South Plainfield NJ Varsity Baseball Team

Middlesex: GMC Semifinal Preview; Strong GMC Showing In States

Published: Friday, May 27, 2011, 11:23 PM     Updated: Saturday, May 28, 2011, 12:05 AM

 By Josh Rosenfeld/For The Star-Ledger The Star-Ledger

GREATER MIDDLESEX CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
SATURDAY, MAY 28
SEMIFINALS
AT EAST BRUNSWICK TECH

12:00  6-St. Joseph vs. 2-Old Bridge
Overview:

 

St. Joseph's Andrew Hille threw a two-hitter at Old Bridge on April 26. (Andrew Mills/The Star-Ledger)

St. Joseph: The Falcons have won seven of their last nine outings and the two losses were of the quality variety: 4-3 to fellow semi-finalist South Plainfield, winner of 11 in a row, and Monday to No. 6 Pope John, 10-5.  Dolan (6-2, 1.18), the likely starter, has been unhittable lately yielding six hits, one run and three walks in 13 innings over his last two starts while striking out 24. Hille (4-3) pitched his best game of the year against Old Bridge in his two-hit effort. Balance has been the key on offense as seven different players have double-digit RBI totals yet none above the 18 of Matt Hratko, who leads the team with seven home runs, and Dom Forcella, who leads with a .427 batting average.

 

Alejandro Diaz is a weapon at the plate or on the mound for Old Bridge. (Andrew Mills/The Star-Ledger)

Old Bridge: The Knights have alternated between wins and losses over their last 10 games although they’re due for a win having lost their last outing to Monroe, 2-0, on Thursday. Pitching depth is its greatest strength with three proven starters in Jon Young (8-2, 1.77), Taylor Amato (4-6, 4.45) and Hondo Diaz (2-1, 2.33). Old Bridge is batting .288 as a team and slugging at a .369 rate. Vin Dacunto leads the team with a .390 batting average while Young has hit four of the Knights’ six home runs (Diaz has the other two), leads with 17 RBI and is batting. 375.

The teams split a pair of one-run decisions April 25-26, Old Bridge winning the first in Metuchen, 2-1, St. Joseph winning the second at Old Bridge, 4-3. St. Joseph’s Brandon Dolan took a no-hitter into the sixth inning of the first game and teammate Andrew Hille fired a two-hitter in the second. St. Joseph, seeded 10th, defeated fourth-seeded Old Bridge, 3-2, in the GMC title game on June 1, 2008. St. Joseph defeated Msgr. Donovan, 5-0, in a first round Non-Public A South contest Friday while Old Bridge was eliminated from the Central Jersey, Group 4 bracket by Hillsborough, 5-3, on Monday.St. Joseph, 4-2.


Prediction: Old Bridge may have more pitching but St. Joseph has the better one if Dolan is on the mound. If he is,

2:30 (approx.) 4-South Plainfield vs. 1-Perth Amboy
Overview: Perth Amboy swept their back-to-back White Division games, rallying from a 7-2 deficit to win in South Plainfield on April 14, 10-8, then prevailing the following day in 10 innings at Rudyk Park, 10-9. Both teams won state tournament games Friday, South Plainfield topping Belleville, 9-4, and Perth Amboy rallying to defeat Edison, 6-5. Perth Amboy is still dealing with the aftershocks from Wednesday’s 17-inning, 2-1 win over Sayreville in the quarterfinals of the GMC Tournament and the ramifications of that marathon on its pitching staff.

 

South Plainfield's AJ Celentano stretches for a throw at first in Wednesday's GMC quarterfinal victory over Woodbridge. (William Perlman/The Star-Ledger)

South Plainfield: The GMC’s hottest team has won 11 in a row. The Tigers have been on fire at the plate as they showed Wednesday when they lit up Woodbridge ace Nick Stallone for nine hits and six runs over four innings in a six-inning 11-1 victory in the GMC quarterfinals. Mark Tomei, batting .509 with 54 hits including 20 doubles, five triples and seven home runs, had a double, triple and home run against Woodbridge and doubled twice Friday. Brandon Downes went 3-for-4 with two RBI against Woodbridge while Stephen Petriello had driven in seven runs in the last two games to raise his team-leading total to 29. Dan Hansen (6-1) looked sharp Wednesday against Woodbridge as he retired the last seven batters he faced.

 Perth Amboy's Fernando Rosa gets some love from a teammate after scoring in a game against Woodbridge earlier this season. (Ben Solomon/For The Star-Ledger)

Perth Amboy: Emilio Calderon (11-1), Fernando Rosa (4-0) and Wonder Ortega (5-2)

are all ineligible to pitch due to Wednesday’s marathon so coach Ernie Kregeloh will likely call on right fielder Jose Hernandez, who earned a save in Friday’s state tournament win over Edison, to start. Perth Amboy is on a pretty good run of its own having won nine in a row. Catcher Anderon Rosa leads the attack with a .512 batting average, 42 hits, eight home runs and 32 RBI, while his cousin, Fernando Rosa, is hitting .444. Outfielder Ismael Paulino has 31 RBI and bats .425.

Prediction: The teams have won 20 consecutive games between them but Perth Amboy appears to be in trouble without any of its top pitchers to contain South Plainfield’s mighty attack. South Plainfield, 8-5.
 
GMC RULES!: Great showing by GMC schools in the state tournament Friday, compiling a 9-2 record. And one of those losses was to another GMC school when Perth Amboy rallied to beat Edison.

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