South Amboy, defending champion New Brunswick win first round GMC Invitational games, move to Thursday’s quarterfinals

The quarterfinals of the Greater Middlesex Conference Ray Cipperly Invitational are set, with seventh-seed South Amboy and ninth-seed and defending champion New Brunswick moving on to the quarterfinal round, which will see eight teams in action this Thursday.

Here’s a recap of Tuesday’s action, followed by Thursday’s quarterfinal schedule.

(9) New Brunswick 5, (8) Highland Park 1: The Zebras won their first game of the season after coming into the Invitational 0-15, scoring all five runs before the Owls (5-13) could even get on the board, getting two in the third inning and one each over the next three, despite getting outhit by Highland Park, 5-3.

In the third, Ryan Diaz two-out single drove in Yendeber Olivella for the first run, and Arisniel Mota came home with the second run on a balk. Jefferson Olivella stole home in the third to make it 3-0, Ryan Diaz did the same in the fifth to make it 4-0, and Jayson Garcia scored in the sixth to make it 5-0 when Jacob Henderson got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Highland Park got an RBI single in the bottom of the inning on a single by Dorian Crocco, who drove in Julio Rodriguez.

Jacob Henderson – who closed out last year’s title game – got the win for New Brunswick in a truly inspired performance, going the distance and striking out 18, while scattering five hits over seven innings, throwing 81 of his 111 pitches for strikes.

New Brunswick will face top-seed Perth Amboy (4-18) on the road Thursday in the semifinals. The teams have only met twice in the past 15 years, with the Panthers taking an 11-1 decision the GMC Invitational quarterfinals in 2023, and a 7-3 victory in 2013 in the GMCT play-in round.

(7) South Amboy 15, (10) Timothy Christian/Roselle Catholic 4: In a six-inning ten-run rule game, the Governors (9-8) scored in every inning but they second, with junior Robert Senape leading the charge, going 4-for-4 with a walk, four RBIs, and three runs scored. Micah Nemeth went 3-for-5 with three runs scored, a double and three runs batted in.

The Tigers (1-16) – a co-op this year with Roselle Catholic – actually led the game 3-0. They got three runs in the first on an RBI single by John Thiero and a two-RBI double by Vincent Moncada. Amboy got two in the bottom of the inning on a double by Micah Nemeth and a single by Madden Bizzaro.

And Timothy took a 4-2 lead with another run in the top of the third on an error on a fly ball to right. But that was the last run they’d score, as the Governors took a 5-4 lead with three in the bottom of the fourth, the first of 13 unanswered runs, with the Guvs walking it off in a wild sequence.

Up by eight runs, 12-4, with two out, Senape scored from third with the bases loaded on a passed ball. On the next pitch, Joseph Foreman doubled to right field to score two and end the game.

Starter Madden Bizzaro went four innings and got the win, allowing two earned runs and eight hits, striking out eight, and walking no one, while Robert Conklin closed out the game with two no-hit innings and five strikeouts.

South Amboy moves on to play at second-seed Piscataway Thursday. In their only two meetings since at least 2011, the teams split a pair last year, with each team winning on the road – the Chiefs by a 5-4 score, and the Governors 14-4.

THURSDAY’S RAY CIPPERLY GMC INVITATIONAL QUARTERFINALS

• (9) New Brunswick at (1) Perth Amboy
• (5) Dunellen at (4) East Brunswick Magnet, 2 pm
• (6) Somerset Tech at (3) North Brunswick, 4 pm
• (7) South Amboy at (2) Piscataway

The semifinals will be held at higher seeds on Monday, May 18.

The championship will be held at 2 pm at Edison High School on Friday, May 22, and the game will be broadcast live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with a video stream on our YouTube channel.