C.J. Hendricks – Central Jersey Sports Radio

Despite a state tournament loss to Old Bridge – and an upset at that – in the opening round of the Central Jersey Group 4 state playoffs, South Brunswick is playing good baseball.

At 14-9, the Vikings have won three straight games in the tournament to get here, and won four of their last five in league play heading into the postseason, with victories over Monroe and Piscataway, plus a pair of victories over Old Bridge.

It’s always tough to beat a team three times in a season – especially with the first two coming so recently – but that’s why Vikings head coach C.J. Hendricks also believes they can turn the tables on St. Joe’s, which beat South Brunswick twice in the regular year.

Despite the year off in between due to COVID, it’ll be the second trip in a row to the finals for 5th-seed South Brunswick, when they take on No. 2 seed St. Joseph-Metuchen Sunday at noon in the GMC Tournament Finals.

South Brunswick lost 1-0 to Old Bridge in the 2019 GMC finals.

Sunday’s game can be heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio at noon, presented by Bellamy & Son Paving, with air-time at 11:15 am. Click here to listen to Mike Pavlichko and Dom Savino call all the play-by-play.

South Brunswick will have to do more at the plate than they did in the semifinals against Route One rival North Brunswick.

The Vikings were one-hit by the Raiders’ Zach Konstantinovsky, who only allowed a home run to shortstop Justin Gallagher in the fifth inning, and a scratch-and-claw run that came home on a fly ball to left in the sixth inning by Pete Cortez.