Tag: Justin Mangano

by Mike Pavlichko

Another gem from Faigin, backed up by Monroe offense, gives Falcons 7-0 win over Old Bridge, first GMC Tourney title since 2015

Chances are, with Ben Faigin on the mound, Monroe is going to win the ballgame.

Then again, his lone loss coming into the GMC’s Jim Muldowney Championship Final was against Old Bridge, a 9-5 road loss on April 23rd.

But that was not what happened Saturday at Ray Cipperly Field in East Brunswick. In fact, quite the opposite.

Faigin – a Rutgers commit who’s just a junior – took a no-hitter into the seventh before giving up a leadoff double to the Knights’ Eric Schickschneit. But he induced a groundout and got two strikeouts to end it, going a complete game and just allowing five baserunners; the other four came on walks.

Meanwhile, ninth-seed Monroe scored early and often, all but one of their runs coming in the first three innings.

Justin Mangano led off the game and got hit by the very first pitch from Old Bridge’s Brady Meyer, an early sign of control issues. Faigin grounded into a fielder’s choice, and after he stole second, came home to score on Alex Marcus’ single. Nico Antoniades followed with a walk, and Matt Linke drove him in with a single to make it 2-0. Two strikeouts by Meyer ended the inning and kept the damage to a minimum.

The Falcons would make it 3-0 in the second on a sac fly to right by Mangano, scoring Tyler Bacon, who walked to leadoff the inning.

They would add three more in the third. Linke led off with a double to left, and after a strikeout, Austin Loudin hit a ball to left and reached on an error when Nick Natale misplayed it for Old Bridge. After Bacon popped up a bunt for the second out, a Kyle Rutan double scored both and made it 5-0. That was it for Meyer, who was replaced by Chris Crosta coming in from third, and he gave up a single to Mangano for his second RBI of the game to make it 6-0.

Monroe added one more in the sixth on an RBI single by Linke,

Meanwhile, Faigin was cruising, allowing just four walks through the first six innings. He got in a little trouble in the sixth, walking back-to-back hitters with one out, and they advanced to second and third on stolen bases, but Faigin K’d Matt Chin for the second out and got Jared Volpe to ground out to short.

In the end, Faigin gave up one hit in seven innings, walked four and struck out 12 to improve to 7-1 on the season. Monroe wins its second GMC Tournament title, and first since 2015, in five appearances. They finish their season 15-14, having been eliminated from the Central Jersey Group 4 section of the state tournament on the eve of the GMC final, with a 10-2 loss at Hightstown Friday night.

Monroe junior Ben Faigin pitches in the 2026 GMC Tournament final against Old Bridge on May 30, 2026. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

Meyer took the loss for the Knights, going 2 1/3 innings, allowing six runs, five earned, on four hits. He walked four – one intentional, hit one batter and struck out three.

Old Bridge, however, still has the states to look forward to. They are now 20-8 – with an 11-game win streak snapped – but will play in the Central Jersey Group 4 semifinals Wednesday at home at Fred Cole Field against 4th-seed Hightstown.

Click below for postgame reaction on the field with Justin Sontupe, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

Monroe junior pitcher Ben Faigin
Senior catcher Justin Mangano and head coach Sean Field
by Mike Pavlichko

Faigin’s one-hit gem, Mangano’s double in 7th send Monroe past South Plainfield in GMCT semifinals

When the last swing-and-a-miss on Monroe starting pitcher Ben Faigin’s 13th strikeout Saturday ended the GMC Tournament’s first semifinial of the day, he threw his glove up in the air, partying like it was 2017, or maybe 2015.

2015 was the last time the Falcons won the GMC Tournament , and 2017 was the last time they made it to the title game.

Now, they’re back in it, and will play next Saturday at 2 pm in the GMC’s Jim Muldowney Tournament final at Rutgers’ Bainton Field in Piscataway against the winner of today’s second semifinal between two-seed Middlesex and third-seed Old Bridge.

And the win was not just thanks to Faigin, but also to his catcher James Mangano, who besides calling and backstopping a fantastic game for his senior, Rutgers-bound starter, delivered a two-out double in the top of the seventh inning to drive in center fielder Tyler Bacon, who’d reached on a one-out single.

A pitchers’ duel all the way, Faigin and South Plainfield’s Aiden McCarthy were cruising, even though McCarthy nearly gave Monroe a lead in the top of the first. Mangano led off with a second-pitch single, and McCarthy walked – maybe pitched around? – Fagin, hitting .522 enteritng the game. But he got a strikeout, pop out and fly out to end the inning, the biggest threat by either team until the seventh.

And after Monroe took the 1-0 lead, South Plainfield still had a chance in its final at bat, with Faigin only having 15 pitches to work with before hitting the 110 limit. With two out, Anhtony CIcenia walked, bringing up freshman second baseman Gabe Garcia.

He worked a 3-2 count, and during that, Cicenia stole second on a pitch that went to the backstop, but came quickly back to Mangano. Cicenia beat the throw, overslid the base, but it was ruiled he got back in time to avoid another tag.

But Faigin bore down and got the strikeout, sending Monroe to the GMC title game.

Click below to hear postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Justin Sontupe with Monroe’s Ben Faigin, Justin Mangano, and head coach Sean Fiels, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

by Nick Hart

Nine-seed Monroe upsets top-seed Edison in dominant road victory, advances to GMC semifinals

It was a cloudy and windy afternoon as the number one seed, Edison, hosted nine-seeded Monroe in the quarterfinals of the Jim Muldowney GMC Tournament, and although the sun didn’t shine, the Falcons (10-12) sure did on the field. 

Monroe wasted no time jumping on the Eagles (15-6) as the first three hitters of the game recorded a hit. First, it was Justin Mangano who started things off with a single, then it was Ben Faigin – Monday’s winning pitcher in an upset of Colonia – who doubled, and both were driven in by an Alex Marcus double to take an early lead. 

In the bottom half of the first, Edison looked like it was ready to answer right back, with two base runners of its own reaching via a pair of walks. With two on and one out it looked as though the Eagles had the Falcons starter, Andre Love, in some early trouble. But Love found his way out of the jam by striking out the next to batters to keep his team’s lead intact. 

After a leadoff single, start the top of the second by Austin Loudin, the next two batters were set down, but the lineup had flipped back up to the top. Mangano singled once again, bringing up Faigin, who launched a three-run homer to left-center field that sent his team and the Monroe faithful into a frenzy. 

On the other side of the inning, love continued to settle in, setting down Edison in order, picking up another pair of strikeouts. 

The Eagles found some success in the third, but were only able to push across one run on an RBI double from Ray Tavarez. 

With a five-run advantage, the sentiment in the Falcons’ dugout seemed to be that no matter the lead, no number would suffice. Monroe proceeded to tack on an additional run in the top of the fourth and three more in the top of the fifth with RBIs from Marcus in both frames, Mangano in the fifth, as well as a run driven in by Tyler Bacon.

In the bottom half of those innings, Edison could not string together much success against Love on the mound. The Eagles went down in order in the fourth, and sent four to the plate in the fifth, thanks to a two-out triple from Robert Roma, which resulted in no runs.

Love found the same success in the bottom of the sixth, retiring Edison, one, two, three, with another pair of strikeouts. Approaching his pitch limit in the bottom of the seventh, Love needed to be efficient in order to complete the game, and that is just what he was. With the first to batters of the inning retired on groundouts, Love punctuated his standout performance with a strikeout, his 11th of the ballgame. 

To have a stat line of seven innings pitched, three hits, one run and 11 strikeouts is impressive in its own right, but to do so against the top team in the GMC tournament adds just another level to Love’s outing.

The top of the Falcons’ order also had a stellar performance, with each of the top three hitters in the lineup reaching base three or more times. 

Next up for Monroe is a matchup against the five seed, South Plainfield in the semi-finals of the Jim Muldowney GMC Tournament after the Tigers defeated Monroe 7-6 in their quarterfinal matchup.  That game will be played at noon, and you can hear it live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with Mike Pavlichko and Justin Sontupe on the call. 

Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Nick Hart with Monroe pitcher Andre Love, catcher Justin Mangano and head coach Sean Field, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen: