Tag: Mark Blevins

by Mike Pavlichko

CJ4 final is rare opportunity for North Brunswick, seeking first title in nearly four decades

The first Apple Macintosh computer came out. Beverly Hills Cop and Ghostbusters were the big movies. A pound of bacon cost less than two dollars.

And North Brunswick Township High School won a state sectional championship in baseball.

That was 39 years ago, and Friday, the Raiders have a chance to win their first once since.

It may be hard to fathom that they haven’t even had the opportunity since then, but here they are, the two-seed in Central Jersey Group 4, playing for a title, for the first time since winning back to back titles in 1983 and 1984.

In the way is the top seed, Old Bridge (19-8), which beat North Brunswick (21-6) twice this regular season, the second time in ten innings, after a nearly hour-long lightning delay.

The Raiders have one of the top lineups in the GMC, with four starters hitting well over .400, including Justin Batts, a third baseman who recently transferred back home after three years at Bergen Catholic, to play with the friends he made playing youth ball in town. They’ve also hit a staggering 22 home runs on the year.

And North Brunswick is coming off an emotional win, 4-3 over Monroe in the semifinals back on Tuesday. Zack Konstantinovsky not only got the win on the mound, but hit a game-tying two-run home run in the fifth inning, and won it with a walk-off solo shot in the seventh.

Click below to hear North Brunswick head coach Mark Blevins talk about the Raiders’ and their quest for a championship:

by Mike Pavlichko

North Brunswick’s potent lineup, Rutgers-bound ace aim for second straight GMC Tournament title

Last season, North Brunswick won its first-ever GMC Tournament crown, in just its third trip ever to the finals.

Back so soon?

Yup, here they are. The Raiders (18-5, 14-4 GMC Red champions) – this year, the top-seed in the tournament – will look to defend their title Sunday afternoon when they take on third-seed St. Joseph-Metuchen (18-8, 7-5).

Originally scheduled for 2 pm Saturday, rain in the forecast forced the GMC to move the game to Sunday at 1 pm, but stil at East Brunswick Magnet School’s Ray Cipperly Field, and you can hear every minute of the action on Central Jersey Sports Radio, driven by Auto Lounge of Edison.

Mike Pavlichko and Justin Sontupe will call all the play-by-play, with pregame set for 12:30. Click here to listen.

North Brunswick brings back most of its potent lineup, which scored a 4-2 in last year’s final, including a two-run home run by Omar Carreras, who has hit six in this, his senior season.

For the Raiders, they’ll want to get to St. Joseph starter Jimmy Mulvaney early, and keep the Falcons off the board. But St. Joe’s has just as feared a lineup as North Brunswick does, led by senior leadoff hitter Mark Gialluisi, who’s batting .548 with team-bests of 12 doubles and 24 stolen bases.

Good thing North Brunswick has Rutgers-bound senior Zack Konstantinovsky on the mound. He’s 6-0, with a 0.32 ERA, 61 strikeouts and just six walks. Of the 17 hits he’s allowed all year, four came in the first inning of last week’s semifinals against Monroe. But he escaped the inning like Houdini, allowing just one run, and leaving the bases loaded before anyone knew what happened.

Meanwhile, North Brunswick is not chopped liver at the plate either. In addition to Omar, his brother Yomar – a junior – has hit eight home runs, and Zack Konstantinovsky also has six, with the team hitting 19 on the year. And Justin Batts – who grew up playing with many of the Raiders’ in youth ball – has come around after sitting 30 days following his transfer back home from Bergen Catholic. As a group, the Raiders are hitting .345 this season.

Click below to hear a preview of the GMC title game with North Brunswick head coach Mark Blevins:

by Mike Pavlichko

Carreras HR, dominant Konstantinovsky put defending GMCT champ North Brunswick back in the finals

It was the pitchers’ duel everyone expected.

Back on May 11th, North Brunswick’s Rutgers-bound ace Zack Konstantinovsky bested Monroe’s Oregon-bound ace Harrison Lollin 1-0.

Saturday, in a GMCT Tournament semifinal game heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio presented by Auto Lounge of Edison, the result was the same, just a different score: 2-1 Raiders, thanks in large part also to a two-run homer by Omar Carreras.

North Brunswick – the top-seed and defending champ – now moves on to play third-seed St. Joseph-Metuchen in next Saturday’s GMC Tournament final at 2 pm at East Brunswick Magnet School. It’ll be their second straight meeting in the finals.

Monroe falls to 11-7.

“Zack K” didn’t get off to the greatest of starts. Having not given up more than three hits in a game all season, he allowed three in the first inning alone. Aidan Lane hit a one-out double, then after Harrison Lollin struck out for the second out of the inning, Trevor Wallace drove him in with an RBI single.

Lucas White followed with another single, then a Kyle McCauley bunt down the third base line was so good, there was no play at any base. But with the bags full, Konstantinovsky readers back and got Jake LoBue to strike out on three pitches to end the inning.

And that’s really all the Falcons did to threaten. They got a baserunner via walk in the second but stranded him. Lollin got on base after getting hit by a pitch in the second, but Konstantinovsky got the next three batters.

North Brunswick got its runs in the third on a no-doubt home run by Carreras. EJ Accetura beat out an infield hit on a hard ground ball to third. After a pop-up and fly out, Carreras came up with two down and Accetura on second and blasted a home run over the left field wall.

Konstantinovsky pitched seven innings, walked one, hit a batter, and allowed just four hits, striking out ten for the win to improve to 7-0 on the season. Lollin dropped to 5-2 with the loss.

Now, North Brunswick will try and win its second straight GMC title. Last year, they won their first, beating St. Joseph. Now the teams will rematch.

Click below for postgame reaction presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

North Brunswick pitcher Zack Konstantinovsky
North Brunswick catcher Omar Carreras
North Brunswick head coach Mark Blevins
by Mike Pavlichko

Back in the semifinals, back to their ace for North Brunswick in GMC Tournament

The GMC Tournament is a “Wednesday” Tournament.

With everyone’s top pitcher going in Monday’s second round – the opening games for the top 12 seeds – and that same guy coming back on Saturday in the semifinals, Wednesday is the day you have to get through.

Hope your starter can go deep, keep the bullpen out of it, win and move on.

For the top seed and defending champion North Brunswick, it didn’t really matter who was on the mound. Their bats did all the work.

The Raiders have scored 35 runs and surrendered none in two GMCT games so far – against South River and Edison – and now are a win away from a repeat trip to the finals, a chance to defend their 2022 crown.

But still, they love to have their ace out there: Zack Konstantinovsky.

The Rutgers-bound senior has been a dominant pitcher for nearly three years now. This season, he’s 6-0 with a 0.19 ERA. He’s only allowed two runs all year, one earned, in 37 1/3 innings of work, walking only six, and striking out 50.

Put it this way, he’s hit more home runs the last two seasons (ten, with six coming this season) than he’s given up earned runs the last two seasons (eight).

Saturday, in the GMC Tournament Semifinals at East Brunswick Magnet School’s Ray Cipperly Field, North Brunswick (13-5) will take on fourth-seed Monroe (8-6) in the second game of a doubleheader you can hear on Central Jersey Sports Radio, driven by Auto Lounge of Edison.

Mike Pavlichko and Justin Sontupe will call all the action with first pitch set for 2:30. Click here to listen.

But the Raiders aren’t just about Zack K, whether his arm or his bat. Yomar and Omar Carreras can hit, and Justin Batts – a transfer from Bergen Catholic who lives in North Brunswick and played with many of his teammates since they were young – is heating up at the plate just a week-and-a-half into his season, after sitting out 30 days because of the transfer rule.

Click below to hear a preview of North Brunswick in the GMC Tournament semifinals from head coach Mark Blevins:

by Mike Pavlichko

North Brunswick clinches share of first-ever GMC Red title, top-seed in upcoming GMC Tournament, with 6-3 win at South Brunswick

Thursday afternoon’s 6-2 win for the North Brunswick Raiders on the road at South Brunswick was a big one in a number of ways.

Moving up to the GMC Red Division, it gave the Raiders at least a share of the division title in their first year playing with the “big boys” in the Greater Middlesex Conference. And by extension, it will wind up earning them the top seed in the GMC Tournament, which will be seeded Friday morning in East Brunswick.

In a game heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio, the Raiders got a complete game out of Kyle Anderson, who threw seven innings and allowed seven hits and three runs, two of them earned. He got the win for North Brunswick (10-5, 8-4 GMC Red) while starter Ethan Fantel took the loss for the Vikings (5-11, 3-9 GMC Red).

South Brunswick scored in each of the first two innings to take a 2-0 lead on North Brunswick. Ryan Kessler had an RBI double in the first, while Joey Sanchez knocked in another run in the second with a single.

But it didn’t deter Anderson on the mound, who only allowed one run on four hits the rest of the afternoon, which started overcast, but turned out sunny, much like the Raiders’ fortunes in the game.

North Brunswick cut it to 2-1 South in the third when Yomar Carreras led off with a double down the right field line and Zack Konstantinovsky drove him in with a single.

Then, after a scoreless fourth, the Raiders took the lead for good.

Carreras again led off, this time with a single. With Konstantinovsky at the plate, he took off a bit too soon, and Fantel had him picked off, but threw it away into foul territory, and Carreras scored all the way from first with the ball getting lost in the wide expanse of foul territory down the right field line.

Konstantinovsky ended up with a walk and Omar Carreras singled. After Justin Batts popped out, Chris Rosario singled to load the bases, and Frankie Garbolino gave North a lead they would never relinquish with a two-RBI single. Sammy Berardo knocked in another run with a ground-out, and the Raiders had a 5-2 lead through four-and-a-half.

South Brunswick would add another run in the fifth on a single by Brian Culhane, while Konstantinovsky – who finished with a single, two walks and two runs scored in four times at the plate – scored the sixth run on a Justin Batts hit to third that turned out to be an E5.

Click below for postgame interviews, sponsored by the SportsPlex at Metuchen:

North Brunswick starting pitcher Kyle Anderson
North Brunswick head coach Mark Blevins
by Mike Pavlichko

No. 5 North Brunswick controls its own destiny in GMC Red race, visiting South Brunswick in final game before county seeding

It may not be the way Raiders’ head coach Mark Blevins drew it up, but it’s what you play a whole season for: to have a chance to control where you end up in the postseason.

Maybe he didn’t want it to come down to his team’s final division game before the GMC Tournament seeding, but it is what it is, and 5th-ranked North Brunswick can control whether they get the tournament’s top seed or not: they just have to beat South Brunswick Thursday in a game you can hear on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

First pitch is 4 pm with pregame at 3:40 with Mike Pavlichko calling all the action; click here to listen.

The Raiders are 9-5 overall, 7-4 in the division, tied for first in place in the GMC Red Division with Monroe, but own the tiebreaker over the Falcons by virtue of having swept their two-game series. So, a North Brunswick win Thursday sets them up as the likely top seed.

A loss, and things could get hairy.

Click here for a more detailed look at the GMC Red Division race, which should determine the top seed in the GMC Tournament.

Be that as it may, defending GMC Tournament champ North Brunswick has been playing well, getting great pitching and hitting from the entire team, but especially from Rutgers-bound Zach Konstantinovsky, who won a must-win game Tuesday at home over South Brunswick. He went the complete game, five innings, striking out 11 and shutting out the Vikings, while knocked in three runs at the plate, including a home run.

So, he won’t go again until next week. That’s the good news for South Brunswick (5-10, 3-8 GMC White), which graduated eleven seniors last season, and has been working with younger players – i.e., an all-junior outfield, and just one senior in the infield – to improve their game. Not an easy thing to do when Red Division opponents come at you fast and furious in a tight four weeks leading up to the GMC seeding meeting.

Click below to hear from both coaches ahead of Thursday’s CJSR broadcast featuring North Brunswick at South Brunswick:

North Brunswick head coach Mark Blevins
South Brunswick head coach Tim Sweeney

by Mike Pavlichko

North Brunswick looks to finish off sweep of St. Joseph as Raiders rebound from skid

The GMC Red Division is a grind, particularly this season.

How else could you describe a division where last year’s GMC Tournament finalists are packed in with just about everyone else?

But defending champion North Brunswick can help establish itself as one of the top teams in the division if the Raiders (4-4) can beat last place* St. Joseph of Metuchen (3-3) on the road Tuesday in the finale of a home-and-home series that can be heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

First pitch is set for 4 pm. Mike Pavlichko will have all the live play-by-play, with pregame coverage starting at 3:45. Click here to listen.

Follow Sportsplex at Metuchen on Instagram for the latest on open gym sessions on their courts and turf!

That asterisk on the words “last place” ahead of St. Joe’s indicates just how close the Red Division is. Heading into Tuesday play, Old Bridge leads the division at 6-1 overall, 4-1 in the Red. North Brunswick is second at 4-3 – a full game back – in the seven-team division, but the Falcons, in last, are only two full games behind at 2-3, with two games in hand, and South Brunswick, Monroe, East Brunswick and South Plainfield all two games back as well.

North Brunswick won the opener of this set 6-1 Monday night behind a 102-pitch, 12 strikeout complete game from Rutgers-bound senior Zack Konstantinovsky, who has failed to give up a home run in four starts, 21 and 1/3 innings pitched. He gave up one unearned run Monday night against St. Joe’s.

But Zack “K” is doing it at the plate, too. He’s hitting .304 and, on Monday, smacked two home runs off Falcons’ starter Jimmy Mulvaney, while fifth-year senior Omar Carreras added another, his second of the season.

Click below for a preview of Tuesday’s matchup between North Brunswick and St. Joe’s in Metuchen with Mike Pavlichko:

North Brunswick Head Coach Mark Blevins
St. Joseph-Metuchen Head Coach Mike Murray
by Mike Pavlichko

Defending GMCT champ North Brunswick approaching ’23 with ease, not worried about outside expectations

When you have natural born leaders like Frankie Garbolino and strikeout machines like Zack Konstantinovsky returning for their senior seasons, as well as a host of other talented players like Kyle Anderson, Omar and Yomar Carreras and a host of others, it would be easy for outsiders to pin expectations on a baseball team like that.

Especially coming off their first ever Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament championship.

But North Brunswick’s Frankie Garbs, Zack K, their teammates and head coach Mark Blevins aren’t having any of it.

“This year, it feels like there’s a little bit of a weight off. You just relax and play, and whatever happens, happens,” says seventh-year head coach Mark Blevins.

Zack Konstantinovsky throws a pitch in the GMC Tournament final against St. Joseph-Metuchen on May 29, 2022. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

“You can play very, very well and you can lose,” Blevins says, adding he’s “a baseball realist.”

But one would be hard-pressed to look at all the key contributors coming back for the Raiders and not consider them a favorite to win the GMC Tournament again this year.

Note: that says “a” favorite, as in there may be several teams with a very good chance to claim a trophy in the middle of May in East Brunswick. And even though that’s less than two months away, there’s a lot of baseball to be played between now and then.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with North Brunswick head coach Mark Blevins about the upcoming season:

by Mike Pavlichko

North Brunswick rallies for another wild win, this time in the states

It wasn’t quite the seven-run seventh inning over Middlesex in the county tournament, but in a world of survive and advance, it’ll do.

Fresh off its first-ever GMCT Championship, North Brunswick found itself down by a run heading into the seventh inning of its opening round Central Jersey Group 4 NJSIAA playoff game against rival South Brunswick. They had just three outs to work with.

Turns out they didn’t need any of them. And it happened so quickly, too.

EJ Accetura led off with a double, and Frandy Martinez singled to put runners at the corners for Yomar Carreras, who walked to load the bases. Power-hitting Zack Konstantinovsky – hot off a three-hit complete game to win the GMC Tournament title Sunday – hit a hard liner to short for an infield hit to tie the game. Up came Omar Carreras, who already had a walk-off homer to beat East Brunswick earlier this year, somewhat of a turning point for the Raiders.

But he didn’t need to swing for the fences. He just drove a simple single to right field to score Frandy Martinez, and give 5th-seed North Brunswick a come-from-behind 5-4 win to advance to Saturday’s sectional quarterfinals.

Bing, bang, boom.

The win puts the Raiders at 21-9 on the season, setting a new program mark for wins in a season, besting the 1983 team that had 20, according to Korbis Thompson, who covers North Brunswick baseball on the King James Radio Network. That team also won the Central Jersey Group 2 title, the first of two the Raiders have won – the other in 1984.

It was also the Raiders’ tenth win in their last eleven games. Since starting the season 5-6, North Brunswick – now No. 2 in the Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten after the GMC final upset of St. JOseph-Metuchen – has won 16 of its last 19 games.

Next up, the Raiders travel to 4th-seed Northern Burlington (17-8) for the quarterfinals. Game time is TBA.

Click below to hear postgame reaction from North Brunswick head coach Mark Blevins:

by Mike Pavlichko

GMCT Postgame: North Brunswick’s Kyle Tarabokia, Zack Konstantinovsky and Mark Blevins on the Raiders’ first-ever GMC title

In the middle of the interview, there it came: the ice bath.

It’s a tradition in sports, but it seemed to have a little extra oomph on Sunday, Memorial Day weekend, after North Brunswick made history, winning its first-ever GMC Tournament championship, and knocking off a local baseball powerhouse in the process.

After allowing two runs in the bottom of the first to give away the 2-0 lead the Raiders got in the first, Zack Konstantinovsky pitched like the Zach Konstantinovsky every seemed to know and expect in this big game.

And the kid is just a junior.

Konstantinovsky – a Rutgers commit – allowed back-to-back doubles to lead off the game by St. Joseph’s Mark Gialluisi and Josiah Brown, who knocked in the first run. Robbie Carvelli drove in the second run on a grounder to short after Brown moved to third on a wild pitch.

But that was all the wild Zach would show the rest of the way. He allowed just one more hit – an infield hit that ricocheted off his glove in the third, and two more base runners beyond that – on a walk in the fourth and an E6 in the fifth. He struck out ten, retired the last eight batters to face him and struck out the side in the seventh to end it, knocking off the defending GMC Tournament Champions.

North Brunswick’s Zack Konstantinovsky (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with North Brunswick starting pitcher Zack Konstantinovsky:

Click above to learn more about how to be an umpire and join the NSJFU.

Not that he needed it, Konstantinovsky seemed to get a second wind when North Brunswick broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the sixth with a pair of runs to take a 4-2 lead.

Omar Carreras led off with a walk, and Frankie Garbolino got hit by a pitch. After a sac bunt by Pat McCann moved the runners to second and third, Kyle Tarabokia drove a shot almost right down the first base line and into right field, ending up with a two-RBI double that turned out to be the difference in the game.

North Brunswick’s Kyle Tarabokia (Photo: Mike Pavlilchko)

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with North Brunswick right fielder Kyle Tarabokia:

For North Brunswick head coach Mark Blevins, it only took five seasons at the helm to deliver a GMC Tournament title.

In his first year, the Raiders won just eight games, but improved to 18-10 in 2018 before taking a step back an going 9-17 in the last season before COVID019 wiped out 2020.

Last season, the Raiders went 17-10-1, making it to the GMC Tournament semifinals, where Konstantinovsky one-hit South Brunswick – that one hit being a home run by Justin Gallagher in the fifth – but lost 2-0, as the Radiers were eliminated.

And that made Sunday’s win extra sweet.

Blevins is now 72-63-1 all-time at North Brunswick.

North Brunswick head coach Mark Blevins. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with North Brunswick head coach Mark Blevins:

What’s next? The Raiders will enjoy this one, but as Belvins and others said after the game, they’re already thinking about rival South Brunswick, their opponent in the opening round of the Central Jersey Group 4 playoffs this Wednesday. The Raiders are the 5-seed and will take on 11-seed South Brunswick (12-2) at 4:00.

They’ll have to do so without Konstantinovsky, who will be unavailable after going the distance in the GMC final, while South Brunwick will have program and single-season strikeout leader Joey Tuttoilmondo available; he’ll likely get the start Wednesday.

Even “Greater” Brunswicks: The GMC Tournament win by North Brunswick means the three outlying Brunswick schools – North, plus East and South – have all won league championships, with namesake New Brunswick the only one not to do so. The Bears have won five titles, the most of the three, while South Brunswick has won two and North Brunswick one. East Brunswick’s last title came in 2016, while South Brunswick won it in 2010, beating the Radiers in what was their last finals appearance before this year.