Mike Murray – Page 3 – Central Jersey Sports Radio

They’ve got one for the thumb, plus one more.

When 2nd-seed St. Joseph of Metuchen takes on 5th-seed South Brunswick Sunday afternoon for the GMC Tournament title, the Falcons will be gunning for lucky Number Seven.

You can hear Sunday’s game live on Central Jersey Sports Radio – presented by Bellamy & Son Paving – with a special extended pregame show beginning at 11:15. Mike Pavlichko and Dom Savino will call all the action, and you can listen by clicking here.

St. Joe’s has only lost one GMC Tournament final in baseball – in 2005 to East Brunswick – although the school had a long absence from any kind of county final before that.

Before their 2004 appearance in the title tilt – when they beat Carteret 6-0 – they had not been to a GMC or Middlesex County Coaches’ Association final since 1968, a whopping three-decade-plus drought.

Not only did the drought end there, but the Falcons made it to four of the next five finals, winning three of them, in 2006, 2008 and 2009. They added two more in 2014 and 2017, with the 2014 title coming in dramatic fashion.

That year, the Falcons beat South Plainfield 1-0 on a walk-off walk with the bases loaded.

For St. Joe’s, it will start with pitching, as junior Andrew Goldan takes the mound, coming off a one-run, six-strikeout performance against Edison in the semifinals.

On the season, he’s 6-0 with a miniscule 0.61 earned run average.

Who he’ll go against is up in the air, as South Brunswick’s top starters are both available.

Joey Tuttoilmondo was stellar against North Brunswick in the Vikings’ semifinal win, while Frankie Sanchez closed it out. Neither will have any pitch count restrictions Sunday against St. Joseph.

Click below to hear Falcons’ head coach Mike Murray talk about the GMC Finals matchup vs. South Brunswick:

St. Joseph junior Andrew Goldan knew he could only throw about 75 pitches heading into Monday’s game at Old Bridge.

Having had a ten-day layoff between appearances due to some tendinitis in his throwing arm, and having thrown over 40 pitches in a relief win over South Brunswick Saturday, head coach Mike Murray had him on a strict pitch count.

So despite having no-hit the Knights through five innings of work, Goldan’s day was done. And it was a sold day’s work, which the bullpen closed out for a 4-1 win over Old Bridge in a GMC Red Division game.

He faced only three more batters than the minimum and set Old Bridge down 1-2-3 in three of his five innings. The final book said no runs, no hits, three walks and six strikeouts and rarely went deep in the count, only reaching three balls on the three hitters he walked.

The win improves St. Joe’s to 7-3 overall, and 7-0 in the GMC Red Division, where they remain tied with Monroe for first place. The Falcons improved to 7-0 in the division with a 3-1 home win Monday over Perth Amboy.

Click below to hear postgame reaction from St. Joe’s 4-1 win over Old Bridge.