Piscataway Magnet earns program's first win in GMC Championship Tournament, outlasting JFK 10-5; Spotswood, Sayreville, South River all advance to Monday's first round

The “open” format of the Greater Middlesex Conference baseball tournament ended in 2019, when the league split its signature event into the Championship Bracket – now known as the Jim Muldowney Championship Tournament – and the Invitational, now named for former East Brunswick Tech (now Magnet) AD and coach Ray Cipperly.

Now in its seventh year, Piscataway Magnet – having its best year program history – not only made the championship bracket for the first time ever with a record of 18-1, and a Gold Division title (12-0) under its belt, but on Saturday, they picked up their first win ever in the championship tournament.

The 17th-seeded Raiders were 10-5 road winners at 16th-seed JFK in Saturday morning’s preliminary round, making them 19-1. And it may even be their first win ever in a GMC championship bracket – open or otherwise – with the only other victory we could find in readily available online records being a 5-2 decision over Perth Amboy Magnet in the first round of the 2023 Invitational.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko with Piscataway Magnet head coach Greg Sampson and junior pitcher Kyla Malchiodi:

Each team scored twice in the first inning, then the Raiders got one in the top of the second and the Mustangs (6-14) got one in the bottom of the third to make it 3-3 heading into the top of the fourth, when as it turns out, Piscataway Magnet would get all the runs it needed. Kyle Malchiodi drove in a run with a sac fly, Vincent Canavan scored on a wild pitch, and Elvis Rodriguez hit a ground ball to short, reaching on an error, scoring two more runs to make it 7-3 Raiders.

*Piscataway Magnet junior Kyle Malchiodi pitches against JFK in the GMC Jim Muldowney Championship Tournament preliminary round on May 9, 2026. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)*

For good measure, Piscataway Magnet picked up three more insurance runs in the top of the seventh. Freshman Trey Lyerly drove in two with a hard single to left, and Malchiodi singled to drive in another run, making it 10-3.

Back out on the mound to try and finish it off in the home seventh, Malchiodi gave up a single and a walk, then another single scoring two runs, cutting the lead to 10-5. Head coach Greg Sampson went to the bullpen and brought in Brody Guthrie, who walked one to put runners at first and second.

That’s when things got interesting.

Myles Ulaki took a 2-2 pitch, getting hit on the elbow. But the home plate umpire quickly stepped in and said Ulaki leaned over the plate with his elbow, and called him out for the first out of the inning.

After a brief argument – to no avail – Michael Rosales came up, and swung and missed at a 1-2 pitch for the second out. Catcher Colton Lyerly dropped the ball, but with runners on first and second, Rosales couldn’t run down to first. But Lyerly saw the runner on second, Fremy Peralta, far off the bag, threw down, and the tag applied by his younger brother, Trey, ended the game.

The victory sends Piscataway Magnet into Monday’s first round, where they will visit top-seed Edison (14-5), with first pitch set for 4 pm.

OTHER PRELIMINARY ROUND RECAPS:

(13) Spotswood 11, (20) North Plainfield 1: The Chargers (11-11) scored early and often in a five-inning ten-run rule win over the Canucks (16-7). Spotswood scored in every inning, starting with five in the first, highlighted by a two-RBI Ryan Orth double and a two-RBI single from Sebby Saracino. They picked up four more in the fourth, two in the third, and one in the fourth, not needing to bat in the bottom of the fifth with a 10-1 lead.

Starter Jack Korneski was efficient, going four innings with six strikeouts, no walks, allowing just one unearned run; he needed only 46 pitches to do it. Jack Abrams needed just seven pitches to lock it down in the fifth.

The win gives Spotswood just its second win streak of the year in an up-and-down season, after having won four straight in mid-April. They advance to Monday’s first round, where they will play at fourth-seed Metuchen (14-5), which swept two White Division games from the Chargers this season: 10-2 on April 4 and 4-0 on April 7.

(14) Sayreville 6, (19) Carteret 1: The Bombers had a 6-0 lead – with a run each in the first and second and two each in the fourth and fifth – before the Ramblers (14-4) could get on the board. Logan Kaufman went 1-for-3 with two RBI, both coming on a single to left in the fourth, while also tossing six four-hit innings, allowing one unearned run, striking out five to improve to 3-4 on the season..

Sayreville improves to 9-10 on the season and will travel to Old Bridge Monday at 4 pm to face the third-seeded Knights for the first time this season. Old Bridge has won two straight against the Bombers, including a 6-5 regular season game last year, and a 4-0 decision in 2024 in the Central Jersey Group 4 quarterfinals.

(15) South River 5, (16) JP Stevens 2: The Rams (16-5) got another solid start from Jullien Borusevic, who needed just 76 pitches to go the distance, allowing just two runs – one unearned – while striking out three to improve to 4-3 on the season.

South River took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first, on a two-RBI Burosevic double and a Noah Barrero single. But Stevens (13-7) cut the deficit to 3-2 in the top of the second, the first run coming on an error of a bunt play, the other on a sacrifice fly by Soham Prajapati.

But the Rams came right back with two more in the bottom of the third, on a Noah Barrero single and a Brendan Lell fielder’s choice. Borusevic would only allow three more JP baserunners the rest of the game, on two singles, and an error.

South River will go on the road in the first round Monday at 4 pm, facing second-seed Middlesex (18-2), which won a regular season game Saturday, topping Rutgers Prep 7-1.

MONDAY’S FIRST ROUND SCHEDULE: