One thing is for sure, the GMC Tournament semifinals didn’t exactly pan out the way it looked on paper.
Then again, baseball games are played on diamonds, not on paper.
In a tournament that has seen mostly tight games in the last few years, the 2024 semifinals were a break from that tradition. Here’s a closer look at Saturday’s action, which saw Old Bridge beat Sayreville 10-0, and South Plainfield top Edison 8-3, setting up the Knights and Tigers next Saturday at 2:30 in the GMCT title game.
You can hear that game on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with Mike Pavlichko and Justin Sontupe on the call. Click here to listen.
Run Explosion
The 21 runs scored in the two games combined by Old Bridge, South Plainfield and Edison – Sayreville was blanked in the opener – was the most in the semifinals since 2018.
Since COVID, things have been pretty tight, with all but one game being decided by one or two runs.
Last year saw only six runs, as North Brunswick beat Monroe and St. Joseph topped South Plainfield, both by 2-1 scores.
The 2022 semis had one blowout game – St. Joe’s over Woodbridge by a 10-1 score – but the other was a 1-0 shutout of East Brunswick by North Brunswick in a marathon 11-inning affair.
The 2021 GMCT semis saw just seven runs scored, as South Brunswick took out North Brunswick 2-1, and St. Joe’s topped Edison 3-1.
The 2019 semifinals had 15 runs scored, but 2018 saw a combined 28 runs. That’s the last time – and the first time – this year’s top seed South Plainfield won the event. They were a 14-seed that year, and beat Old Bridge 12-0 in the semifinal round, while Perth Amboy outslugged Spotswood 9-7. The Tigers won the tile over the Panthers 2-1 in 12 innings, becoming the second-lowest seed ever to win the GMC, which began play in 1986.
Appreciating Zack K:
For those who have followed GMC baseball the last few years, Zack Konstantinovsky was as dominant as they come. He struck out a ton, hardly walked anyone, and had power for the fences when he was at the plate.
He’s at Rutgers now, and the GMC has some excellent pitchers, many of whom were in this tournament.
But they’re also human, as we saw Saturday when Jaxon Appelman struggled to find the plate. The Coastal Carolina commit is an excellent ballplayer. But he walked five, while hitting two batters, and didn’t get much help by the defense behind him, as the Eagle defense committed four errors, a couple in particular leading to runs.
It makes one appreciate what “Zack K” did every time he took the mound.
In his entire three-year varsity career, over 30 appearances, North Brunswick only lost six games in which he pitched. And he didn’t even take the loss in all of them.
In those six defeats, he allowed a grand total of five earned runs. His only loss of 2022 was against Steinert, a 9-1 defeat, in which he only came out because he went over the 110 pitch limit. He struck out 18 and walked none, giving up one unearned run. The bullpen gave up the rest.
In his career, Zack K racked up 278 strikeouts with just 21 walks. His ERA his sophomore year was 1.69, and he followed it up with a 0.73 ERA in 2022, and a 0.56 earned run average last year.
He also hit 15 career home runs.
Rematch in the Finals:
Old Bridge has won two GMC Tournament titles in program history (Cedar Ridge and Madison Central each won a GMCT crown in the ’80s before their 1994 merger) and South Plainfield has one.
But the two teams met in the 2011 title game. In that one, second-seed Old Bridge topped fourth-seed South Plainfield 3-2. That was after the state tournament, in June, and was the last game for both teams, with the Knights finishing 18-10; the Tigers were 21-9.
Old Bridge was knocked out in the first round of the Central Jersey Group 4 state tournament that year by Hillsborough, while South Plainfield got as far as the semifinals in North 2, Group 3, losing to Mendham.
Championship History:
SOUTH PLAINFIELD1991: (7) East Brunswick 6, (1) South Plainfield 5
2011: (2) Old Bridge 3, (4) South Plainfield 2
2014: (4) St. Joseph 1, (6) South Plainfield 0 (walk-off bases loaded walk)
2018: (14) South Plainfield 2, (12) Perth Amboy 1 (12 innings)
OLD BRIDGE
2011: (2) Old Bridge 3, (4) South Plainfield 2
2019: (1) Old Bridge 2, (3) South Brunswick 1
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