TAPinto South Plainfield
Massaro Sets South Plainfield Hits Record; McCarthy Pitches a No-Hitter; Tigers Top Old Bridge, 4-1
Or, perhaps, it was the other way around.
McCarthy pitched a no-hitter and Massaro went 3-for-4 with a run scored to reach 127 career hits as they led South Plainfield to a 4-1 baseball victory over Old Bridge on an historic Tuesday afternoon.
Massaro needed two hits to tie 2012 graduate Stephen Petriello's record of 126 hits. Massaro, the Tigers' leadoff batter, drilled a double to right-center in his first at-bat, lined a two-out single to center field in the second inning to tie the record, and then lined another single up the middle with two outs — and then took second on an errant throw — to break the record.
"My last three games, I've been 3-for-4, 4-for-4, 4-for-4. I feel better than ever right now," Massaro said. "I came into this game knowing I'm gonna break the record. I've never felt better at the plate than I do right now. Everything looks like a beach ball. The first hit was on a fastball away. The second hit was a curveball on a 1-2 count. The last one, I want to say it was a fastball. Recently, I've just been trying to hit it right back at the pitcher and go up the middle."
McCarthy didn't pitch a shutout, but that certainly wasn't his fault. The senior left-hander actually pitched something better than a no-hitter, because he struck out nine, didn't walk a batter, and the only baserunners for Old Bridge came on five South Plainfield errors — meaning McCarthy actually got the equivalent of 26 outs on the mound.
After Massaro's leadoff double in the first inning, he took third on a passed ball and raced home on a wild pitch. McCarthy then drew a walk, Andrew Bena bounced a single through the hole into right field and McCarthy came in from third on a passed ball to give South Plainfield a 2-0 lead, and all the cushion that McCarthy, the pitcher, would need.
Employing a wipeout change-up, expertly pitching to locations and working fast, McCarthy struck out five of the first nine batters he faced and retired 11 batters in a row before Old Bridge put its first man on after an error with two outs in the fourth inning.
"A lot of the strikeouts came on the change-up or the two-seam," McCarthy said. "I don't know what it was, but I had a lot of arm-side ‘run’ on my pitches today, and they just couldn't hit it, so I took advantage of that and went to it a lot of the time. I hate walks. It's just a free way to get on base. If there's a passed ball, you've got a man on second and them a bloop scores him, so I try my hardest not to put people on like that. I haven't thrown my best so far this year, so I was just trying to settle down and it worked today. I was calm the whole game, and I took advantage of the hitters. My parents always say nothing really bothers me out there. I try to stay on my own rhythm. I try not to let the hitters dictate what I'm doing or how I'm pitching. I definitely felt in my rhythm today."
South Plainfield took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning after Gabriel Garcia drew a two-out walk with nobody on base. Massaro followed with his record-breaking hit up the middle, and both runners moved up a base when the ball got away. Garcia then crossed the plate on Old Bridge's third passed ball of the game. The Tigers' fourth run of the game, in the fifth inning, came in on a bases-loaded walk to Joe Stanzione. Bena and Anthony Cecenia had started the home fifth inning with consecutive singles, and Ed Budzinski's sacrifice bunt was mishandled by the pitcher, loading the bases with nobody out before Stanzione came up.
"Aiden is The Bull. He's our ace," South Plainfield head coach Scott Gleichenhaus said. "Last year he was awesome, this year he's our guy. He prepares. He's a thinker. He goes about his business tough as nails. He's just a gamer. You can always count on him when he's on the mound, when he's in the box, he's just another guy that we're blessed to have as part of this team for the last three years. He's awesome. He plays a great first base. He's crafty, he knows how to get guys out. He has a determination and a toughness. He just goes after hitters and gets the job done. He had these guys off-balance all day. It's unfortunate we made a couple of errors behind him, otherwise they wouldn't have had a baserunner. He didn't walk anybody. That's the other thing he does. He keeps the ball in the zone and gets hitters to get themselves out, chasing pitches."
Old Bridge broke up the shutout, if not the no-hitter, in the top of the sixth. A batter reached on an one-out error at third, advanced on a grounder to the right side, then scored on a groundball into the hole between shortstop and third base that was bobbled and then thrown away. Of the five errors, that was the one that would have been the closest to being scored as a hit. But McCarthy escaped further trouble on a lineout to Massaro in center field.
Shortstop Cecenia made an outstanding play on a grounder in the hole to get the first Old Bridge out of the seventh inning. McCarthy got the next batter on a checked-swing strikeout. With two out and nobody on, a flyball was misjudged and dropped for a two-base error. McCarthy retired the final batter on a flyout to deep center that Massaro, reliably, tracked perfectly.
"Aiden pitched phenomenal," Massaro said. "This is a huge win for us, too. We lost to them on Friday, so he came in here and closed the door. He was amazing."
"I was definitely aware," McCarthy said of the no-hitter. "I mean, I was just pitching the way I was pitching the whole game. I wasn't really throwing to throw the no-hitter. I was just continuing what I was doing the whole game, and that was the result."
Massaro's father, Tom, and Tom's twin brother, Dan, were both stars at South Plainfield 34 years ago. In fact, they each were vying for the program's all-time hit record themselves at the time.
"My brother Dan and I were tied with 81 hits going into the last game of the season," Tom Massaro recalled, "and he had three hits to become the new its leader in 1992. In 2007, Chris Stallone broke my brother Dan's record, and then the current record-holder Stephen Petriello broke his record in 2012."
Massaro and McCarthy have both performed tremendously in their careers against Old Bridge. Massaro has 18 hits in 35 career at-bats against the Knights, a .514 batting average. McCarthy has pitched 18 2/3 innings in his career against Old Bridge, allowing a total of five hits and no earned runs. He has 17 strikeouts and two walks against Old Bridge.
"Dom is an amazing player. He's been doing it since his freshman year," Gleichenhaus said. "He's one of the best high school baseball players, if not the best high school baseball player, as a player and coaching. He's absolutely amazing. I wasn't surprised because that's just the type of damage he does with that bat in his hand. He's that type of player."
OLD BRIDGE (5-6) 000 001 0 -- 1 0 0
SOUTH PLAINFIELD (7-5) 200 110 X -- 4 6 5
WP-McCarthy
LP-Crosta
Big day for No. 8 South Plainfield, as McCarthy no-hits No. 7 Old Bridge in 4-1 win, Massaro sets Tiger all-time hit record
Put this one under the category of the old adage “Nobody cares how, just if.”
The South Plainfield baseball team didn’t have the best day in the field, committing four errors, one of them leading to a run, but the Tigers still won their GMC Red Division matchup against Old Bridge Tuesday afternoon at home, 4-1 – and they did it in style.
Aidan McCarthy threw a complete game no-hitter with nine strikeouts, while Dom Massaro went 3-for-4 and set the school’s all-time hit record, with the 127th of his career.
For McCarthy, it was his first no-no that he could recall – at least at the high school level – while Massaro broke a record that stood for 14 years, set by Steven Petriello in 2012.
The 8th-ranked Tigers took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on a passed ball that scored Massaro, and a sac fly by Ed Budzinski. Massaro scored again in the fourth on a ground out to short by McCarthy to make it 3-0, then made it 4-0 in the fifth on a bases loaded walk to Joe Stanzione that scored Andrew Bena.
The 7th-ranked Knights got their lone run in the top of the sixth. Matt Chin hit a grounder to short that got behind Anthony Cicenia, allowing Nicholas Agostino to score.
And despite the fourth South Plainfield error in the game coming with two outs in the top of the seventh, allowing Brady Meyer to get to second, McCarthy got Harry Denney to fly out to Massaro in center field to end it.
South Plainfield (7-5, 6-4, tied for 2nd GMC Red) and Old Bridge (5-6, 5-4, 3rd) split their series, with the Knights winning 9-3 on their home field back on Friday.
Click below for postgame reaction from South Plainfield seniors Aidan McCarthy and Dom Massaro – as well as head coach Scott Gleichenhaus – with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:
Massaro passed catcher Steven Petriello (2009-2012) previous record of 126 hits. Massaro, the veteran center fielder, had three hits in his first three at-bats, tying the record with his second knock.
McCarthy got his own milestone by threw a no-hitter with no walks and he struck out nine. South Plainfield committed four errors in the game. Andrew Bena went 2-for-4 and scored as South Plainfield improved to 7-5. Ed Budzinski and Joe Stanzione each had an RBI.
Nicholas Agostino scored for Old Bridge (5-6).
Baseball April roundup, daily results for GMC and area Skyland and UCC
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
R |
H |
E |
|
|
Old Bridge (5-6) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
South Plainfield (7-5) |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
6 |
4 |
South Plainfield Pitching
|
W |
L |
PIT |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
K |
HB |
PO |
ERA |
|
|
Aiden McCarthy #12 (WP) |
1 |
0 |
86 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Totals: |
1 |
0 |
86 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
