Montgomery rallied three times – the last time coming in the bottom of the seventh inning – to beat Pingry in a Skyland Conference crossover game, 11-10, with a two-out, bases loaded, walk-off infield hit by senior Evan Puleio.
Click below to listen to Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas call all the play-by-play live from TD Bank Park in Bridgewater on April 11, 2026.
One thing about baseball: the bats could be alive one day and completely dormant the next.
The Montgomery bats had mostly been dormant this season, with the Cougars hitting just .182 coming into Saturday afternoon’s Skyland Conference crossover game at TD Bank Park in Bridgewater, heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.
But Saturday, everything clicked, even if it took them a while to get going.
Montgomery rallied three times against the Big Blue. Down 4-0 after the first half inning, the Cougars got a run back in the bottom, then four more in the third to take their first lead of the game at 5-4.
Pingry got three back in the fifth to take a 7-5 lead, and added one more in the sixth, but Montgomery tied it at eight with three in the sixth.
Then, after the Big Blue got two in the top of the seventh, Monty walked it off with three in the bottom of the inning, to pull to within a game of .500 at 3-4. Pingry dropped to 2-3.
In the decisive eighth, Montgomery had to feel good about its chances with the top of the order coming up, after the bottom half of the order had forced an 8-8 tie in the sixth.
With one out, Mason Neufield hit a double into the gap in left, and Henry Maddox – who had four hits in the game: two singles, a double and a triple – drove him in with a single to cut the deficit to 10-9.
Liam McDonald singled to move him to third, and Kenta Komatsu walked to lead the bases. Patrick Fogarty – who started the game on the mound and by now was playing shortstop, drove in the tying tun with a fly ball to right field, scoring Maddox.
Then Puleio worked the count to 3-2, and with the runners off with the pitch, knuckled a ball halfway down the third-base line. Pingry’s Sam deLaurier charged it as McDonnell slid safely into home, and somehow he got a throw off to first. But Puleio – a catcher – legged it out, beating the throw, setting off a wild celebration along the first base side.
It was the most runs Montgomery had scored since a 13-1 season-opening win over Warren Hills. They had scored just six runs in the five games that followed, going 1-4, including a 4-0 shutout at the hands of North Hunterdon. And they knocked out 12 hits in the game as well.
All this despite the fact Monty left nine runners on base through the first six innings, not counting those left on with the walk-off win.
The win went to Mason Neufeld in relief, the fourth pitcher used by head coach Pete Meuller. Neufeld threw one inning and gave up two runs to improve to 2-1 on the year. Michael Cardona – Pingry’s sixth pitcher of the day – took the loss, pitching the seventh; he’s now 2-1.
Click below for postgame reaction presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen with Montgomery’s Evan Puleio, Henry Maddox and head coach Pete Mueller:
After rolling with an underclassman-heavy squad last year, there’s no shortage of familiar faces in the Pingry dugout this season.
The Big Blue have brought back almost their entire roster, graduating only four seniors from the 2025 season. Pingry’s offense returns several hitters who played key roles at a young age, as three of the top four RBI leaders – Aaron Wu, Sam de Laurier and Riley Wong – were freshmen or sophomores last season.
The Big Blue split the first four games of the season at 2-2, most recently going 1-1 against Warren Hills. The trio of Wu, de Laurier and Varneckas has picked up right where it left off: they have ten of Pingry’s 18 RBIs so far this season.
They’ll take all that offense to TD Bank Park in Bridgewater Saturday afternoon, as the Big Blue battle Montgomery (2-4) in a Valley-Raritan Division crossover in Skyland Conference play. You can hear that game live on Central Jersey Sports Radio at 2 pm, with pregame set for 1:40. Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas are on the call; click here to listen.
On the pitching side, And four different pitchers have taken the mound already for Pingry, three with good starts, as senior Michael Cardona leads the way with a 1.27 ERA in 11 innings thrown. Langston McDonald (2.47 ERA) and Shane Varneckas (3.32 ERA) have also seen a heavy workload early this season.
They’ll face a Montgomery lineup that, thus far, has struggled a bit at the plate, but probably won’t for long. Sophomore Michael Englert, who went 3-for-5 with a triple and five RBI in the season-opener against Warren Hills – a 13-1 victory – could be back in the lineup Saturday after tweaking his knee in that game.
Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Chris Tsakonas talk with Pingry head coach Anthony Feltre:
Peter Mueller – the veteran skipper who has been the Montgomery baseball coach for a quarter century, racking up over 300 wins – knows a thing or two about getting a team ready for the season.
He felt really confident about his team heading into 2026 with a good mix of veterans and younger players, and he still does, despite a 2-4 start to the season against a challenging schedule that’s included the likes of Ridge – a Somerset County Tournament finalist from a year ago, as well as a Hillsborough team that won Central Jersey Group 4, and always-tough-to-beat North Hunterdon.
And well he should.
Saturday afternoon, the Cougars get a chance to move within a game of .500 when they play the home team against Pingry at TD Bank Park in Bridgewater. It’s a 2 pm game you can hear on Central Jersey Sports Radio with Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas. Pregame is set for 1:40, click here to listen.
One of the bright spots so far at the plate has been junior Alex Bender, who’s hitting .412 with five runs scored and three stolen bases. Sophomore Michael Englert, an “insanely athletic” left fielder who went 3-for-5 with a triple and five RBI in the season opener – a 13-1 win over Warren Hills – tweaked his knee in that game, and has missed the last five games, but could be back in the lineup against the Big Blue.
On the mound, the Cougars have gotten some good work, but just been on the wrong end of a couple of tough games. And it’s an experienced group, too. Senior Jake Hayes already has thrown a dozen innings, with a 2.84 ERA, but he’s 1-2 on the season, while fellow senior Liam McDonnell is 0-1, but with an ERA of just 1.91. He gave up just two earned runs in a 4-1 loss to Hightstown.
Click below to hear Montgomery head coach Peter Mueller talk about the early season and Saturday’s matchup against Pingry with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:
After a third straight sectional championship in Central Jersey Group 4, and a second straight trip to the Group 4 state finals, Montgomery boys’ basketball coach Kris Grundy has been honored with the John Wooden Legacy Award, given annually to one boys’ and girls’ coach in every state.
It’s from the New Jersey and National High School Basketball Coaches association in conjunction with the John Wooden Family and the Wooden Foundation.
The award goes to a “long-time, active basketball coach who also serves as an outstanding educator and who, through their excellence on the court, in the classroom and in the community, embodies the characteristics of coach John Wooden – Excellence, Longevity, Character, Leadership and Service,” according to the NCBCA website.
Grundy told Central Jersey Sports Radio Monday he was “extremely honored and surprised” when he got the news.
“Obviously, to win an award that has Coach Wooden’s name attached to it is something I never would have dreamed of when I started this journey over 20 years ago,” Grundy said.
Grundy received the award at the NJBCA North/South All-Star Game at Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft, where Penn-bound senior point guard and two-time Central Jersey Sports Radio Somerset County Boys’ Player of the Year Ethan Lin represented Montgomery on the South squad.
“What made the day even more special,” Grundy added, “other than the fact that I had family members there to celebrate with me was the fact that one of my mentors, Jim Baglin, the legendary coach for Mendham High School, also got honored with a lifetime achievement award. So it was cool for him to be able to see me receive this award, considering how instrumental he has been in my development as a coach.”
The Cougars went 26-5 this past season, with only two public school losses – to Linden in the regular season by two, and to Plainfield in the state final – while winning the Central Jersey Group 4 title in an overtime thriller on the road against neighbor and rival Hillsborough. They finished the year with a No. 3 ranking in the Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten.mon
“Obviously, this was a very emotional season for a variety of reasons,” said Grundy, “and I know that my dad, although not here in person, was looking down with so much pride when I received the award.”
Grundy’s father, Michael, passed away at the age of 77 on February 23rd of this year, three days before the Cougars’ opening game in the Central Jersey Group 4 sectional playoffs, in which they beat Manalapan, 76-40.
Grundy says he “can’t stress to everyone enough that this award would not have been possible without the support of my wife, Megan, my three boys – Jack, Ryan and Matty – and a coaching staff, administration, booster club and an alumni base that is second to none.”
With a dozen regular season games, plus coverage of the GMC and Somerset County Tournaments – as well as state tournament coverage to be announced at a later date – Central Jersey Sports Radio has announced its 2026 high school baseball broadcast schedule.
It all gets started next week, with our opener on Tuesday, March 31 at 4 pm between defending 2025 SCT champion Immaculata and NJSIAA Central Jersey Group 4 winner Hillsborough. Then, after the calendar turns to April mid-week, we get state Group 1 champion Middlesex visiting Spotswood, on Thursday, April 2.
Coverage also includes two regular season games at TD Bank Park in Bridgewater – Montgomery vs Pingry on April 11, and Rutgers Prep against South Plainfield two Saturdays later – as well as the semifinals and finals of the Somerset County Tournament on April 18th and 20th, respectively.
The schedule includes three of last year’s SCT semifinalists, and all four of 2025’s GMC Tournament semifinalists, including a rematch of the title game between Edison and St. Joseph-Metuchen, and a rematch on the Invitational final between New Brunswick and East Brunswick Magnet.
Last year’s North 2, Group 3 winner South Plainfield also is on the schedule, as well as finalist Colonia.
When high school basketball teams open their preseason, hitting the gym in earnest for the first time, they can set all kinds of different goals. For most with high-end aspirations, there are four main ones: win the division, win the county, win a sectional, win a state championship.
In 2025-26, it was check, check, check, and check one more time for Gill St. Bernard’s. And that’s why they finish as the No. 1 team in the final Bellamy & Son Paving Boys’ Basketball rankings of the year.
With a mark of 28-2, the Knights won the Skyland Conference Delaware Division, and while they played though the division only once due to the new alignment, they decided to play Rutgers Prep twice anyway, the last meeting coming after the SCT seeding meeting, and took both matchups. They then beat the Argonauts in the Somerset County Tournament final, went on to avenge a defeat at the hands of Roselle Catholic in the Non-Public Group B title game, then put on a defensive masterclass in the Non-Public B state final at Rutgers, beating Holy Cross Prep of Delran to win the program’s first state title in school history
The Knights are followed by a very close second in St. Joseph-Metuchen. In their first season under alum Mark Taylor – in his second go-round coaching the Falcons – they went 29-2, their lone loss coming to South Plainfield by one on the road before falling in the Non-Public South A final to St. Peter’s Prep – which, by the way, beat every Central Jersey Sports Radio-area team it played this year: Colonia, Gill St. Bernard’s, Rutgers Prep, St. Thomas Aquinas (twice) and St. Joe’s.
Montgomery finishes in third. At 26-5, the two-time defending champion Cougars won a third straight Central Jersey Group 4 title, but this time had to go on the road to do it after being the top seed each of the last two seasons. Not only did they win at top-seed Hillsborough in the final, but the Cougars dominated Cherry Hill East in the Group 4 semifinals, and made it all the way to Rutgers for the state Group 4 final, where they lost back on Saturday to Plainfield for a second straight season, in a tight game most of the way.
Close behind in fourth is Colonia, which finished 21-11 after a 2-6 start, and having lost several key starters, including Aiden Derkack (transfer to Spire Academy in Ohio) and R.J. Wortman (early football enrolee at Rutgers) among others. The Patriots bowed out to Piscataway in a tight GMC Tournament semifinal game, but wound up getting the top-seed in North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3, and won the sectional title for a fifth straight year, and sixth time in the last seven playoff seasons, all under head coach Jose Rodriguez. They made their first state final ever, too, but fell to Ocean City Sunday in the Group 3 finals at Rutgers, giving the Red Raiders their first state title in over 60 years.
Checking in at five is Piscataway (23-8). The Chiefs – despite a lack of height – were tough again in the GMC Red American Division this year, and took St. Joe’s to overtime in early January. They made it all the way to the county final, where they fell to the Falcons in the title game, and bowed out of a brutal North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 playoff section in the semifinals to eventual state Group 4 champion Plainfield.
At six, it’s Rutgers Prep (18-10). The Argonauts still had Will Brunson, but had to deal with the loss of Andrew Kretkowski, who transferred to St. Joseph-Metuchen. But they still showed out this season, reaching the Somerset County Tournament final, where it was another battle with Gill St. Bernard’s, who won the championship.
Hillsborough (22-8) checks in at No. 7, after putting together their first 20-win season under head coach Tim Palek, who just wrapped up his fifth season on the bench. The Raiders had fans enthralled through their playoff run, with an exciting win over Jackson Twp. in the Central Jersey Group 4 semifinals, and they took Montgomery to overtime in the championship before taking the loss.
At No. 8, it’s Immaculata (21-7), the Skyland Conference Raritan Division champs. Season highlights included a home win over in-town rival Somerville, and handing Bridgewater-Raritan its first loss on the road after an 8-0 start by the Panthers.
The last three teams were unranked in the final poll before the postseason.
East Brunswick comes in at nine – going 21-7 this season, and winning the GMC Red National Division with an 8-0 mark – while two others share the tenth and final spot.
We put Perth Amboy (22-6) in at the ten spot along with Manville (19-9), honoring two teams for their full body of work, teams that might not otherwise get recognized in a crowded field of 48 teams between Middlesex and Somerset Counties. The Panthers won their first division title since 1993, claiming the GMC’s White American with an unblemished 12-0 record. The Mustangs, meanwhile, were Skyland Conference Mountain Division champions at 8-0, and beat rival Bound Brook twice this season, with the first of their two victories being their first against the Crusaders in 20 years.
Dropping out were Pingry (13-10) and South Plainfield (18-11).
Below is the complete final Bellamy & Son Paving Boys’ Basketball Top Ten for 2025-26:
Despite a 20-point game from Penn-bound senior Ethan Lin, Central 4 champion Montgomery lost 49-40 to North 2, Group 4 Champion Plainfield in the NJSIAA state Group 4 title game. It was Plainfield’s second straight state championship.
Click below to listen to Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel call all the play-by-play from Rutgers University’s Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway on March 14, 2026.
The Montgomery boys’ basketball team felt good about its chances coming into Saturday afternoon’s NJSIAA Group 4 state final at Rutgers, and they had plenty of reason to.
All season long, they have gotten outstanding performances from different players every night, with Ethan Lin running the show, Shriyans Mallavarapu blocking shots, Xavier Harrigan coming off the bench to play lock down defense, and Connor Benedict and Mike Simborski connecting from beyond the arc.
And they got that again, with the teams playing a tight first three quarters. Plainfield led 13-9 after one, with the second quarter seeing the lead change four times. It was 22-20 Cardinals at the half.
Whenever it looked like Plainfield was going to pull away, Monty would hit a big shot, whether it was a buzzer-beating three at the end of the first to trim a five-point deficit to two, or Simborksi from the college range on the left wing at the third-quarter horn to slash a seven-point deficit to four.
But the matchup zone defense of Plainfield caused Monty headaches all night, and by late in the game, their long possessions were stretching longer, and with a few misses, The Cards won the rebounding battle in the second half. It was tied 11-11 at the break, but the Cougars were left with a lot of one and dones, and they had a 12-5 advantage on the glass over the last 16 minutes.
And the exclamation mark was a thunderous one-handed jam by Gordon, streaking to the basked from the left wing on a break off a pretty feed from Kamai Lowery with 4:26 left. If it didn’t mathematically put the game out of reach, everyone in the building could sense that it was a harbinger of the celebration that would come when the clock finally winked down to :00.
Lin finished with 20 in the game – including four treys, and two in the fourth quarter – tied for game-high honors with Gordon, a junior who is uncommitted, but has offers from Tennessee, Mississippi State and North Carolina state, among others. Lin, meanwhile, in his last game as a Cougar, will be headed down to The Palestra to play for Penn.
Senior Kamai Lowery finished with 12 for Plainfield (26-5), while fellow senior Rashawn Williams added ten, including a pair of triples.
Sophomore Connor Benedict finished with nine for Montgomery (26-5), while Mallavarapu had six, but all were in the first half.
Click below for postgame reaction from Alec Crouthamel with head coach Kris Grundy, presented by Sportsplext at Metuchen:
At the end of the day, throw the seeds out, and just look at where the two teams playing in Saturday’s Group 4 state boys’ basketball title game rank statewide.
Montgomery was a three-seed in its Central Jersey Group 4 playoff section, and had to go on the road to beat top-seed Hillsborough in overtime to win it. Plainfield was a four-seed in North 2, Group 4 and had to travel to beat a higher seed as well – Linden, the two – to win the title.
But these are not your typical three- and four-seeds. Montgomery is the tenth-ranked team in the state, per NJ.com, with Plainfield five spots ahead. They are No. 1 and No. 2 when you take out the non-publics.
And quite truthfully, that’s more like it.
But no matter how you slice it, whoever is inside Jersey Mike’s Arena at Rutgers Saturday when Montgomery (26-4) and Plainfield (25-5) play for the Group 4 title in a rematch of last year’s title game should get every single penny of their dollar’s worth.
You can hear that game live on Central Jersey Sports Radio – for free, with no paywall – beginning with the pregame show, set for 1:40 pm with Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel. Click here to listen.
The Cougars have it going on all cylinders right now, and have been well-tested in the state tournament. After a blowout win over Manalapan in the opening round of the sectionals, they earned a ten-point win over Trenton, then went on the road and won back-to-back games: by 12 at Marlboro and 55-47 in OT at neighboring Hillsborough to take home their third straight sectional title, and fourth overall, all of which have come under current head coach Kris Grundy.
And he has a more than capable team.
It starts with Ethan Lin, the Penn-bound senior point guard who runs the show, in every sense of the word. Through the sectional finals, he had poured in 25, 31, 30 and 22 points, but one might be prompted to wonder how he was held to just nine in the Group 4 semis against Cherry Hill.
Watch the game, and you’ll know. Lin has an uncanny ability to know when he has to score, and when he doesn’t. He’ll gladly concede 20 points off his game to let someone else have them if that means Montgomery wins.
And that’s what he did against Cherry Hill East Tuesday night. He kept feeding the ball to two sophomores, Mike Simborski and Shriyans Mallavarapu. Simborski finished with 28, three shy of a career high, while Mallavarapu topped his previous best of 16 points with 23, while he also grabbed 12 rebounds and said “no” to a number of layup attempts by the other team named the Cougars.
But those three are just the start. Connor Benedict – always busy making deflections and stealing the ball – also can light it up from three. And then there’s the literal “X” factor off the bench, junior Xavier Harrigan, a multi-sport athlete who recorded 49 tackles last year – 41 solo – from his spot in the secondary.
Monty has four losses all year: twice to Rutgers Prep – once in the regular season and once in the Somerset County Tournament – once to North 2, Group 4 finalist Linden, and once to newly-minted Non-Public Group B state champion Gill St. Bernard’s.
Not bad at all.
On the Plainfield side, the Cardinals won’t win 30 games again this year – they finished 29-3 last season – but are still among the top public schools in the state
Micah Gordon – an uncommitted junior with his biggest offers from Tennessee and Mississippi State, among others – is the top dog (bird?) for the Cards. The point guard is averaging a shade under 25 points a game on the season, and he’ll eclipse the 2,000-point mark in his career very early next season/later in 2026, already sitting at 1,821 points.
He’s scoring at a 24.4 point per game clip in the state playoffs, where – even more impressive, in a dominating win over Linden – he had perhaps his finest moment in the tournament: 33 points, seven assists, three treys, and something you rarely see at any level of basketball: 14-of-16 from the foul line.
Then three of the next four top scorers – seniors Rashawn Williams, Devin Thomas, and Kamai Lowery – are, like Montgomery’s Harrigan – football players, and bring a unique dynamic to a team that plays in the rugged Union County Conference.
Williams and another senior, Tylor Hunter, are the team’s top rebounders, while Gordon and Thomas have each hit 48 triples on the year.
With two point guards who can take over the game at any time, this one might be as entertaining for the offensive exploits of those on the floor as it is watching each side’s defense try to contain the other side.
Click below for preview interviews with both head coaches:
Quirky/Useless Stat of the Day: Montgomery is 2-0 against teams whose schools start with the letter C. Ironically, both are named “Cougars.” They had a 72-32 win over the Central Jersey College Charter Cougars on January 30th, and beat the Cherry Hill East Cougars Tuesday in the Group 4 semifinals, 67-57.
LINKS TO PREVIOUS MONTGOMERY STATE TOURNAMENT COVERAGE: