Hillsborough head coach Matt Mosko delivers the Central Jersey Group 4 championship trophy to his players after beating Old Bridge at Fred Cole Field on June 5, 2025. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
Every team has its ups and downs in a season. Even those that finish that rare undefeated season don’t do it without any difficulty.
But it’s how they bounce back and overcome adversity that defines a team. And in the case of the Hillsborough baseball team, they did that just this season, bouncing all the way to the Central Jersey Group 4 title.
It’s something Matt Mosko didn’t get to do as a player for his hometown Raiders, but in his relatively new life as head coach – now in his fourth season – he and the program have their first since 2012.
After getting off to a 5-1 start, including a split with Hunterdon Central and a split with defending CJ4 champ Bridgewater-Raritan, the Raiders hit a bit of a skid. They went 3-9 over their next dozen games, the last of that stretch a 10-9 loss to eventual champion Immaculata in the Somerset County Tournament quarterfinals, a loss that could have sunk the rest of their season.
But they bucked up, and realized that with a nine-seed in the state sectionals, they could make some noise with a few wins. After a road win at Freehold Township, they knocked off top-seed Hunterdon Central in Flemington, came back home and beat Montgomery in the semis, then rallied late to score ten unanswered runs in the Central Jersey Group 4 title game at Old Bridge, bringing home the program’s first NJSIAA trophy in 13 years.
Click below to hear Hillsborough head coach and Somerset County Coach of the Year Matt Mosko talk with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:
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