Jose Torres – Central Jersey Sports Radio

East Brunswick Magnet starting pitcher Scott Pede – a senior expected to be the ace of the staff in 2022 with Joe Moye graduated – had an easy afternoon Monday in Piscataway.

By the time he came out of the game after pitching the second inning, he had more at bats – three of them – than innings pitched.

And he pitched well against Timothy Christian, allowing just one run on two hits while striking out four. It was just that with a 15-1 lead after two, and having thrown only 34 pitches, head coach Todd Sak saw no need to keep him in the game, potentially saving him again to pitch Wednesday when the teams rematch in East Brunswick.

Pede was 2-for-4 at the plate, with a walk and two runs scored, as Magnet blew past Timothy Christian 16-4 on Opening Day.

EB Magnet sent 13 hitters to the plate in the first inning and scored eight runs. A single by Tommy O’Neil drove in three runs. Then, nine-hitter Joe Squillante drove in two more with another single. Ryan DellaFave – the No. 3 hitter in his second at bat of the inning – drove in two more with yet another single.

After Timothy got a run back on a single by Josh Francis in the bottom of the first, Magnet scored another seven runs in the top of the second, sending 12 men to the plate.

A Squillante walk drove in the first, then a Scott Pede walk drove in another. A ground ball to short by Della Fave that saw the throw sail out of play brought in two more, a single by Matt Murphy drove in two more, and a double by O’Neil drove in another.

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Pede came out of the game after two, and Aidan Rosenthal pitched the last three innings to earn the win, allowing just three runs on one hit, striking out three, walking four and hitting one batter the rest of the way.

For Timothy, it was a tough start for pitcher Josh Thiero, who only managed to get through one inning. Though there was only one error in the first, two other plays could have gone either way, a hit or an error, and choppy fielding and miscues contributed to the offensive outburst.

Jonathan Walker pitched the second, but the bright spot was freshman Josh Guardado, who mopped up the final three innings, scattering two hits and allowing just one run, striking out two.

Click below for postgame reaction presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

East Brunswick Magnet senior Scott Pede

East Brunswick Magnet head coach Todd Sak

Like just about every high school baseball team that will open the 2023 season this week across New Jersey, Timothy Christian will have some veterans back.

There’s shortstop Josh Francis, who hit .545 last season for the second-place team in the GMC Gold Division last year with 25 RBIs and five extra base hits. Starting pitchers Josh Thiero and Ben Wang – who combined to go 8-4 last year and toss 72 innings, striking out 84 hitters while walking only 32 – are back as well.

But there are also some newcomers, who epitomize the definition of the word. A half-dozen players on the 13-man roster at the tiny Piscataway school are freshmen, like Chris Solomine, Elisha Mena and Joseph Walker, none of whom have ever played any baseball before.

But head coach Jose Torres – a rookie head coach himself who played his scholastic ball up at Barringer in Newark in the earl 200s – says they are keen to learn, and made great strides in the preseason.

He’ll get his first chance to see how that translates in real game action when his Tigers take on the East Brunswick Magnet Tigers at home Monday in the 2023 season opener.

You can hear the game live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with first pitch set for 4 pm and pregame at 3:45. Mike Pavlichko will call all the play-by-play, joined by special guest analyst Dennis McNulty. Click here to listen.

Click below to hear Jose Torres talk about his team as they get set for the 2023 season opener: