On a bright, sunny, but turning blustery cold day in the shadows of the dying Brunswick Square Mall and its big blue water tower, East Brunswick Magnet completed a two-game series sweep of New Brunswick Tuesday, with a 17-10 home in in GMC Gold Division action heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

That was the main story, but this one? Well, it had all the components of the wildest game you’ve ever seen.

There were multiple dropped balls on a day with 15-to-20 mile per hour winds, and a stark sun still fairly low in the sky as is typical of early April. New Brunswick arrived just ten minutes before the scheduled first pitch, which officially was thrown at 4:23 pm. There was a 4-6-3 double play where the second baseman booted the ball, but right to the shortstop who was standing on the bag to get to first out. And ground balls died a quick death on the choppy early-season infield grass – which sprouts right up after Spring rain.

Oh, and there were a combined 27 runs scored between the two teams in a game which, had it gone on much longer, might have been called due to darkness. By the time Dariel Rodriguez struck out swinging to end the ballgame at 7:22 pm, the sun had already been below the tree line on the other side of Summerhill Road for a good five to ten minutes.

And yet, this one could have been over early.

East Brunswick Magnet, coming off a 17-4 win Monday in New Brunswick – where they led 13-0 heading to the bottom of the fifth before the Zebras forced a sixth-inning with a grand slam by Jose Abreu, only to fall 17-4 in six – picked up right where it left off less than 24 hours prior, scoring four runs off New Brunswick starter Jacob Henderson.

The Zebras – whose lineup is half freshman coming off a season where they beat the Tigers in the GMC Invitational title game – could have folded then. They could have sulked and packed it in, turning the page to Wednesday’s game against neighboring North Brunswick.

But they didn’t. They came back with three in the second to cut the deficit to one. Then, after Magnet added a run in the third, tied the game 5-5 with two runs in the fourth. And they seemed to blow it open with four runs in the top of the fifth to go ahead 9-5.

But that’s when East Brunswick Magnet had enough, and did all the damage they needed to. They sent eleven men to the plate in the fifth, and scored seven runs to take a 12-9 lead. Then did the same in the sixth scoring five runs to take a 17-9 lead.

Highlights for the Tigers? Starting pitcher Joshua Carreras – though the sophomore didn’t get the win – pitched four inning, allowing just three hits, five runs – but only two earned – and struck out seven. But he had an even better day at the plate, scoring twice, and hitting a bases-clearing three-RBI triple in the fifth to give his team the lead, for good.

There was also second-baseman Braeden Cullen, who had a double and an RBI in the first innings, scored three times, and had an RBI sac fly to center in the decisive fifth inning.

And all nine positions in the batting order scored; the only starter not to cross the plate was catcher Andrew Teleposky, and only because he had a courtesy runner. But he still reached base five times.

In the end, the win went to Jack Clements in relief, who pitched two and two-thirds innings, gave up one hit, one unearned run, and struck out seven; it was his first victory of the season. Misael Dura took the loss for New Brunswick, allowing seven runs in just an inning-and-a-third, but wasn’t helped by the defense behind him; only four of those runs were earned.

Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Nick Hart with East Brunswick Magnet head coach Sean Radu and sophomore pitcher Joshua Carreras, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen: