Heading into the opener of their home-and-home series Saturday morning, South Plainfield knew it would have its hands full with Woodbridge, which came in to the two-game set with an 8-0 record.

By the time it was all over early Tuesday afternoon, the Tigers had swept the Barrons, capping it with a 1-0 road victory heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

In a tight game with few hits, the lone South Plainfield run came without virtue of a hit at all. 

That came after a fourth inning in which – via two walks and a sac bunt that ended up an infield hit – the Tigers left the bases loaded after Woodbridge starter Ryan Leach buckled down and got two strikeouts and a ground out to second to escape unscathed.

Not so in the fifth, however, though it could have been worse.  After the leadoff hitter struck out, Chris Loniewski, Dom Massaro and Dan Kapsch all walked back-to-back-to-back to load the bases.  Another walk to Kevin Penny drove in a run, but an unassisted double play ended it.  Nick Irizzary lined out hard to first, and Xavier Diaz just had to reach right behind him to tag Penny, just a few feet off the bag.

Woodbridge, meanwhile, had trouble getting anything going against Penny, the South Plainfield starter.  They had managed just two hits heading into the seventh, down 1-0, but nearly rallied.

After a pop up by their leadoff man, Nick Lukachyk doubled, with Jack Kobylakiewicz pinch running for him, the tying run in scoring position.  And when Bryant Periera followed with a single, that was the end of Penny’s day, bringing in closer Jayden Jiminez. 

He got Derek Anderson to ground to second, moving Periera to second, and after a walk to Gavin Slicer to load the bases, Diaz hit a 1-2 pitch to second, with Irizzary throwing to Kapsch covering the bag for a 4-6 force play to end the game.

Penny improved to 2-0 with the win, throwing 6 1/3, allowing four hits and no runs, striking out five. South Plainfield upped its record to 8-3, 6-3 in the GMC Red, 1.5 games behind first place Woodbridge, and – for the moment – a half game ahead of third place Old Bridge, which visits Monroe this afternoon.

Jiminez got the save, his fourth.

Woodbridge, which started the season 8-0, drops to 8-2, all in the Red.  Leach took the loss, falling to 2-1, allowing just two hits and one earned run, but he allowed eight walks along with five Ks.

Click below for postgame reaction with South Plainfield pitchers Kevin Penny, Jayden Jiminez and head coach Scott Gleichenhaus, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen: