Game # 27 South Plainfield 12, Old Bridge 0

 

 Stanczak's three homers lead South Plainfield baseball to GMCT semifinal win

 

Greg Tufaro, @GregTufaroPublished 6:14 p.m. ET May 20, 2018 | Updated 6:23 p.m. ET May 20, 2018

 

NORTH BRUNSWICK -- The batter-friendly dimensions at Community Park are conducive to home runs, but no matter on what field South Plainfield shortstop Mike Stanczak was swinging the bat Sunday, there was little doubt the three round-trippers he belted would have cleared the fence.

Stanczak’s three-homer game backed the two-hit pitching of Chris Shine as the Tigers rolled to a 12-0 victory in a Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament semifinal shortened to five innings via the mercy rule.

 

South Plainfield baseball players following Sunday's 12-0 GMCT semifinal win over Old Bridge (Photo: ~staff photo)

The Tigers advanced to the league tournament final for the third time in the past eight years and will face the winner of Sunday’s other semifinal between Spotswood and Perth Amboy for the title at East Brunswick Tech on Saturday at noon.

Stanczak homered once off three different hurlers, launching two-run blasts in the third and fourth innings before going back-to-back with teammate Rob Gonzalez for a solo shot in the fifth.

The dimensions at Community Park are 300 feet down the lines, 330 feet to the alleys and 350 feet to straight-away center field. Stanczak crushed two homers into the trees beyond the left-center field fence and laced his third dinger over the center-field fence.

“He’s been swinging a hot bat for a few weeks now,” South Plainfield head coach Anthony Guida said of Stanczak, who leads the conference with nine homers. “He’s been really short, really quick and compact to the ball. When he sees his pitch and he gets his pitch he puts a good swing on it. Today he got his pitch and he did what he usually does when he gets his pitch. I’m real proud of the way he came up there and gave us a jolt early and continued on. It was nice to watch.”

South Plainfield (18-9) rallied for three runs with two away in the first inning off starting pitcher Connor Freel, who allowed a two-run single to Billy Keane and an RBI single to Sammy Nieves.

The Tigers doubled their lead in the second when Stanczak followed Mike Marrero’s sacrifice fly with a two-run homer. South Plainfield extended its advantage to 10-0 in the fourth on Stanczak’s second two-run homer, Chris Born’s bases-loaded walk and Connor Adams’ RBI single.

Shine, who improved his record to a deceptive 4-2 while lowering his ERA below 0.40, struck out four and allowed singles to Sonny Fauci and John Cardile. Shine issued one walk and did not allow a runner past second base.

“I don’t think he had his best stuff,” Guida said of Shine, noting he was impressed with how the righthander battled. He didn’t have his curveball. He didn’t have to rely much on anything other than spotting his fastball. He didn’t have his secondary stuff, but he gutted it out.”

Gonzalez and Keane each finished 3-for-4 for South Plainfield, while Adams and Chris Born had two singles apiece. The Tigers registered 15 hits and benefited from five infield errors.

South Plainfield turned its season around right here at Community Park on April 21 when it defeated defending state Group IV champion Millburn 19-16, winning a slugfest in which Stanczak homered twice during an Autism Awareness Baseball Challenge game.

The Tigers, who entered that contest with a 4-7 record, have since won 14 of their last 16, with the two losses coming by a total of three runs in a regular-season series loss to Woodbridge.

South Plainfield is 0-2 in conference tournament finals, having lost 3-2 in 11 innings to Old Bridge in 2011 and 1-0 to St. Joseph in 2014.

Staff Writer Greg Tufaro: gtufaro@gannett.com; On Twitter: @GregTufaro

 

 https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/sports/high-school/baseball/2018/05/20/stanczaks-three-homers-lead-south-plainfield-baseball-gmct-semifinal-win/606311002/

 



Old Bridge (0) at South Plainfield (12), Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament, Semifinal Round

By The Star Ledger
on May 21, 2018 4:16 PM

 

Mike Stanczak had three hits, scored three runs and knocked in five to lead 14th-seeded South Plainfield to a 12-0 victory against 7th-seeded Old Bridge in the semifinals of the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament in Matawan.

Rob Gonzalez added four hits and two runs and Billy Keane and chipped in two hits, two runs and two RBI for South Plainfield. Chris Shine pitched a two-hit shutout over five innings.

South Plainfield will play against 12th-seeded Perth Amboy in the finals scheduled for Saturday at the North Brunswick Community Park.

http://highschoolsports.nj.com/news/article/5197542778329017781/old-bridge-0-at-south-plainfield-12-greater-middlesex-conference-tournament-semifinal-round-baseball/