This Week in Middlesex County Baseball

This week in Middlesex County baseball

JOSH ROSENFELD, May 16, 2011 8:04 p.m.

PLAYER TO WATCH

Jon Young has been getting it done on the mound and at the plate for Old Bridge (14-8), which is a contender for the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament in large part due to its deep pitching staff.

In last week’s crucial back-to-back series with South Brunswick, the senior right-hander went the distance in the opener, providing two of the three hits for Old Bridge including a decisive two-run homer, his fourth of the season. The Rutgers-bound Young then went 2-for-3 in South Brunswick’s 9-8 victory the following day, sending the game into extra innings with a game-tying, two-run triple in the bottom of the seventh.

Young is 6-2 on the mound with a 1.99 ERA and leads Old Bridge with 41 strikeouts in 49 1/3 innings. At the plate he’s hitting .369, leads his team with four home runs and 17 RBI and has a .425 on-base percentage and a .615 slugging percentage for a 1.040 OPS.

TEAM TO WATCH

South Plainfield (15-7) has gotten hot at the right time, bringing a six-game winning streak into first-round play in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament.

That streak began with a pair of key White Division victories over Monroe sandwiched around a 4-3 decision at St. Joseph. Mark Tomei homered twice in the second Monroe victory and ace Dan Hansen (4-1) delivered a total of seven RBI in back-to-back victories over Iselin Kennedy and Carteret.

But the most positive sign of late has been the resurgence of Brandon Downes, last year’s county player of the year and an All-State selection. Downes scored twice and stole four bases in the victory over Kennedy and was 3-for-3 with a double, a triple and a walk-off home run in Friday’s 6-5 victory over Carteret.

The other recent development has been the evolution of Nick DeMarco into the role of  closer, a luxury at this level. If Downes, Tomei and the offense keep producing runs and Hansen and the other starters continue to hold the opposition to fewer than four runs per game, as they have during the winning streak, DeMarco should have plenty of leads to protect in the coming weeks.

GAMES TO WATCH

Due to the weather, all of Monday's preliminary-round games in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament were pushed back until Wednesday. As a result, the entire tournament schedule has been moved back as well.

There are plenty of interesting matchups among Wednesday's seven games, but the most intriguing sends 17th-seeded East Brunswick (8-15) to 16th-seeded Highland Park (12-5). There likely will be a bevy of scouts on hand to watch pro prospect Carl Thomore, center-fielder for an East Brunswick team that has won three of its last four outings. Highland Park has improved from 2-17 a year ago under first-year coach Mark Blevins, an improvement eased by its move to the GMC Gold Division as well as the arrival of junior pitcher Ben Vietze, who will get a great opportunity for exposure in front of the scouts.

Wednesday's winners advance to face the top seven seeds in the tournament's first round, which is now scheduled for Friday. The quarterfinal round is scheduled for Sunday at either East Brunswick or North Brunswick Community Park, with the semifinal round to be played as a double-header at 4 and 7 p.m. on May 25 at East Brunswick. The championship game is scheduled for May 28 at either East Brunswick or East Brunswick Tech. The rain date for each round is the following day, with the tournament continuing as scheduled.

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