Fourth-ranked Middlesex exploded for eleven runs in the final two innings, and beat Spotswood 12-1 on the road to sweep the season-opening GMC White Division series from the Chargers.
Click below to listen to Mike Pavlichko call all the play-by-play live from Spotswood High School on April 2, 2026.
It was no secret how good the Middlesex baseball team could be this year, coming off a state Group 1 championship with a vast majority of the team coming back.
And in the first two games of the season, the fourth-ranked Blue Jays lived up to that expectation, finishing off a two-game sweep of Spotswood Thursday with a 12-1 road win – heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio to improve to 2-0 on the season.
The game was actually a tight pitchers’ duel for the first five innings. Middlesex took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, as Dylan Ianiero doubled to the warning track in left, then moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a second, which turned out to be ball four to starter Dom Long.
But at least through the fifth, that was it. The Jays threatened a couple of times, while Long no-hit the Chargers through the first five innings, retiring his all of the first 16 batters he faced.
Everything changed in the sixth inning. After a Chris Kozak pop up to short, Diego Marcano walked, and Anthony Melchiorre drove him in with a double to the wall in right. Leadoff hiter Lucas Blanco walked as well, and Dylan Ianiero knocked in Melchiorre with a single. Long walked to load the bases.
Sean Hughes came up and grounded one back to starter Leo Carone, who threw home to get the force. But catcher Dylan Melczer couldn’t handle the throw, it got by him, and two more runs came in to make it 5-0 Middlesex. And after a Marcus Lavornia walk, Devin Jackson knocked in two with an RBI single to make it 7-0.
Spotswood finally broke through in he bottom of the inning. With one out, Carone reached on an infield hit – a hard-hit ball behind the second base bag that Melchiorre fielded, but couldn’t get out of his glove in time to make a play at first – then nine-hitter Mike Palumbo doubled to move Carone to third. He later scored on a sac fly to center by leadoff man Gavin Romeo, but that was all they’d get.
With Carone out of the game for Spotswood, Middlesex added five more in the seventh, with the big highlight a two-run homer by Lucas Blanco, the first of his career.
Carone took the loss for Spotswood, going five innings, allowing eight hits and seven runs, four of them earned. He also struck out four. Long went six innings for Middlesex, allowing two hits and one earned run, striking out eight. Jackson finished off the seventh for the Jays.
Click below for postgame reaction from Middlesex head coach Blaze Iannetti and starting pitcher Dom Long, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:
Losing a guy like ace pitcher Casey Cumiskey or Will Buchan, both of whom were among Spotswood’s best hitters a season ago, is tough for any team.
But they’re not all the Chargers lost to graduation after the 2025 season. Six players with 40 ore more at bats are gone from the lineup, and only one – Leo Carone, who only had 14 at bats – hit over .300 on the year.
Don’t get it wrong, veteran head coach Glenny Fredricks isn’t crying in his soup. In fact, he’s excited about a solid core of seniors he has back – second baseman Gavin Romeo, centerfielder Sebby Saracino, and third baseman Ryan Orth – as well as some highly-touted kids from Milltown who decided to stay home, stay public, and play for the Chargers.
All will be on display again as Spotswood loos to earn a split of its season-opening home-and-home with Middlesex, following a 6-1 Opening Day road loss Tuesday. They’ll play Thursday at 3 pm, in a game you can hear on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with pregame set for 2:45 as Mike Pavlichko calls all the action; click here to listen.
Those two who stuck with Spotswood rather than a non-public – and they had offers – are Jack Abrams and JoJo Modeste. Abrams will see time at first base, while Modeste is a switch-hitting shortstop with power. Fredricks calls them “help a year early” as they will immediately contribute as freshmen.
Orth is the top hitter back amobg those with more than 40 at bats, swinging it for a .244 average and seven runs batted in. Romeo hit .233 with eight RBIs, while Saracino hit .2176 with nine runs driven in, and a home run, a grand slam which came in a blowout season-opening win last year over South Amboy.
Click below to hear Spotswood head coach Glenny Fredricks talk about the season and Thursday’s game against Middlesex with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:
To so the Middlesex baseball program – or even the entire town – had a difficult, trying, emotional off-season would be a hideous understatement, and words probably can’t even do it justice.
The death of teammate James Matula in November in a car crash in upstate New York shocked the community, the school, and the baseball program to its core.
Not that you ever put it behind you, but it was surely good to get back on the baseball field in the preseason, but many of those emotions came rushing back Tuesday as the fourth-ranked Blue Jays opened their 2026 season without No. 1, James Matula.
His family was there for an Opening Day ceremony to once again pay tribute to the young man who would have been a senior on a loaded Middlesex team looking to defend its Central Jersey and state Group One championships.
They got through it all, getting on the board early, in a 6-1 home win over Spotswood. Thursday afternoon, they will visit the Chargers for a 3 pm game you can hear on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with an eye on sweeping the season series, and turning the tables on a Spotswood team that was the only club to beat the Blue Jays twice last season.
You can hear the game live, with pregame at 2:45 and Mike Pavlichko on the call. Click here to listen.
Middlesex loses some key seniors, to be sure, mainly Dom Parenti and Owen Reynolds, but the vast majority of the lineup is back, including top returning hitter Dominc Long (.346, 16 RBI), who also will take the mound Thursday. Long, as a sophomore last season, led the team in innings pitched, and was 12-0 with a 1.37 ERA and 72 strikeouts.
He’s part of a 1-2 punch with Chris Kozak, who last season as a junior was 6-4, but with a 0.90 earned run average.
Click below to hear Middlesex head coach Blaze Iannetti talk about the season and Thursday’s game against Spotswood with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:
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.
Spotswood won by 18, Tyler VanLeeuwen scored 17, and the Chargers won their 14th game of the season Thursday.
But the number that really mattered last night was 500.
Spotswood head coach Steve Mate – in his 31st season there behind the bench, and 35th season of coaching overall – won his 500th game when they beat Dunellen, 66-48 at the Faber School.
And the night could be perfectly summed up by this: Mate had no idea.
To be fair, we had talked about it with him earlier in the season, prior to a road game at Highland Park on Central Jersey Sports Radio. That conversation detailed a back-and-forth we had with Athletic Director Mike DelAversano about what Mate’s actual win total was. While it was known beyond a shadow of a doubt what his record is at Spotswood, the four-years he spent at Verona were a question mark, with different numbers reported by different media outlets. A call to the Verona Athletic Department finally cleared it up.
But one would not expect Mate to follow and keep track. That’s just not his way.
But the man they call “Del” knew, so when the final horn sounded, out came the flowers and the balloons, and Mate was taken by surprise.
His overall record now stands at 500-388 – four years with the Hillbillies, nearly 31 complete with the Chargers – and yet, another milestone is right around the corner. He’s 466-339 at Spotswood, and the 500 mark at the school should come up in a couple of years.
Because, as we all know, Steve Mate isn’t going anywhere.
Click below to hear Spotswood head coach Steve Mate talk about his 500th win and 35-year coaching career with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:
Getting 21 points from sophomore Tyler VanLeeuwen and 18 more from senior Se’mir Tolbert-Brimage, Spotswood pulled away after a tight first half to a 78-43 win in a Greater Middlesex Conference crossover game at Highland Park.
Click below to listen to Mike Pavlichko and Dylan Allen call all the play-by-play from Highland Park High School on January 20, 2026.
Last season, Spotswood head coach Steve Mate called newcomer Tyler VanLeeuwen a freshman sensation.
“I see big things for him,” said veteran head coach Steve Mate.
His sophomore year? He’s even better, and what’s best is he knows there’s still a lot of room for improvement.
VanLeeuwen scored 21 points Tuesday night – ten above his average and five shy of a career high he just set Saturday against JFK – in a 78-43 road win over Highland Park in a GMC crossover game heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.
And he did it almost entirely on two-point field goals, with one three, and a trio of foul shots.
The game was tight early, with two lead changes in the first half, and Highland Park had a three-point lead as they bombed away from three. Evangelinos Kambitsis had 12 first-half points, all from downtown, and of their eight first-half field goals, seven were from beyond the arc, many from two or more feet behind the line.
But Spotswood took an 18 point lead into halftime, 48-30, and never looked back, clamping down on defense in the second half. The Owls only had three triples the rest of the way as the Chargers extended their defense.
Se’mir Tolbert-Brimage finished with 18 and Leo Carone added 15, including three treys. Spotswood (8-6) now has won four straight, their best stretch of the year as they jockey for position in the Central Jersey Group 2 power point standings.
Kambitsis was high scorer for the Owls (4-12) with 16, while Cooper Ballentine added 11, chipping in three treys himself.
While the two former GMC Blue Division rivals hadn’t played in four years, it was the Chargers’ eleventh straight win against Highland Park, dating back to January of 2012.
The victory also was the 494th of Steve Mate’s 35-year coaching career. He was 34-49 in four years at Verona before landing in Spotswood for the 1995-96 season, amassing a 460-335 record. The Dean of GMC coaches is now 494-384 overall.
Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko with head coach Steve Mate and sophomore Tyler VanLeeuwen, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen!
Andy Steinfeld played at East Brunswick for Marcus Borden, and coached there under him, then led the program now on his own. Last season was the first he spent with another program besides that of the Bears in three decades, working as an assistant under Chris Meagher, and alongside his son, Matt.
Now, he’s his son’s boss.
Andy Steinfeld was appointed as the tenth football coach in Spotswood history Tuesday night, when his hiring was approved by the Board of Education. He’ll take over a program that has had great on field success in the past several years, going 8-1 in each of the last three seasons under Chris Meagher.
Meagher stepped down at the end of the 2025 season, in which the Chargers – inexplicably – finished 8-1 but failed to make the playoffs, losing out on the 16th and final seed on the third tiebreaker, OSI, to Camden Eastside, a 3-5 football program that had lost its last four games by a combined total of 160-20.
Frustration aside, Steinfeld was thrilled to be a part of the program last season, and is excited to be the new head coach, citing what he calls “the it factor” about the Spotswood kids, and falling in love with a true family atmosphere around the program and district.
Steinfeld was 18-29 in five seasons as East Brunswick head coach, going 4-5 his first year in 2019, then 4-4 in the shortened 2020 COVID season, before coming out of it with an 8-2 campaign and a playoff appearance in 2021, losing 28-14 in the opening round of the playoffs to Toms River North.
But he was let go two weeks before camp started in July of 2024, even though he had good performance reviews, after being asked to re-interview for the job. That session, Steinfeld told Central Jersey Sports Radio at the time, included “community members” who were “against our program, bashed our program,” and had complaints about East Brunswick’s middle school football program siphoning players away from their own league.
After a year off, Steinfeld joined Meagher’s staff at Spotswood, and now he’s back where he belongs: as a head coach.
Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko and Marcus Borden talk with new Spotswood football head coach Andy Steinfeld:
Just about everything about Tuesday night’s Greater Middlesex Conference crossover meeting between Spotswood and Highland Park will have an old-school feel to it.
The two are longtime GMC Blue Division rivals. You know, before teams started going in every different division, moving up or down based on their recent success. But they haven’t played each other in four years.
The Chargers are coached by Steve Mate, who’s just seven wins away from 500 for his career, and his been at Spotswood for 31 of his 35 years as a head coach, the first four coming at Verona.
And the game – which can be heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio – will tip-off at 7 pm. That’s when everyone played “back in the day,” until participation numbers dwindled to the point where some schools don’t even have JV programs.
So, yes, Tuesday night should be a fun one.
You can hear it live from Highland Park with pregame at 6:45, and Mike Pavlichko and Dylan Allen on the call. Click here to listen.
It could also be an intense one. Spotswood comes in at 7-6 with a very young team; the starting lineup consists of one senior – Se’mir Tolbert-Brimage – along with just one junior, a sophomore, and two freshmen. Mate is high on the group, but knows it may take some time before they get close to scratching the surface of their full potential.
And they’ll be looking to make a run and improve their 11th place standing in the Central Jersey Group 2 power point standings.
Highland Park sits at No. 21 in Central Jersey Group 1, but everyone between then and the top 16 – and a few in it – are below .500, so the question becomes, “Why not them?” A few wins strung together could really turn the tide, and catapult them up the standings.
They are more of a senior-laden group, led by Evangelos Kambitsis, scoring 11.7 points a game. Assistant Coach Matt DeCeglie – who’s filling in while head coach Colin Copperthwaite is on leave following the birth of his first child, a daughter named Kennedy – says he’s “as tough as they come.”
Two teams in search of some wins have all the makings of an old-time rivalry, renewed.
Click below for preview interviews with both head coaches:
