Middlesex seeks return to state finals with solid, efficient pitching, balanced offense, as Schalick visits from deep South Jersey

It’s a good thing most high school baseball games start at 4:00. Maybe Schalick will avoid the worst of Central Jersey’s rush-hour traffic and make it to Mountainview Park in under two hours.

That would be a win in and of itself, but much more is on the line Monday afternoon when Middlesex and Schalick square off in the NJSIAA Group 2 semifinals, the winner going to Saturday’s state championship game in Hamilton.

Middlesex has done this a lot. They’ve won 15 sectional titles, dating back to the Central Jersey Group 2 title they won in 1965, but also have won seven of the last Central Jersey Group 1 titles, and they have won six state ‘chips, more than anyone else in the GMC or Skyland Conference.

This year? New coach, same results.

Well, not entirely a new coach. Blaze Iannetti was on the previous staff led by Justin Nastasi – who’s now an assistant at Hillsborough, and also playing in a group semifinal tomorrow – and is also a Middlesex alum. He knows the territory, and he’s got the horses this year to win it all.

While Schalick may come in at 22-2, Middlesex is 21-5, but probably plays a tougher schedule in the GMC White Division, where they were finished in third place this season behind St. Thomas Aquinas and Colonia, both of whom have seen their seasons come to an end.

You can hear Monday’s game live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with Mike Pavlichko calling all the action live from Mountainview Park in Middlesex, with pregame at 3:40 pm and first pitch at 4. Click here to listen.

The Blue Jays have had outstanding pitching all season long. They’ve won eight games by shutout – including two of four in the state tournament – and haven’t given up more than three runs in a game, with the exception of a 5-4 win over South Plainfield in the GMCT quarterfinals – since April 19th.

But they’ve also been scoring runs lately, outscoring their state playoff competition 35-2, only allowing a single run to South Hunterdon in an 8-1 sectional quarterfinal win, and another in a 7-1 win over Point Pleasant Beach to claim the Central Jersey Group 1 trophy for the first time since 2019.

Chris Kozak will go in this one, with a 5-3 record and a 0.89 ERA; he’s struck out 60 and walked six, allowing just eight earned runs in 63 innings pitched. The Blue Jays have used just six pitchers all season, with Kozak and Dominic Long (10-0, 1.32 ERA) both throwing over 60 innings, and no one else more than 17. All but one – freshman Devin Jackson – have ERAs well under three.

Schalick – which is coming off the South Jersey Group 2 title, its first since 1992 – will throw Jamari Whitley, a sophomore who’s 5-0 with a 1.56 ERA, also with 60 strikeouts, but 24 walks. He’s allowed just seven earned runs in 31 1/3 innings pitched.

Offensively, Schalick has hit better – .368 compared to .317 for the Blue Jays – but again, Middlesex has likely faced better pitching, considering they’re in a division with Cory Pascarella and Colin Kroner at Colonia, Louis Rizzolo at St. Thomas, and Carter Cumiskey at Spotswood, which swept the Jays this year, 10-8 and 1-0.

Middlesex also has a huge win at Delbarton, 5-3, on May 8th.

The winner will play in the state Group 1 final at 1 pm this Saturday at Veterans’ Park in Hamilton against the victor of Monday’s other semifinal, between North 2 champion Brearley (15-9) and North 1 champ Midland Park (20-8-1), the second smallest school in the state according to the NJSIAA’s group classifications.