2026 - Game # 22 South Plainfield 2, St. Joseph's - Metuchen 1

Andy MendlowitzMyCentralJersey.com 

No. 5 South Plainfield 2, No. 12 St. Joseph 1: Aiden McCarthy threw a complete game with 10 strikeouts and reached 100 K’s in his career and Dom Massaro got hit with a pitch with the bases loaded that scored Ed Budzinski for the winning run in the fourth.

The Tigers (12-10) will travel to No. 4 Metuchen for Wednesday’s quarterfinal. McCarthy earned his sixth win of the season by allowing a run in seven innings off of five hits and a walk. Chris Loniewski’s RBI-single in the first plated Massaro for a 1-0 lead.

St. Joseph (5-15) tied it with a run in the fourth. Logan Ring was 2-for-2 and drove in Davis Labno (1-for-3). Ring also had a strong start allowing two runs in six innings off of three hits, two walks and three hit batters.

Baseball May roundup, daily results for GMC and area Skyland and UCC

Baseball Notebook

May 11, 2026 by Mike Pavlichko

(5) South Plainfield 2, (12) St. Joseph-Metuchen 1: For the Tigers (12-10), they don’t come up bigger than Aiden McCarthy in big spots. The senior pitcher scattered five hits in a complete game effort, allowing one earned run, striking out ten, to improve to 6-1 on the season.

South Plainfield got out to a 1-0 lead in the botom of the first on a sac fly to right by Chris Loniewski. St. Joseph (5-15) – the defending tournament champs – tied it in the top of the fourth with a single by Logan ring, but the Tigers got the lead back in the home half of the inning when Dom Massaro was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, scoring Ed Budzinski.

The win puts the Tigers in Wednesday’s quarterfinals at fourth-seed Metuchen (15-5), a team they have not faced since 2018.

GMCT Recap: Monroe knocks off Colonia in only first round upset, as seven other higher seeds advance , including Old Bridge on a Brady Meyer no-hitter.

TAPinto South Plainfield

South Plainfield Advances Past St. Joe's, 2-1, in GMC Tournament; McCarthy Gets 100th Career Strikeout

By Guy Kipp

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ — Senior left-hander Aiden McCarthy recorded the 100th strikeout of his career in a complete-game effort to lead fifth-seeded South Plainfield to a 2-1 baseball victory over 12th-seeded St. Joseph of Metuchen, the defending champion, in the first round of the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament on Monday.

McCarthy, a Rutgers-Newark commit, pitched a five-hitter with just one walk and 10 strikeouts, giving him exactly 100 for his career and improving his record in 2026 to 6-1.

South Plainfield (12-10) won despite getting just three hits against Logan Ring of St. Joe's (5-15).

The Tigers scored a run in the bottom of the first inning. Leadoff batter Dom Massaro was hit by a pitch. Massaro stole second, advanced to third on a single with one out by Andrew Bena and scored on Chris Loniewski's flyball single to right field.

After the Falcons tied it with a run in the top of the fourth, South Plainfield scored the tiebreaking run in the home half of the fourth. Ed Budzinski led off with a single to right field. He stole second, then took third on Anthony Cicenia's sacrifice bunt. With two out and the bases loaded, Massaro was hit by a pitch for the second time in the game, forcing in the go-ahead run.

McCarthy, who beat St. Joe's, 11-1, on March 31, lowered his earned-run average on the season to 2.67. He has 51 strikeouts and just eight walks in 42 innings this season.

South Plainfield will be on the road against fourth-seeded Metuchen in the quarterfinal round on Wednesday.

Baseball: South Plainfield Advances Past St. Joe's, 2-1, in GMC Tournament; McCarthy Gets 100th Career Strikeout | South Plainfield, NJ News TAPinto | TAPinto

South Plainfield edges St. Joseph (Met.) - Jim Muldowney GMC Tourney, 1st round
By Anthony Gabbianelli | NJ.com  Advance Local Express Desk

Aiden McCarthy struck out 10 batters and allowed just one run on five hits to lead fifth-seeded South Plainfield to a 2-1 victory over 12th-seeded St. Joseph (Met.) in the first round of the Jim Muldowney GMC Tournament in South Plainfield.

McCarthy went the distance for South Plainfield (12-10), walking one and hitting one batter while earning the win.Logan Ring went 2-for-2 with an RBI for St. Joseph (5-15), also striking out two batters over six innings on the mound. Ring allowed two runs on three hits while walking two and hitting three batters.

South Plainfield scored a run in the bottom of the first inning. After St. Joseph tied the game in the top of the fourth inning, South Plainfield answered with a run in the bottom half of the Fram to regain the lead.

Dom Massaro drove in a run and scored once, reaching base twice via hit-by-pitch and stealing a base for South Plainfield. Chris Loniewski went 1-for-3 with an RBI, while Ed Budzinski went 1-for-2 with a run scored, a walk and a stolen base.

Davis Labno and Luke Palermo each had a hit and Labno scored St. Joseph’s lone run in the fourth inning.

South Plainfield will face fourth-seeded Metuchen in the quarterfinal round on Wednesday.
Metuchen shutout 13th-seeded Spotswood, 3-0, in its first round matchup.

Baseball: South Plainfield edges St. Joseph (Met.) - Jim Muldowney GMC Tourney, 1st - nj.com

SPTigerBaseball 

@BaseballSPHS

The Tigers advance to the 1/4 finals after defeating St. Joes 2-1. Aiden McCarthy picked up his 6th Win of the season with a Complete Game 10 K performance & also worked his way into the record books reaching the 100 strikeout milestone. Chris Loniewski’s rbi single in the first plated Dom Massaro, who is credited with the eventual Game Winning RBI after wearing one with the bases juiced in the bottom of the 4th that scored Eddie Budzinski (1-2). The Tigers (12-10) will travel to Metuchen on Wednesday.

SPTigerBaseball

@BaseballSPHS

Aiden McCarthy has earned his keep in the SP Tiger Baseball record books w/ his latest achievement- reaching the 100 K milestone. This season, the Bull has tossed a No No & also earned a doctorate in the field of Falconry. But with his latest performance, tossing another CG DUBYA, the Bull has once again proved he is a true Maestro of the Diamond.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
St. Joseph (Met.) (5-15)	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	5	0
South Plainfield (12-10)	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	3	0

WP: Aiden McCarthy LP: Logan Ring

South Plainfield Batting

	AB	R	H	RBI	1B	BB	HBP	SB	FC	AVG	SLG
Dom Massaro #6	1	1	0	1	0	0	2	1	1	.000	.000
Aiden McCarthy #12	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000
Andrew Bena #19	3	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	.333	.333
Chris Loniewski #15	3	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	.333	.333
Ed Budzinski #3	2	1	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	.500	.500
Anthony Cicenia #11	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000
Gabriel Garcia #16	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	.000	.000
Andrew Burns #7	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000
Alex Pigna #10	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	.000	.000
Totals:	19	2	3	2	3	2	3	2	3	.158	.158

South Plainfield Pitching

	W	L	PIT	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HB	PO	ERA
Aiden McCarthy #12 (WP)	1	0	103	7	5	1	1	1	10	0	1	1.00
Totals:	1	0	103	7	5	1	1	1	10	0	1	1.00