Casey Kucerka – Central Jersey Sports Radio

Regardless of the score, both top-seed Ridge and fifth-seed Bridgewater-Raritan knew they would be in a dogfight in the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 semifinals of the state tournament.

And a dogfight it was.

The Red Devils broke a 3-3 tie in the fifth on a two-RBI single by junior catcher Casey Kurcerka, then added four more to take a 9-3 lead, but still had to hold off the Panthers, who got three in the top of the seventh to keep anyone wearing green – players, coaches, and fans – from any kind of premature celebration until the final out was recorded.

Once it was, it was official: Ridge is off to its second straight sectional final.

But not so much off, as they’ll just have to trudge across the mountain ridge between the high school and Hall Field Friday afternoon to host third-seed Watchung Hills in the title game, after the Hustlin’ Warriors upset two-seed Bayonne, 10-0 by run-rule in five innings, on the road Wednesday afternoon in the section’s other semifinal.

It’ll be their fourth meeting this year, with Ridge winning both regular season meetings, but Watchung Hills taking a 4-2 win in the Somerset County Tournament semifinals, en route to the championship.

Ridge (18-10) got on the board first ion this one, scoring three in the bottom of the third off Bridgewater starter Kellan Komline.

Toby Nicholson and Colin Newcomb – the eight and nine hitters – both singled to start the inning, and Kieran Callanan walked to load the bases. Lucas Grob hit a ball to short, and conceding a run, Cody Rible looked to turn two. he got the force at second, but Grob beat out the throw to first. Jake Dolan doubled to make it 2-0, moving Grob to third, and he came home to score on a wild pitch to give Ridge a 3-0 lead.

But the Panthers (13-17)evened it up in the third. DH Connor Price singled to lead it off, and starter Lucas Liston got a flay out and a pop up for the first two outs of the inning. But he wouldn’t get out of it unscathed. Rible singled, and Komline singled to load the bases. That brought up Andrew Schmeider, who hit a sharp ball to second baseman Lucas Grob, near the bag, who snared it, but stumbled. Price scored from third on the initial hit, but as Grob tried to get up, and then make a throw home, Rible was able to come home well, cutting the deficit to 3-2. Michael Lobosco then hit a ball to center, and Jake Dolan fired to third to get Schmeider for the third out, but not before Komline came in to score, tying the game at three.

Then came the sixth, where Ridge sent eleven men to the plate. With one out, Callanan walked, Grob doubled, and Jake Dolan was intentionally walked. Kucerka broke the tie with a line drive to left to make it 5-3. He and Dolan advanced to second and third on a balk, prompting Max Newill to come out of the dugout and urge Komline to settle down. But Ridge wasn’t done.

Sawyer Paul grounded to third, and third baseman Kevin Kelly threw home, and it beat Dolan, but he slid under the tag to make it 6-3. Dimitri Romer also grounded to third, and this time Kelly got a force at second, but another run came in to make it 7-3. After a single by Matt Pypcznske, Toby Nicholson hit an RBI single to left, and that was all for Komline. Jack Braswell came on in relief, and allowed a single to Colin Newcomb, which drove in a run to make it 9-3, then he got Callanan to fly out to center to end it.

Ridge added one more run in the bottom of the sixth.

But Bridgewater still had some life in the top of the seventh. Michael Labosco singled in between a line out and a strikeout, leaving Kelly at the plate as their last hope. But he extended the game with a walk, and Price doubled to make it 10-4. Stephen Pikulin followed with a single to center to score another run, and Josh Moore got hit by a pitch, putting runners at first and second for Rible, who hit a hard liner to second, stopped by Grob on a short hop instead of in the air. But there was no one to throw to, as the first baseman Paul also had tried for it. That made it 10-6, bringing in Price, but Komline ended up flying out to center to end it.

Komline took the loss, allowing nine runs on eight hits to fall to 3-5, while the win went to Romer in relief, who improves to 6-2.

Click below for postgame reaction – presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen – from Ridge junior catcher Casey Kucerka and head coach Tom Blackwell with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

It wasn’t always pretty, but sometimes, when you’re one of the top teams in the area, you take the W and move on.

That’s what top-ranked Ridge did Saturday afternoon in an 8-6 win over Rutgers Prep – heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio – giving the Red Devils a pair of wins on the afternoon following an 8-4 win at Pingry earlier in the day.

Sophomore Casey Kucerka drove in four of his team’s eight runs, two with a single in the third and another two on a double in the fifth.

Rutgers Prep struck first, taking a 1-0 lead ion the third on an RBI single by Li Perez, the Argonauts’ starting pitcher. He knocked in Matt Bilmes, who’d reached on an error.

Ridge came back with a vengeance on Perez in the bottom of the inning. Sawyer Paul got hit to lead it off, then Matt Bober singled. After a pop up to second by Jake Dolan, Kieran Callanan walked to load the bases. That’s when Quinn Dashefsky made it 2-0 with single. And after Bode Ganny popped up foul to the first baseman, Kucerka singled to drive in his first two runs and make it 4-0.

The Argonauts answered back with three in the third. Mason Cimini worked out a one-out walk, then Micah Kruger-Serrano singled, and Jake Treonze walked to load the bases. That was the end of Ridge starter Connor McLachlan’s day. But reliever Andy Yuan allowed Okasha Asrar to reach on a fielder’s choice to score a run, while a bad pickoff move allowed a second run to score.

A walk to leadoff hitter Matt Bilmes signaled the end of Yuan’s day, with Kucerka coming in to pitch. And Alex Perez, the first batter he faced, hit one to short that Callanan threw short to first. On that error, Perez reached, but the first baseman Ganny threw across the diamond to try to get Asrar at third, but he threw it away as well, allowing Asrar to score and tie the game at 4-4.

Both teams got two runs in the fifth. Prep went ahead 6-4 on a two-RBI single by Asrar – the nine-hitter who finished the game with three runs batted in – and Ridge to two on an double by Kurcerka, making it 6-6 after five.

That’s when Ridge closer Jake Dolan came in and gave his team a chance to win, but not without a touchy moment in the fifth. He struck out his first batter, Alex Perez, but then gave up an infield hit to Li Perez and walked Ethan Nepomuceno and Maddox Chu. But with the bases loaded, he got Cimini swinging and Kruger-Serrano looking to get out of the jam.

The Red Devils got two to go ahead in the bottom of the sixth. Toby Nicholson led off with a single, then after a flyout by Paul, Matt Bober walked and Jake Dolan got an infield hit off the field umpire, driving in Nicholson. After a walk to Callanan, a sac fly to right by Dashefsky made it 8-6.

In the top of the seventh, Dolan faced a little less drama, but was just as dominant. He threw a 1-2-3 inning, striking out the side to win the game. In the end, he got the win, his first decision of the year, with all six outs he recorded coming via the strikeout.

Anuj Bandireddy took the loss for Rutgers Prep (6-4) to fall to 0-2.

Ridge improved to 8-2 with the win.

Click below to hear from Ridge sophomore Casey Kucerka and head coach Tom Blackwell: