Tag: Mike Murray

May 13, 2023 by Mike Pavlichko

St. Joseph rallies for two late runs to get by South Plainfield 2-1, earning third straight trip to GMCT title game

South Plainfield’s Aldo Pigna kept St. Joseph of Metuchen’s feared lineup in check for most of the game.

But not all of the game.

After the seventh-seeded Tigers got on the board first in the fifth inning to go ahead 1-0, the third-seeded Falcons nearly batted around in the bottom of the seventh and went ahead 2-1, then kept South Plainfield off the board in the seventh for the win, as heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio, driven by Auto Lounge of Edison.

St. Joe’s (15-7) now will face either top-seed and defending champion North Brunswick or fourth-seed Monroe in next week’s finals. It’ll be the third straight trip to the GMC Finals for the Falcons, who won in 2021, but lost last year to North Brunswick. They are 7-2 all-time in the finals.

South Plainfield dropped to 11-11 with the loss.

The Tigers scored a run in the fourth with two outs. Jay Alvarez doubled over the left fielder’s head, then Ashton Donovan drove him in with a single to center field.

But with Pigna moving right along, he lost his control of the strike zone in the sixth.

Josiah Brown singled to lead off the inning, then Tyler DelVecchio walked. Matthew Kosuda then followed it up with a single to tie the game at one.

After another walk to Joseph Zammiti to load the bases, still with none out, Christian Azcona popped up into foul territory for the first out. Pinch hitter Connor Drury struck out for the second, but a walk to nine-hitter Bobby Christiansen drove in the second run,

Pigna stuck in there, though and got Mark Gialluisi on a groundout to end the inning and strand the bases loaded, limiting further damage.

But in the last chance in the seventh, South Plainfield would threaten. Donovan led off with a single, then Kevin Penny followed with another after Brandon Bickunas flew out to center for the first out. Brian Potts flew out to left before Brian Rios came in to close it out.

And he did, getting the save after flying out Nick Irizarry to right on one pitch to end the game.

Click below for postgame reaction presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

St. Joseph starting pitcher Jimmy Mulvaney

St. Joseph head coach Mike Murray

May 12, 2023May 12, 2023 by Mike Pavlichko

St. Joseph’s bats held down the fort while the pitching found its groove

Baseball is truly unlike any other sport.

But rather than extol its virtues, the one detriment is that pitching takes time.

It takes time to get the feel of the ball, rediscover the mechanics, find a connection with your catcher, and so on. It’s why spring training for Major League ball players is about six weeks.

So when you have significantly more inexperienced pitchers – i.e., high schoolers – getting only about a week to figure it out due to the new NJSIAA calendar, well, the results don’t automatically come right off the bat, so to speak.

Good thing St. Joseph of Metuchen coach Mike Murray has kids like Robbie Carvelli, Josiah Brown, Christian Azcona, and veteran catcher Mark Gialluisi in the lineup.

Their bats helped St. Joe’s in the early going, and now that the pitching has come around, the Falcons are playing their best baseball at the right time: in the county tournament.

Saturday, third-seeded St. Joseph (13-7, pending Friday’s game at Bridgewater-Raritan) will take on 7th seed South Plainfield (11-10) in the first game of the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament semifinals at East Brunswick Magnet School’s Ray Cipperly Field.

Game time is 12:00, the first of two semifinal games, both of which you can hear on Central Jersey Sports Radio – driven by Auto Lounge of Edison beginning at 12:40 pm with Mike Pavlichko and Justin Sontupe calling all the action. Click here to listen.

The Falcons are seeking their third straight trip to the GMC Tournament title game, having won the event in 2021 – the first year after COVID – but falling last year to North Brunswick in the finals.

And should they reach their tenth GMC championship game overall – where they are 7-2 all-time, with six shutout wins – it could be a rematch of last year’s final, with top-seed and defending champion North Brunswick taking on fourth-seed Monroe in the other semifinal at 2:30, which can also be heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

Click below to hear Centreal Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with St. Joseph head coach Mike Murray about the progression of his team in 2023:

May 10, 2023May 11, 2023 by Mike Pavlichko

St. Joseph-Metuchen blanks Spotswood 7-0 to move on the GMCT quarterfinals

Everyone knows what kind of scrappy team Spotswood can be, but St. third-seed Joseph-Metuchen made sure the 11th-seeded Chargers didn’t get a chance to pick at them with their trademark small ball.

The Falcons defeated Spotswood 7-0 Wednesday in the GMC Tournament quarterfinals presented by Auto Lounge of Edison to advance to Saturday’s semifinals, against either 7-seed South Plainfield or 2-seed Old Bridge.

St. Joe’s (14-7) was powered by two big innings, scoring six of its seven runs in the second and fifth innings.

In the first, leadoff hitter Mark Gialluisi singled up the middle, then proceeded to steal second and third. The throw by Spotswood to third was off-target, and it allowed Gialluisi to score.

William Ramsay followed it up in the next inning with a two-run home run off Spotswood’s Carter Cumiskey.

In the fifth, Matthew Kosuda hit a long blast to left for a three-run home run that extended the Falcons’ lead, and forced Cumiskey out of the game.

For Spotswood (15-5), it was a game of missed opportunities. The Chargers left 13 men on base, twice leaving the bases loaded. For a team that thrives on making contact and getting action on the basepaths, they worked their game plan well but couldn’t convert where it counted the most.

On the pitching side, Matthew Friedman gave St. Joe’s three solid innings, working in and out of trouble but keeping the Chargers off the scoreboard. Mike Dasilva and Bryan Rios combined to strike out seven Spotswood hitters in their four combined innings of relief.

Cumiskey was solid aside from the long ball, and Jackson Walsh struck out three of the five hitters he faced.

Click below for postgame reaction presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

St. Jopseh LF Matt Kosuda

St. Joseph head coach Mike Murray

April 18, 2023April 18, 2023 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.

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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

March 28, 2023March 25, 2023 by Mike Pavlichko

St. Joseph-Metuchen will rely on new top pitchers, heavy-hitting senior lineup in ’23

Two of the best pitchers – and there were many great ones – in the Greater Middlesex Conference have graduated from St. Joseph of Metuchen.

But two others will see their roles amplified this year, while a veteran, slugging lineup returns for the Falcons, making them again one of the favorites to go all the way in the GMC in 2023.

Donovan Szak and Andrew Goldan are gone – not too far away at Rutgers – but with both having dealt with some injuries last season, it got Bryan Rios and Jimmy Mulvaney more experience as juniors. This season, as seniors, they’ll be called upon to get the ball in big spots for Joe’s as seniors.

But one area seventh-year head coach Mike Murray shouldn’t have to worry about is the batting order.

Well, let’s clarify that: his only worry may be figuring out who are the best nine players to write on his scorecard.

Christian Azcona, Josiah Brown, Robbie Carvelli, and Mark Gialluisi are all back, and the trick will be figuring out where to fit in some of the younger players to get them experience while also winning ball games in the very tough Red Division.

The Falcons open their season on Tuesday, April 4th at home against Monroe, and we’ll have St. Joe’s on the air on Central Jersey Sports Radio on Tuesday, April 18th for a 4 pm game against defending GMC Tournament champ North Brunswick, in a rematch of last year’s county final, the second game of a back-to-back home-and-home set.

Click below to hear more about the 2023 St. Joseph Falcons as head coach Mike Murray talks with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

May 21, 2022May 23, 2022 by Mike Pavlichko

St. Joseph pecks away at Woodbridge to earn second straight trip to GMC title tilt

There was one big inning, when St. Joe’s batted around, sending nine men to the plate in the fourth.

And still, they could have had more, but only came away with three runs.

There were a lot of small crooked numbers on the scoreboard when all was said and done, as the top-seeded Falcons scored in all but one of the six innings in which they batted, in a 10-1 victory over 5th-sedd Woodbridge in the GMC Tournament semifinals Saturday, as heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

Now, the defending champions will get to try to make it two titles in a row, something no other team in the league has done since 2008 and 2009, which also happens to be the last time the Falcons did it.

The top-seeded Falcons will face 6th-seed South Brunswick in the GMC Tournament championship game next Saturday at 2 pm at Ray Cipperly Field on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

The guns were out Saturday afternoon at Cipperly Field – radar guns, that is – as MLB prospect Donovan Zsak took the mound to start the game. But it was only his fifth appearance of the year, as he eases back into things following Tommy John surgery that forced him to miss all of last year.

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And though he only allowed a single run – in the third inning – and he had his velocity, he struggled and labored in the heat – 93 degrees with a heat index of 97 at first pitch.

In his four innings of work, Zsak struck out five, walked three, and allowed just five hits, but he was going deep into counts, going full count on five batters. Woodbridge also wasted several two-strike pitches with a plethora of foul balls, making Zsak work even harder.

Normally, chasing him from a game would be a good thing. But not when the opponent is St. Joe’s, and when head coach Mike Murray has Rutgers-bound senior Andrew Goldan waiting in the wings.

Maybe the scouts, who cleared out like someone had yelled “fire” in a crowded theater once Zsak was in the dugout for good, should have stuck around to see what Goldan could do. In four innings of work, he blanked the Barrons, allowing just three hits – all singles, one of them an infield hit. He struck out seven and walked none.

All the while St. Joe’s was adding to a 3-1 lead. After picking up two in the first, and getting back the run Woodbridge got in the top of the third on a sac fly by Christian Azcona, the Falcons got scored three times in the fourth, three more times in the fifth, and one more time in the sixth, for good measure, teasing the ten-run rule, leaving six runners on base in their final three at bats.

And St. Joe’s didn’t exactly crush the ball, nor did they play small ball. They only had four extra base hits among their 11 in the game, plus a two-base error on Woodbridge left fielder Tim Deignan.

With Eddie Nunez and Josh Vazquez entirely unavailable – spent in the first round and quarterfinals to get here, Matt Troche started the game for Woodbridge (19-5) and took the loss, allowing six runs in three and one-third innings of work.

Zsak got the win for Joe’s (20-6).

Click below for postgame reaction from St. Joseph’s win over Woodbridge in the GMC Tournament Semifinals:

St. Joseph senior Andrew Goldan

St. Joseph head coach Mike Murray

Notes and Nuggets:

Among the best: The win by St. Joseph puts the Falcons in their ninth GMC Tournament final, all since 2004. And that ties Edison for the most appearances ever in the GMC title game, with nine, although the Eagles did it all from 1990 to 2001, and haven’t been back since.

Gunning for the best: St. Joe’s is also one title shy of Edison’s record eight GMCT crowns. They’re 7-1 all-time in the finals, while Edison is 8-1.

Back-to-back: If the Falcons can win the title, it will be the second time they won it back-to-back, having also turned the trick in 2008 and 2009, the last GMC team to do so. Only one other team has won at least consecutive titles. Edison won in back-to-back years in 1998 and 1999, and before that won four in a row from 1992 to 1995.

Nice game: Thomas Zammitti had a good day at the plate for the Falcons, with three singles, a run batted in, two runs scored and a walk. Josiah Brown knocked in two runs on a 2-for-2 day. He scored in the first, had a walk in the third, drove in a run in the fourth, and had another run score when he reached on a two-base error in the fifth.

Spreading the love: Six different Falcons scored in five of St. Joe’s six at bats. Will Ramsay and Zammitti scored twice. Mark Gialluisi had three runs scored.

May 20, 2022May 20, 2022 by Mike Pavlichko

Defending GMCT champ St. Joe’s has dominated all year, looks to continue the trend in Saturday’s semis

Only one GMC team has beaten St. Joseph-Metuchen all year. In a 19-6 season, only Old Bridge – which was knocked out of the tournament in the quarterfinals by Woodbridge – has beaten the Falcons, doing so by a 3-0 score on May 9th at Fred Cole Field.

Other than that, it’s been all Ws in GMC play in 2022.

Last season’s team had three league losses, but it didn’t seem to matter. They got the second-seed in the county tournament, but they didn’t care. They won the whole damn thing anyway.

And they’re poised to do it again.

The Falcons are blessed with as many solid starting arms as the day is long, and they’ll go with one who wasn’t even playing last year: dominant Donovan Zsak, who’s been nearly impossible to hit this season.

Zsak is 4-0 this year, easing back from an injury that kept him out all last year, with a 0.75 ERA, striking out 43 while walking just ten.

The top-seeded, defending champion Falcons are looking to get to a second straight title game for the first time since they won back-to-back titles in 2008 and 2009.

Only two other teams have done that since. North Brunswick made it in 2009 and 2010, losing both times, their only finals appearances, while South Brunswick made it back-to-back in 2019 and 2021 (there was no season, and thus no tournament, due to COVID in 2020); they also lost both, including last season to St. Joe’s, 2-0.

To get there, the Falcons will have to get past 5th-seed Woodbridge (19-4), which upset fourth-seed Old Bridge in the semifinals, 3-1, Tuesday night at North Brunswick Community Park.

You can hear the game live on Central Jersey Sports Radio – driven by Dayton Toyota Service, Route 130 in South Brunswick – beginning at 2:30, shortly after the opening game of the semifinal doubleheader, featuring 6th-seed North Brunswick and 7th-seed East Brunswick.

Mike Pavichko and Justin Sontupe will call all the action live from Ray Cipperly Field at East Brunswick Tech; click here to listen.

Click below to hear St. Joseph-Metuchen head coach Mike Murray talk with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

April 20, 2022April 20, 2022 by Mike Pavlichko

On a quiet day for the bats, pitching paves the way for St. Joe’s in 3-0 win over Monroe

One thing can be sure when two pitchers with ERAs under two take the mound; it will be a pitcher’s duel, or a 13-11 game.

It was Option A on Wednesday afternoon in the first of a home-and-home between No. 5 Monroe and top-ranked St. Joe’s in Metuchen, as the home team Falcons won 3-0 behind a combined three-hitter from senior Andrew Goldan and junior Jimmy Mulvaney, as heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

The victorious Falcons scored once in the first and twice in the second, and it was all they wold need. Shortstop Josiah Brown worked out a one-out walk in the first, stole second, and came around to score on an RBI single by first-baseman Tyler DelVecchio.

In the second, Joe’s got consecutive singles from Jack Kern, Xavier Arana and Mark Gialluisi, and DelVecchio walked do bring on the second run of the game. Robbie Carvelli struck out, and Tyler DelVecchio got plunked to earn his second RBI the hard way, making it 3-0.

Goldan, working on a pitch count, worked the first three innings, allowing just four baserunners, on two walks, an infield hit, and on a double play try that ended up as a 6-4 fielder’s choice.

Mulvaney started the fourth and retired the first six Monroe hitters he face, allowing only two singles the rest of the way: one to lead off the sixth, and the other with two outs in the seventh.

Goldan got the win to improve to 2-0, while Mulvaney locked down the save, his first. Monroe sophomore Harrison Lollin pitched well enough to win against most other pitchers in the league – eight hits, three runs and four strikeouts in five and two-thirds innings, but took the loss, to fall to 1-2.

Click below for postgame interviews from St. Joe’s win over Monroe:

Junior pitcher Jimmy Mulvaney

Head coach Mike Murray

April 18, 2022April 19, 2022 by Mike Pavlichko

Top-ranked St. Joe’s opens huge Red Divsion home-and-home with No. 9 Monroe in Metuchen Wednesday

Last season, Monroe beat St. Joseph in Metuchen late in the year to earn the top-seed in the GMC Tournament. The purple-and-gold-Falcons got knocked out early, while the ones in green won the whole thing.

So in the end, does this week’s home-and-home between the two teams really matter?

Absolutely.

Monroe-St. Joe’s has become one of those games both teams, and even fans of some others, will circle on the calendar. After rain made many grass fields across the state unplayable Tuesday, the opener of the series now will be in Metuchen at 11 am Wednesday. That was originally to be the rematch game, but now that will be Thursday at 9:30 am in Monroe.

Central Jersey Sports Radio will broadcast Wednesday’s contest from Metuchen, with Mike Pavlichko calling all the action, beginning with pregame at 10:45 am, and first pitch at 11. Click here to listen live, and for free.

St. Joe’s (6-0) has been atop the Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten the entire season, and is one of three undefeated teams left in the Greater Middlesex Conference, after East Brunswick Tech (5-1) lost Monday at Carteret. Spotswood (7-0) and Timothy Christian (2-0) are the other unbeaten teams in the league.

Monroe (6-2) has only one league loss, by two runs to Old Bridge. Their other loss came Saturday against Somerville.

Click below to hear both coaches talk about their teams and preview the matchup:

St. Joseph-Metuchen head coach Mike Murray

Monroe head coach Sean Field

June 6, 2021June 6, 2021 by Mike Pavlichko

“Goldan!” St. Joes wins seventh GMC Tournament title behind scoreless, 10 K effort from Andrew Goldan

It was another sterling, dominating, phenomenal – name another adjective – pitching performance from junior Andrew Goldan, who struck out ten in six and two-thirds scoreless innings to lead St. Joseph of Metuchen to its seventh GMC tournament crown.

The second-seeded Falcons beat fifth-seed South Brunswick 2-0 Monday at Ray Cipperly Field in East Brunswick, in a game heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio and powered by Bellamy & Son Paving.

Goldan finished the GMC’s 3-0, allowing only one earned run in 20 1/3 innings, striking out 20. His ERA in the three GMC games was 0.34.

St. Joe’s got a run in the second when Christian Azcona singled to lead off, and Jack Kern reached on a bunt, and an error on South Brunswick catcher Joey Chegus on the throw to first.

Colin Layner walked to load the bases and Xavier Arana walked to drive in the run.

The Falcons manufactured an insurance run the hard way in the third, when Robbie Carvelli led off with a double, and Tyler Delvecchio singled to move Carvelli’s pinch runner, Ryan Kim, him to third.

After a popup to second by Azcona, Kern laid down a perfectly executed suicide squeeze to bring in Kim from third.

St. Joseph (18-11) is now 7-1 all-time in the GMC title game, with all those wins coming since 2004. South Brunswick (14-9) is 2-2 all-time in GMC finals, and has lost two straight.