Unlike the bottom half, the top-half of the Central Jersey Group 4 NJSIAA baseball playoff bracket has been riddled with upsets.
Montgomery – the 12-seed – knocked off fifth-seed New Brunswick 14-2 in the opening round, and four-seed Hightstown 5-4 Wednesday in the quarterfinals. Now, they’ll meet a team that pulled an upset of its own to get to the semis.
Ninth-seed Hillsborough (12-10), which edged eighth-seed Freehold Township, 6-2, in the opening round, booted top-seed Hunterdon Central (17-7) with a 3-1 win in Flemington Friday.
It’s a win that – coupled with Monty’s upsets – will make the Raiders a surprise semifinal host when they play their neighbors, the Cougars, Tuesday for a trip to the Central Jersey Group 4 title game.
Boro jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the third, and the pitching held it – mostly – from there. With a Tommy Kester walk and a TJ Westlake single sandwiched between a leadoff flyout and a strikeout, Brayden Fox singled to right to score Kester, Alex Reiling singled to score Fox, then a balk by A Petino brought in Westlake from third.
Hunterdon Central’s lone run came in the fourth, on an RBI single by Matty Dalfonzo. They would get just one hit and two baserunners total over the next three innings, shut down by starter James Drinkwater in his final inning, the fifth, and reliever Aiden Cooper, who pitched two scoreless innings to get the save, while Drinkwater picked up the win.
It’ll be an all CJSR-area semifinal in Central Jersey Group 4. In addition to Hillsborough hosting Montgomery in the “Skyland Conference” half of the bracket, it’ll be a “GMC” semi on the other side, with second-seed Old Bridge hosting third-seed Edison at 5 pm Tuesday at Fred Cole Field, in a game that can be heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.
The final is scheduled for Thursday at the home of the higher seeded team. Hillsborough last reached a sectional final in 2012, when the Raiders beat Central in the North 2 Group 4 final, beat Ridgewood in the state semis, but lost to Manalapan in the state Group 4 title game.
Click below to hear from Hillsborough winning pitcher James Drinkwater and head coach Matt Mosko: