Three of four go to chalk in Somerset County Tournament, as Bridgewater, Montgomery, Hillsborough advance to quarterfinals, while Franklin gets there with upset of Somerville

Three of the four higher seeds won Monday in the Somerset County Tournament’s second round, as fifth-seed Bridgewater-Raritan, sixth-seed Hillsborough and eighth-seed Montgomery all advanced, while 10th-seed Franklin picked up a 10-8 upset over seventh-seeded Somerville.

That sets up Thursday’s quarterfinal round, all to be played at the higher seeds of the top four teams that earned byes to the quarters.

Read through for a recap of all four games, plus the schedule for the remainder of the Tournament.

(5) Bridgewater-Raritan 8, (12) Pingry 4: The Panthers (7-14) gave up an early 2-0 lead after one and fell behind 4-1 after the Big Blue (8-10) put up a four-spot in the fourth, but it was all Bridgewater from there on out, as they pulled ahead with five in the bottomof the fourth and added an insurance run in the fifth.

All those runs in the decisive fourth came with two outs, as the first two hitters were retired. After a walk to Anthony Lorino, courtesy runner Matt DeLucia took his place and scored on a single by Josh Moore. Moore went to second on a wild pitch to Cody Rible, who then singled to drive him in, tying the game at four. Rible then stole second, and Kellan Komline singled to make it 5-4. Komline then stole second and advanced to third n a bad throw then scored on a single by Nick Spirra. And Michael Lobosco then doubled to drive in Spirra, giving the Panthers a 7-4 lead they’d never relinquish.

Gavin Butch got the win for Bridgewater-Raritan, going five innings, allowing one earned run, striking out three – and he did that all in an efficient 67 pitches.

Next up, the Panthers will travel to fourth-seed Rutgers Prep (12-4) in Thursday’s quarterfinals. The Argonauts took a 12-8 decision from Bridgewater last Monday in a Skyland Conference crossover game.

(6) Hillsborough 3, (11) Bernards 0: Raider head coach Matt Mosko picked up his 50th win as the Raiders got back to the .500 mark with the victory. Hillsborough (9-9) got one run each in the first, third and fifth, while Gavin Glazewski, Jonathan Feltra and Aidan Murphy combined to blank the Mountaineers, with Glazewski getting the win, tossing the first four innings, allowing just two hits, striking out five. Those wre the only two hits Bernards could muster.

Tommy Kester scored the first run on a wild pitch with Elijah Dawes at the plate. The second run came on an Anthony Guerrero ground ball to first that was misplayed and went into the outfield, scoring a run. Shane Khurana also scored on a wild pitch with Guerrero at the plate in the fifth.

The Raiders will now play at third-seed Ridge (13-7) in Thursday’s quarterfinals. Sklyand Conference Delaware Division foes, the teams met just once this year, with the Raiders taking a 9-5 decision in Basking Ridge last Tuesday. Their second meeting, scheduled for last Thursday, was postponed due to a scheduling conflict, and a makeup has not yet been set.

(8) Montgomery 11, (9) Gill St. Bernard’s 4: The Cougars (9-11) trailed 2-0 after three and 4-1 through four-and-a-half innings before rallying for ten runs in the fifth and sixth innings to come up with the win.

Gill went ahead 2-0 in the third on a two-RBI single by Niko West. Montgomery got one back in the fourth on an Evan Puleio sac fly, then the Knights got an RBI single from West and and RBI double by Ian Quinn to make it 4-1.

But things turned Montgomery’s way in the bottom of the fourth. Alex Bender walked with one out, then Quinn did the same, and Mason Nefueld got plunked to load the bases. That set up Henry Maddox for a bases-clearing double to tie the score at 4-4, while Liam McDonnell singled to drive in pinch-runner Like Awadalla, giving Monty its first lead of the game.

And the fifth went mostly the same way. Spencer Harris got plunked to lead off, and Kenta Komatsu walked. Alex Bender followed with a single for one run, and Quinn did the same to make it 7-4. After a Neufeld single, Maddox singled to drive in Quinn, and after a fly out for the first of the inning, Puleio reached on an error, with pinch-runner Evan Petronella scoring the tenth and final run.

Jake Hayes went the distance, allowing ten hits and four runs, but throwing just 88 pitches through seven, striking out four to get the win.

Next up, Montgomery will visit top-seed and defending champion Immaculata (14-4) at Diamond Nation in Flemington in Thursday’s quarterfinals. The two haven’t met this year, nor did they play last year. The Cougars and Spartans split a pair in 2024.

(10) Franklin 10, (7) Somerville 8: The Warriors (6-7) gave up an early 6-0 lead after two innings and trailed 8-1 after five, but rallied for five in the fifth to take the lead and held off the Pioneers (9-12) for the victory.

Franklin got all six runs in the second with one out. The first two came on an error by the shortstop on a ground ball by Christian Jacas. Then, two more scored on a single by Kevin Heuston. Two more came in on a double by Stanley Madera.

But Somerville cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the third on two bases loaded walks and a groundout, and Franklin went up 7-3 on a ground out by Dylan Shaw in the top of the fourth.

The Pioneers finally took the lead in the bottom of the fifth. A Peter Keller double cut with nobody out cut it to 7-5, pinch-hitter Brett Meyers reached on an error to cut it to one, and a bases loaded balk brought in a run to tie the game. Somerville took an 8-7 lead on a four-pitch walk with the bases loaded by Travis Binkley.

But Franklin went ahead for good on a two-out, three-run homer by Elijah Zavatsky to make it 10-8, and Shane Rooney closed out the next two innings to get the win.

Next up, the Warriors are at second-seed Watchung Hills (11-5) Thursday in the quarterfinals, a battle of the Warriors. This will be their first meeting this year; the “Hustlin’ Warriors” – the baseball program’s nickname – took two of three from Franklin last year, but Franklin won their matchup in the SCT quarterfinals 12-10.

THURSDAY, MAY 14 – SCT QUARTERFINALS

(8) Montgomery at (1) Immaculata
(5) Bridgewater-Raritan at (4) Rutgers Prep
(6) Hillsborough at (3) Ridge
(10) Franklin at (2) Watchung Hills

MONDAY, MAY 18 – SCT SEMIFINALS (at TD Bank Park, Bridgewater)

Semifinal #1: 1 pm (LIVE on CJSR)
Semifinal #2: 4 pm (LIVE on CJSR)

WEDNESDAY, MAY 20 – SCT FINAL (at TD Bank Park, Bridgewater)

Finals: 6 pm (LIVE on CJSR)