Monroe Tops South Plainfield In Walk-Off
Andy MendlowitzMyCentralJersey.com
MONROE – Three weeks into the season, and welcome back Ohm. Hello Lucas. The Monroe baseball team surely missed you guys.
“We’ve been waiting for them to come back,” said Falcons coach Sean Field with a smile.
While Monroe seems primed for a big spring and has started strong, the team was missing two key pitchers to injuries in Lucas White and Ohm Desai.
Thursday, Desai made his first start of the season, and White made his first pitching appearance of the year in relief.
They delivered – and the Falcons showed just how dangerous they could be, and why their fans are cracking those smiles.
Monroe edged South Plainfield 3-2 on a walk-off sacrifice fly by White in a crisp Greater Middlesex Conference Red Division game.
The Falcons celebrated after the win, but know there’s a long way to go. Monroe (6-2 in the division), South Plainfield (4-2) and Old Bridge (6-1) are jostling for the pennant along with four other teams looming.
They complete the two-game series next Tuesday. South Plainfield lefty Kevin Penny had a strong start Thursday by allowing two runs in six innings with five strikeouts.
So, it certainly was a key win. In the larger picture, however, how they did it was just as important. Monroe returned its top four hurlers from last season, as well as senior Nate Peitz, who excelled in limited innings.
Harrison Lollin (Penn State commit, 0 ER in 10 IP, 20 Ks) and Zack Wallace (0 ER in 17 IP, 32 Ks) have been outstanding this spring.
Desai, a junior righthander, posted a 2.90 ERA in 19 1/3 IP last season. He dislocated a finger on his pitching hand sliding into third base in the preseason. He returned Tuesday with two shutout innings.
Thursday, he threw a shutout into the sixth allowing a hit with four walks and three strikeouts. Impressive, considering South Plainfield has a dangerous lineup and two of the best hitters in the GMC in Dom Massaro and Jayden Alvarez.
Desai walked two batters in the sixth with one out. Enter White, who couldn’t pitch coming off an offseason injury. The righthander threw a no-hitter in last year’s GMCT quarterfinals and had a 3.20 ERA and 48 strikeouts in 39 1/3 innings.
The senior, though, was in a tough spot in his 2024 debut. South Plainfield rallied to take the 2-1 lead on a sacrifice fly by Alvarez and a run on a ball to the backstop.
“I was definitely mad at myself for letting in those two runs,” White said. “I mean, I hold myself accountable but we knew we could comeback.”
White threw a scoreless seventh inning and said the team had “a good vibe.”
In the bottom of the seventh, pinch-hitters Braeden Hoiberg and Max Gonzalez each walked at the bottom of the order. Lobue also walked (in between, the courtesy runner got picked off second) and Monroe scored the tying run on a throwing error.
Lollin, also dangerous at the plate, was intentionally walked, and that left White to bring home the winning run with a shot to right field.
“I wanted to get that last at-bat,” White said. “I wanted that to be my spot. I was going up there, hunting fastball, ready to hit.”
Monroe took a 1-0 lead in the first after Jake Lobue led-off with a single, stole second, was moved to third by Kyle McCauley’s groundout and scored on White’s groundout to shortstop.
Those good vibes extend to all areas of the team and Desai noted the pitching staff is always helping one another out.
“The older guys do a good job of keeping us in check,” he said. “Keeping us motivated. Keeping us up, not down, not sad if we give up a run or two, give up a hit. And the whole team comes together if anyone makes an error, makes a mistake. ‘Hey, we got you, pick you up’ and it’s like the next man up-kind of thing. Then there’s kids that were on the bench that came in and did a great job and everyone just contributes. It’s a great team win.”
Now, the pitching band is back together.
“We do obviously pride ourselves on our pitching,” Field said. “We’ve had good pitching in the past couple of years and going into it everybody expects us to really pitch well. Those two injuries kind of came unexpected, so we’ve kind of had to put it together the first part of the schedule. I think we feel like a team that’s about to go on a run. We’re hitting, we’re playing good defense, the pitching is coming back around, now, so we have a good feeling about where we’re going moving forward.”
NJ Baseball: Monroe tops South Plainfield on walk-off (mycentraljersey.com)
South Plainfield's loss ends three-game winning streak on the road
Baseball Recap: South Plainfield Tigers vs. Monroe Township Falcons
After a string of four wins, South Plainfield's good fortune finally ran out on Thursday. They fell just short of the Monroe Township Falcons by a score of 3-2. The loss unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for South Plainfield in their matchups with Monroe Township: they've now lost seven in a row.
For Monroe Township's part, they got a great performance from Ohm Desai as he didn't allow a single earned run and only one hit over 5.1 innings pitched.
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Jake Lobue, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-3. He has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last six times he's played.
South Plainfield's defeat ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 5-2. As for Monroe Township, they pushed their record up to 6-3 with that victory, which was their fourth straight at home.
South Plainfield will take on North Brunswick at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. South Plainfield's pitching crew has only allowed 3.3 runs per game this season, so North Brunswick's hitters will have their work cut out for them. As for Monroe Township, they will head out on the road to take on Jackson Memorial at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams have allowed few runs on average, (Jackson Memorial: 3.9, Monroe Township: 3.7) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Baseball Recap: South Plainfield's loss ends three-game winning streak on the road (maxpreps.com)
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