Friday, May 29, 2026
2026 - NJSIAA Tournament, Quarterfinal Round, North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3 - South Plainfield vs. North Plainfield
Wednesday, May 27, 2026
2026 - Game # 27 South Plainfield 5, JFK Iselin 0 - NJSIAA Tournament, First Round, North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3
Survive and Advance!! Aiden “The Bull” McCarthy was business as usual on the bump, picking up his 7th and biggest W of the season, advancing the Tigers to the next round. The Bull (1-1 2b rbi 2 r 2bb sb) had himself a nice day at office which included complete game 3h 12 k performance. Dom Massaro reached the 50 hit mark and scored 2x. Andrew Bena had a 2rbi knock and Andrew Burns also had 2 hits. Up next is North Plainfield on Friday - 3pm start time.
TAPinto South Plainfield
South Plainfield Wins, 5-0, over JFK-Iselin in State Tournament Opener on McCarthy's 2-Hitter
By Guy Kipp
SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ — A fourth-seeded team in a 16-team baseball tournament won't always opt to use its ace pitcher in the first round, but South Plainfield did.
Senior left-hander Aiden McCarthy pitched a two-hitter to lead fourth-seeded South Plainfield to a 5-0 victory over 13th-seeded JFK-Iselin in the opening round of the NJSIAA North 2, Group 3 tournament on Wednesday.
McCarthy struck out 12 batters and walked none in seven innings, and a big reason the Tigers wanted their No. 1 arm out there had a lot to do with who was on the mound for JFK.
Senior right-hander Grant Lorentzen, concluding a remarkable three-sport career in Iselin, meant that the Mustangs, even as a 13th seed, were not a team that could be taken for granted -- pun entirely intended.
One of the biggest differences in the game was that when McCarthy wasn't striking people out, he had an appreciably better defense behind him to make the plays.
"I talked to my coaches (last) weekend, and they wanted me throwing today because they knew Grant was gonna go (for JFK)," McCarthy said. "He has (more than) 200 Ks in his high school career. He's by no means a bad pitcher, so we needed to win this game to move on. He didn't pitch badly at all today. They made some errors and we took advantage of it."
South Plainfield scored single runs in each of the first three innings, and JFK committed five errors in those three innings. The only two hits the Tigers had off Lorentzen in those first three frames were both on balls that some fielders might have been able to turn into outs. McCarthy gave South Plainfield a 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly in the first after Dom Massaro led off with a single under an infielder's glove and went around to third on an errant pickoff throw.
Designated hitter Andrew Burns, who went 2-for-3, drove in a run in the second inning with a flyball double to left-center field. The Tigers' run in the third inning came without the aid of a base hit. Lorentzen made the best of the Mustangs' defensive plays himself, when he pounced off the mound to dive and catch a sacrifice bunt attempt in the second inning and then turned to fire a throw to shortstop Max Espejo covering second to double the runner off the base.
Burns led off the fourth inning with a single through the left side, Massaro forced him at second with a grounder to shortstop, then Massaro stole both second and third base. McCarthy drew a two-out walk, took second on indifference, and Andrew Bena's two-run single to left field increased the Tigers' lead to 5-0.
McCarthy established a smooth rhythm after a somewhat rocky first inning. He made a nice play coming off the mound to throw out leadoff batter Lorentzen to open the game. Then, after Espejo's two-out single, Tigers second baseman Gabe Garcia leaped high to snare a line drive off the bat of Myles Ulaky for the third out. McCarthy then struck out five of the next seven batters he faced. He retired 11 in a row from the second inning to the sixth inning.
"I try to get ahead and execute pitches late in counts. That's what I did very well today," said McCarthy, who has allowed three earned runs in his last 28 innings (0.75 ERA). "I get a lot of weak groundballs, and even when they're hard hit, they're typically on the ground as well. I went with a lot of fastballs. Not as many changeups as usual, but a lot of curveballs."
South Plainfield will play at home against fifth-seeded North Plainfield in the quarterfinal round on Friday. The Tigers are the defending champions in the section. They lost to Monroe, 1-0, in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament semifinals two weekends ago, but are primed to go for another title now.
"After we lost that game to Monroe, we put a lot of emphasis on making it far in this tournament," McCarthy said. "With the guys we have, I'm sure we could make a deep run."
JFK-ISELIN (7-19) 000 000 0 - 0 2 1
SOUTH PLAINFIELD (15-11) 111 200 X - 5 7 5
WP-McCarthy (7-2, 2.13 ERA)
LP-Lorentzen (4-5, 2.11 ERA)
MyCentralJersey.com
No. 4 South Plainfield 5, No. 13 JFK-Iselin 0: Aiden McCarthy threw a two-hitter with a dozen strikeouts and no walks as South Plainfield (15-11) advanced to host No. 5 North Plainfield. McCarthy improved to 7-2 and has a 2.43 ERA on the year. McCarthy also was 1-for-1, walked twice with an RBI and run scored. Andrew Bena singled and had two RBIs and Dom Massaro singled, walked, stole two bases and scored twice. Additionally, Andrew Burns was 2-for-3 (RBI, double) and Gabriel Garcia singled and scored.
Grant Lorentzen allowed five runs (3 ER) for the Mustangs (7-19) and singled.
Baseball May roundup, daily results for GMC and area Skyland and UCC
South Plainfield eliminates conference foe
By Kevin Minnick | NJ.comBrian Bobal | NJ.com
PJ Potter | NJ.com
Runs in each of the first four innings gave fourth-seeded South Plainfield a lead it wouldn’t surrender in a 5-0 win over 13th-seeded Iselin Kennedy. Aiden McCarthy twirled a three-hit shutout and struck out 12. At the plate, he doubled, drove in a run and scored twice. Andrew Burns went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI. Andrew Bena singled and drove in two runs.
MVPs, statement wins from Wednesday’s first round of Group 3 baseball tournament - nj.com
NJSIAA First Round Update: Franklin shocks second-seed Edison; firsts "in a while" for JP Stevens, North Plainfield, and Piscataway Magnet; GMC Finalists Old Bridge, Monroe
WP: Aiden McCarthy LP: Grant Lorentzen
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
R |
H |
E |
|
|
Iselin Kennedy (7-19) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
5 |
|
South Plainfield (15-11) |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
7 |
0 |
South Plainfield Batting
|
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
1B |
2B |
BB |
SB |
SF |
SH/B |
ROE |
FC |
AVG |
SLG |
|
|
Dom Massaro #6 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
.333 |
.333 |
|
Anthony Cicenia #11 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
.000 |
|
Aiden McCarthy #12 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1.000 |
2.000 |
|
Andrew Bena #19 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
.250 |
.250 |
|
Chris Loniewski #15 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.500 |
.500 |
|
Ed Budzinski #3 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
.000 |
|
Gabriel Garcia #16 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
.333 |
.333 |
|
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
.000 |
|
|
Andrew Burns #7 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.667 |
1.000 |
|
Totals: |
25 |
5 |
7 |
4 |
5 |
2 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
.280 |
.360 |
South Plainfield Pitching
|
W |
L |
PIT |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
K |
HB |
PO |
ERA |
|
|
Aiden McCarthy #12 (WP) |
1 |
0 |
89 |
7 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
12 |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Totals: |
1 |
0 |
89 |
7 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
12 |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
The Blue Oyster Cult had the cow bell and the SP Tigers have the Bull Horns. Aiden McCarthy was given the game 1 assignment & performed the way the Tiger fans all around the world tuned in to watch had hoped for- a CG 12 K shutout +adding a knock, scoring a few runs, swiping a bag & ultimately doing what he needed to help the squad advance. For his work- Aiden “The Bull” McCarthy has once again proven to be a True Maestro of the Diamond.
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