Tag: Max Newill

by Mike Pavlichko

Panthers primed for another big year as Bridgewater-Raritan brings back big bats

Coming off a season in which the Bridgewater-Raritan baseball team won reached the 20-win mark for the first time since 2015, it’s not just hopes that are high off Garretson Road.

Expectations are high.

Last year’s 23-7 club – which set a school record for wins – reached the North 2, Group 4 finals, falling short in the title game to Bayonne. In the Somerset County Tournament they were knocked off in the semifinals by pseudo-Cinderella Rutgers Prep, which turned out to be a much better team than its record at the time of seeding would project.

As head coach Max Newill puts it, “Last year’s team gave this year’s team a target to shoot at.”

They’ll start the season No. 2 in the Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten rankings.

Newill’s ’24 club has a lot of experience, and specifically varsity experience. There’s Devin Goldberg, Matt Fattore and JR Rosado, as well as Frankie Verano, out part of last year due to injury.

Goldberg hit .400 last year with 27 runs batted in and a home run. Fattore hit .395, and will also pitch, healthy again after having tendinitis issues last year. And Verano hit close to .500 on the season.

Besides Fattore, Newill will look to Owen Crimmins and Kellen Komline, who were starting pitchers as a sophomore and freshman, respectively.

Click below to hear Bridgewater-Raritan head coach Max Newill talk about the Panthers’ 2024 season:

by Mike Pavlichko

Bridgewater-Raritan’s veteran group a model of consistency heading into North 2, Group 4 final

When you only lose back-to-back games once in a season, and the second of those came after a stinging defeat by a single run to eventual Somerset County Tournament champion Rutgers Prep in the semifinals, you know your team is rock-steady.

Second-seeded Bridgewater-Raritan hopes to bring that consistency again Friday afternoon when the Panthers host fifth-seed Bayonne in the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 title game in Bridgewater.

Central Jersey Sports Radio will have all the live play-by-play of the game, starting with pregame at 2:45 pm, with first pitch at 3:00. Mike Pavlichko and Dom Savino will call all the action. Click here to listen.

The Panthers (23-6) are led by a veteran lineup, with junior Matthew Fattore hitting .390 with a team-leading 27 RBIs, just five points behind Devin Goldberg, pacing B-R with a .395 average, 34 hits and 39 runs scored.

Pitching has also been solid, with head coach Max Newill expected to at least have a better idea who will go after Thursday afternoon’s practice. Noah Matheson has pitched to a 2.69 ERA, while Matt Fattore has pitched to a 0.37 ERA in 19 innings, and either could go for the Panthers.

It’ll be a matchup of two state-ranked teams, with Bridgewater checking in at No. 18 in the latest rankings, while the Bees (24-6) are at No. 15, an atypical five-seed.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with Bridgewater-Raritan head coach Max Newill:

by Mike Pavlichko

Combined one-hitter sends top-seed Bridgewater-Raritan to SCT semis with 5-0 win over Immaculata

Immaculata led off Tuesday’s Somerset County Tournament quarterfinal game with a single, and when two walks followed – even after the leadoff man was caught stealing – things were looking a little iffy for top-seed Bridgewater-Raritan and starter Matt Fattore.

But Fattore got out of the inning with a fly out and a strikeout, and the Panthers ended up with a combined one-hitter to get them past No. 9 seed Immaculata, 5-0 – as heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio, presented by Zoned Sports Academy – and advance to Thursday’s 4 pm SCT Semifinal at TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater.

Bridgewater (11-1) will play 12-seed Rutgers Prep, which beat upset 4-seed Somerville 3-2 at Torpey Field.

After a brief conversation with head coach Max Newill as he came off the mound – Fattore wanted to stay in – he got moved to first base due to some arm soreness, and Noah Matheson came in to pitch.

The senior – sporting a 1.40 ERA on the season – pitched four no-hit innings to get the win, while Corey Rible tossed the last four, also without allowing another hit.

The Panthers got what turned out to be the only run they would need in the fourth inning. Matt Fattore beat out an infield hit, then moved to second on a walk to his older brother, Michael. Kevin Lee hit a ball to short, and reached on a 4-6 fielder’s choice beating out the double-play ball at first.

With runners at the corners, Lee took off before the next pitch to the plate, pitcher Josh Thompson threw to second base where Jayson Labrador was covering, but when Matt Fattore took off from third, he realized he couldn’t make the throw to the plate; arm trouble sidelined him has a fielder for the first two weeks of the season, and after some time at first, this was his first game of the year at second base.

So, he conceded the run, and Bridgewater had a 1-0 lead.

They would then add four more in the fifth, thanks to a two-RBI single by Jimmy Turchi and an RBI single by Mike Fattore.

The win went to Matheson, who’s now 2-0 on the year. Starter Josh Thompson took the loss to fall to 0-3 for Immaculata, now 2-7.

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Click below for postgame reaction presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

Bridgewater-Raritan senior pitcher Matheson
Bridgewater-Raritan head coach Max Newill
by Mike Pavlichko

Bridgewater-Raritan makes case for No. 1 seed in SCT with statement win over Hunterdon Central

They’ve knocked off a pretty solid North Jersey program in St. Joe’s of Montvale. Earlier this week, they blanked defending Somerset County Tournament Champion and state-ranked Ridge.

And Thursday afternoon, Bridgewater-Raritan knocked off another state-ranked foe, defending North 2, Group 4 champ and 2022 statewide Group 4 runner-up Hunterdon Central.

The 4-2 victory puts the Panthers in first place in the Skyland Conference Delaware Division at 4-0, a half-game ahead of the Red Devils, who are 3-1 in the Delaware.

But not only that, it makes a strong case that Bridgewater-Raritan should be the top seed in the Somerset County Tournament. With a compressed season this year after the NJSIAA made changes to the year-round sports calendar, the seeding meeting is Monday night at Immaculata High School, and this was BR’s last conference game before the confab at Immaculata.

Tournament play opens Wednesday, April 19th, with the top four teams getting byes to the qaurterfinals, to be played at higher seeds, on Tuesday, April 25th.

The Panthers – who are now 5-1 overall – scored three times in the third inning, and though Central got back two in the fourth, BR added an insurance run in the seventh and hung on with some solid starting and relief pitching.

Starter Jason Cozzi went four innings for the win, allowing two runs and striking out six, Cory Rible and Stephen Colon combined for three shutout innings to close it out.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk with Bridgewater-Raritan head coach Max Newill about the win, and the Panthers; hot start to the season so far:

by Mike Pavlichko

Bridgewater seeking early jump on Ridge when they meet in Saturday’s sectional semis

There’s a lot of familiarty between Ridge and Bridgewater-Raritan. They’re Skyland Conference Delaware Division mates, and they even met in the Somerset County Tournament semifinals.

The Red Devils have won all three games, and in all three matchups, have scored first.

That’s a trend the 7th-seeded Panthers (15-12) hope to reverse in Saturday’s North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 quarterfinal round, when they face 2nd-seed Ridge (23-3) for a fourth time in 2022.

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That game can be heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with Mike Pavlichko calling all the action from Basking Ridge. First pitch is set for 2:00, with pregame at 1:45; click here to listen live.

Ridge won the first meeting in mid-April, 10-2, an odd game that spanned more than one day, thanks to weather. The Red Devils won again 3-1 in the Somerset County Tournament semifinals, and 5-3 just a week later.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Bridgewater-Raritan head coach Max Newill:

by Mike Pavlichko

Tall task for Bridgewater-Raritan in SCT semis, but Panthers feel like they’ve turned a corner

The Bridgewater-Raritan baseball team had won five of six games before what head coach Max Newill says was a clunker against North Hunterdon.

He hopes it was just getting one out of their system before Monday night’s Somerset County Tournament semifinals, where the fourth-seeded Panthers (9-8) will take on top-seed Ridge (14-2) at TD Bank Park in Bridgewater.

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In those five wins, Newill says his team had been hitting the ball better, but also getting more bang for their buck. You’ve heard of hitting it where they ain’t? The Panthers were hitting it were they were.

They were hitting the ball hard, but not getting much to show for it.

While the two teams have faced each other once already this season, a 10-2 Ridge win on April 18, the game was actually played over two days, after heavy rain and lightning suspended the game. And neither coach really believes it was representative of what we’ll see Monday night at 7 pm, in a game that can be heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas will call all the play-by-play live, immediately following the 4 pm semifinal between second-seed Somerville and 6th-seed Rutgers Prep.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk withg Bridgewater-Raritan head coach Max Newill:

by Mike Pavlichko

In a tight Delaware Division, Somerville and Bridgewater-Raritan get set to battle

It’s their first meeting this year, and their final one won’t be until the Somerset County Tournament is over.

Thursday afternoon, No. 3 Bridgewater-Raritan and No. 4 Somerville will square off in a juxtaposition of opposites. The Pioneers (5-3) are a mostly veteran club that can hit, while the Panthers (4-4) are still working things out, trying to find the right combination on a team filled with youngsters.

But like they say in rivalry games, throw out the records, and let the chips fall where they may.

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You can hear Thursday’s game on Central Jersey Sports Radio with Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas calling all the action at 3:45 pm, with pregame at 3:30. Click here to listen live, and for free.

The ‘Ville can score a lot of runs, but has been a bit of an enigma this season. They blanked a very good Montgomery team 13-0, but lost 18-8 to Hunterdon Central, a team that started the year in the statewide Top 20, but now is battling it out in the division with Somerville (both are 4-2 in the Division) and B-R (which is 4-3). Somerville also has a good 5-1 win over Monroe, but lost to Skyland Conference Delaware Division-leader Ridge 14-7.

Bridgewater, on the other hand, though just 4-4, has two of those losses to South Jersey teams in Rancocas Valley and Egg Harbor Township, the latest coming Wednesday, 5-2 to EHT.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko talk to both head coaches ahead of Thursday afternoon’s divisional contest:

Somerville head coach Chris Banos
Bridgewater-Raritan head coach Max Newill