Damon Clark – Central Jersey Sports Radio

A three-run rally in the top of the seventh gave 17th-seed Perth Amboy a big win Saturday in the GMC tournament play-in round over East Brunswick.

Playing “up” against a GMC Red Division opponent, the Panthers broke a 5-5 tie in the final inning and knocked off the 16th-seeded Bears Saturday afternoon. In a tight game throughout, the teams were tied at 1-1 after four innings, and 5-5 at the end of the fifth.

In the seventh, Perth Amboy broke out for three runs. They got a leadoff double and a walk, setting the table for North Plainfield transfer Chris Aracena’s two-run single to break the tie. He later came around to score on a passed ball, making it 8-5.

And yet, it got interesting in the bottom of the seventh. Panther senior captain Sebastian Aponte came in to close the game out, and got the first two outs. But then East Brunswick got one man on via error, and drew two walks. With the bases loaded, Aponte came up huge: he notched a strikeout to end the game.

Perth Amboy (5-11) snapped a three-game losing streak with the victory, while East Brunswick drops to 5-11 on the season.

The win puts Amboy in the tourney’s Round of 16, where they’ll face another opponent out of the Red Division, top-seed South Plainfield, 4 pm Monday in the first round.

Perth Amboy has lost six straight against South Plainfield, dating back to their meeting in the 2018 GMC Tournament title game. The Panthers were the 12-seed that year, while the Tigers were the 14-seed, the second-lowest seed ever to win the GMCT. Amboy’s last win over South came the season prior, a 15-8 road win in the GMC Tournament preliminary round.

Click below to hear Perth Amboy head coach Damon Clark talk about the win:

The 2023 edition of Perth Amboy High School baseball has not won a game yet.

The Panthers may be 0-12, but fourth-year head coach Damon Clark’s club has improved from Opening Day onward.

Case in point: they lost their first four games by a combined score of 62-5, getting shutout three times.

In their last four games, the Panthers have lost by a grand total of eight runs: a pair of three-run losses and a pair of one-run losses among them. So, it seems like a matter of time before they finally get to drop a W in the win column.

Their next chance comes Tuesday night, when the Panthers visit sixth-ranked Woodbridge in a GMC White Division night game that can be heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

First pitch is set for 7:00. Pregame is at 6:40 pm with Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas on the call. Click here to listen.

The Panthers return just one senior starter from last year’s 8-14-1 team: senior Melvin Jiminez, who’s hitting .364 on the season.

The pitching took a while to jell, partly due to the team not having a returning catcher. Senior Victor Arias has taken over that spot, playing his first year of high school ball, and Clark says he’s adapted to the role nicely, helping the staff settle in as of late.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Perth Amboy head coach Damon Clark about the Panthers’ season, and Tuesday’s night game at Woodbridge: