Even with a chance to put their ace on the mound, third-seeded Edison knew it was going to have a battle on its hands facing off against 11th-seeded Franklin in the Central Jersey Group 4 quarterfinals.
A battle is what the Eagles got, but ultimately, they powered through on the backs of their veteran stars.
Edison outlasted the Warriors 4-2 in a game that started as a pitching duel, with junior Connor Murphy on the bump for the Eagles and Franklin putting Dafraily Sosa on the mound. It puts Edison in the semifinals of a state playoff section for the first time since 2016, where they lost to Hunterdon Central.
Through three and a half innings, the game remained scoreless, with Murphy working in and out of a jam in the first inning, while Sosa did not allow a hit until the end of the third.
Once the bottom of the fourth inning came around, so did the Eagles’ bats.
They got close in the third. With left fielder Sam Kentos on second base, center fielder Darren Tirado lined a hard-hit ball… right into Kentos’ back. Kentos was ruled out, and the potential scoring situation was squashed.
After another inning from Murphy where two Franklin baserunners reached with two outs without coming around to score, Edison shortstop Anthony Calantoni led off the bottom of the fourth getting plunked in the arm with the first pitch.
First baseman Robert Roma followed, and he dropped a 2-2 fastball into the left-center gap, scoring Calantoni with a double and breaking the scoreless tie. Murphy moved Roma over to third, and second baseman Ray Tavarez lined a ball over the outstretched glove of Warriors third baseman Stanley Madera to score a second run. Sosa got out of the inning with a groundout and strikeout, but not before Edison snatched the momentum with the game’s first two runs.
Franklin did not give in, however.
In the top of the fifth inning, the Warriors put four straight runners on with one out, with two hits sandwiching two walks against Murphy. Shortstop Mike Schiermeyer provided the first run with a bases-loaded ground ball into the outfield for an RBI single, and two batters later Madera beat out a potential double-play ball that would have ended the inning to tie the game.
Even with the game tied, Franklin missed an opportunity. With runners on the corners and two outs, Murphy dialed up the heat and struck out catcher Jacob Gordon swinging to end the inning with the game tied.
Sosa retired the side in the ensuing bottom half of the fifth inning, keeping the momentum in Franklin’s favor.
That would not last long, however, as third baseman Dom Innocenti relieved Murphy in the top of the sixth and threw a 1-2-3 inning of his own with two strikeouts.
In the bottom half, Edison took its chance.
Calantoni singled to lead off the inning, but an errant pickoff attempt from Sosa went all the way to the fence, advancing Calantoni to third base. Roma once again came through, launching a fastball to the wall in left-center field once again. While it did not leave the park, coming just three feet shy of doing so, it was deep enough for Calantoni to score the go-ahead run on Roma’s sacrifice fly.
Edison added another run later in the sixth as Murphy walked, prompting a pitching change with Sosa at his pitch count limit. Left fielder Shayne Rooney relieved him, but Innocenti singled and brought Murphy all the way home from first after a misplay in the outfield. Innocenti was thrown out at third base, but the damage was done.
In the seventh, Innocenti allowed a leadoff single by Rooney. Centerfielder Izaiah Robinson flew out to right with the lineup card flipping over. With one out and second baseman Shaylen Patel up, Rooney was caught stealing at second, and two pitches later Patel grounded out to short to end the game and send the Eagles to the sectional semifinals.
While Murphy did not earn the win – that went to Innocenti in two shutout innings – he had a solid outing, throwing five innings with two earned runs, five hits, three walks, and six strikeouts. Sosa recorded the loss despite a solid outing of his own, going 5.1 innings and allowing four runs, with three hits, three walks, and two strikeouts.
Edison advances to the Central Jersey Group 4 semifinals next Tuesday at second-seeded Old Bridge, which defeated Manalapan 1-0 on Thursday.
Click below for postgame reaction from Edison pitcher Connor Murphy, first baseman Robert Roma, shortstop Anthony Calantoni, and head coach Vinnie Abene, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen: