East Brunswick 6, South Plainfield 5: Tyler Zichner (double) and Joshua Hines each had two hits and two RBIs to finish their GMC Red Division slate with a split against South Plainfield.
The Bears (9-5 overall and in the division) are in third place in the Red as South Plainfield (9-4 division, 11-5 overall) remains one game ahead in the loss column. The Tigers conclude division play next Wednesday at St. Joseph.
Joe Spinello tripled, walked and scored twice with an RBI, while Jared MacWithey doubled and scored and Andrew Melcer singled and scored. Hayden Dziubeck earned the win by allowing five runs (4 ER) in six innings with six strikeouts.
East Brunswick led 6-2 and South Plainfield rallied with three in the bottom of the sixth but couldn’t get closer. Nick Irizarry was 2-for-4 with three RBIs and four stolen bases and Chris Loniewski was 2-for-4 and scored. Dom Massaro (3 SBs) and Aiden McCarthy each singled with an RBI.
Woodbridge 4, Monroe 0: Woodbridge needed a win to stay even with South Plainfield in the GMC Red Division race. Kevin Arroyo did his part by throwing a gem and Bryan German singled with three RBIs to lead the Barrons.
When East Brunswick beat South Plainfield 6-5 Thursday, the Barrons (11-3 in division) clinched the Red as South Plainfield fell to 9-4 in the division. South Plainfield owned the tiebreaker having gone 2-0 against Woodbridge.
Woodbridge won the White Division pennant last season and didn’t miss a beat after moving up to the Red. What makes it even more impressive is that Woodbridge graduated its top three pitchers in Eddy Nunez, Shawn Kish and Drew Lukachyk, who was the top hitter (.452 batting average).
The junior Arroyo was one of those players who stepped up (36 2/3 IP, 33 Ks, 1.15 ERA). Gavin Slicner also had a big game Thursday going 2-for-3 with a run scored.
NJ Baseball May roundup for GMC and area Skyland and Union teams
TAPinto South Plainfield
East Brunswick Holds Off South Plainfield, 6-5
SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ -- East Brunswick's baseball team arrived nearly an hour late for its game at South Plainfield.
But the Bears came off the bus swinging the bat, and they spent most of their turns at the plate being very much on time on Thursday.
After East Brunswick scored two runs in the top of the first inning, South Plainfield spent the rest of the game persistently climbing the hill. Josh Kesser kept the potential tying and winning runs on base to get the save for East Brunswick in a 6-5 victory over the Tigers.
East Brunswick (9-5) avenged a 16-3 loss to South Plainfield on Tuesday. Tyler Zeichner went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two runs batted in for the Bears; Joe Spinello was 2-for-3 with a triple, a double and two RBI; Josh Hines was 2-for-4 with an RBI; and Jared MacWithey went 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored for East Brunswick.
South Plainfield (11-5) lost despite stealing 11 bases in the game. Nick Irizarry went 3-for-4 with three RBI and four stolen bases; Chris Loniewski was 2-for-4 with a run scored; and Dom Massaro was 1-for-3 with an RBI, a run scored and three stolen bases for the Tigers.
On a day when Woodbridge clinched first place in the Red Division of the Greater Middlesex Conference, South Plainfield and East Brunswick, the second- and third-place teams in the division, gave credence to the theory that the upcoming GMC Tournament appears to be as wide open in 2025 as it has ever been. There are probably at least a half-dozen teams with a legitimate chance of winning it. The tournament will be seeded on Friday, May 9.
East Brunswick's two first-inning runs came as the result of an infield hit by leadoff man Zeichner, an RBI triple by Spinello and a run-scoring groundout by Hines. South Plainfield got a run back in its half of the first inning on an RBI single through the middle by Aiden McCarthy that plated Irizarry, who had singled past the third baseman and then stolen second.
Zeichner's RBI single to right-center in the second gave EB a 3-1 lead after MacWithey had reached on a bad-hop single to short and moved up a base on Andrew Melcer's sacrifice bunt.
Zeichner's RBI double past a diving effort by South Plainfield's right fielder gave the Bears a 5-2 lead in the sixth before he then scored on a double by Spinello.
With East Brunswick holding a 6-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth, South Plainfield, a good late-inning team all season, rallied for three runs. Ryan Balent led off with a single to center., stole second, took third on Chris Loniewski's groundout and scored when Massaro legged out a grounder to the left side for a single. Massaro stole second and third, Dan Kapsch walked and stole second, and Irizarry laced a two-run single to right-center to cut the EB lead to 6-5.
But senior left-hander Hayden Dziubeck got a groundout to leave the tying run on third.
In the bottom of the seventh, Dan Butrico hammered a one-out double past a diving attempt by the Bears' left fielder. With two out, Anthony Tomei drew a walk and, on ball four, the pitch bounced away, allowing Butrico to advance to third. When Tomei moved up to second on defensive indifference, the Tigers had the tying and winning runs in scoring position, but Kesser got a flyout to right field to end the threat and the game.
East Brunswick has scored 72 runs in its last nine games, an average of 8.0 runs a game.
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
R |
H |
E |
|
|
East Brunswick (9-5) |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
6 |
9 |
2 |
|
South Plainfield (11-5) |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
5 |
8 |
3 |
LP: Aiden McCarthy
South Plainfield Batting
|
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
1B |
2B |
3B |
HR |
BB |
HBP |
SB |
AVG |
SLG |
|
|
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
.333 |
.333 |
|
|
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
.000 |
.000 |
|
|
4 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
.500 |
.500 |
|
|
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
.500 |
.500 |
|
|
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
.000 |
|
|
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
.000 |
|
|
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.250 |
.500 |
|
|
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.250 |
.250 |
|
|
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
.000 |
|
|
4 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
.500 |
.500 |
|
|
Totals: |
29 |
4 |
8 |
5 |
7 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
1 |
10 |
.276 |
.310 |
South Plainfield Pitching
|
PIT |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
K |
HB |
ERA |
|
|
Aiden McCarthy (LP) |
75 |
5 |
8 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
4.20 |
|
19 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
|
Totals: |
94 |
7 |
9 |
6 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
3.00 |
South Plainfield Takes a Loss
Nick Irizarry was cooking despite his team's loss, going 2-for-4 with four stolen bases, three RBI, and one run. He is on a roll when it comes to stolen bases, as he's now snagged at least one in each of the last five games he's played. Another player making a difference was Dom Massaro, who went 1-for-4 with three stolen bases, one run, and one RBI.
South Plainfield's loss dropped their record down to 11-5. As for East Brunswick, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 10-5 record this season.
Both teams are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. South Plainfield will welcome Sayreville at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. As for East Brunswick, they will be playing at home against St. Thomas Aquinas at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. The Trojans' pitching crew has only allowed 3.9 runs per game this season, so the Bears' hitters will have their work cut out for them.
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