Hascup for a game they may or may not get to, Donaghue went to him, and he was brilliant, allowing just one hit, striking out seven in 3 2/3 innings pitched.

But everyone was keeping an eye on the pitch count. Everyone except Hascup and Donaghue, that is. NJSIAA pitching rules require a certain number of days’ rest depending how many pitches are thrown in a game, and Hascup would have been able to start Thursday had he thrown 50 pitches or less. But he threw 53. They’ll take it, but now Hascup can’t go Thursday.

He and Smith are easily the best two pitchers on either team, but after that’ it’s pretty even, and that alone should make this a good matchup.

Both teams have won blowouts and close games in the playoffs, and even Hillsborough’s “upset” of the top seed Hunterdon Central – to take nothing away from them – may not have been much of an upset when you think about it. After all the teams had split their regular season series, and both were one-run games.

If there’s an edge here, it may be in the intangibles. Old Bridge won the GMC Tournament last year, and made it to the Central Jersey Group 4 semifinals. In 2023, they won Central Jersey Group 4 and went all the way to the state Group 4 final. Hillsborough, meanwhile, had never made it to the semifinals of either the county or state sectional tournament in the first three years under Mosko.

RECENT MEETINGS:

Old Bridge and Hillsborough don’t play each other very often. They’ve only met twice in the last 15 years, with the Raiders winning both times. The most recent came in 2018 in the Autism Awareness Challenge at North Brunswick Community park, an 8-1 Hillsborough win, and they also won a 2011 matchup at home, 5-3. This is the first time they will meet in Old Bridge.

CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY:

Old Bridge has won two titles since the merger of Madison Central and Cedar Ridge in 1994. The Knights won the 2023 Central Jersey Group 4 title, beating North Brunswick in the final 2-1. They beat Eastern that year in the Group semifinals, but lost 4-0 to Ridgewood in the Group 4 final. They also won the section in 2015, with a 3-2 win over Jackson Memorial. Madison Central won two titles, in 1988 and 1976 (then known as Madison Township High School) and Cedar Ridge won the 194 CJ4 crown.

Hillsborough is in the finals for the first time since they won it in 2012, and they went all the way to the state final that year, too, but lost to Manalapan. Their only other sectional title came in 2005, and they won the state Group 4 title as well, beating North 2 Group 4 winner Watchung Hills in an all-Skyland Conference final.