2024 - Game # 6 South Plainfield 9, Watchung Hills 2

 Andy MendlowitzMyCentralJersey.com

South Plainfield 9, Watchung Hills 2

Junior righty Mike Castagna earned his first varsity win by allowing an unearned run in four innings with three strikeouts as South Plainfield earned the nonconference victory.

Dom Massaro went 3-for-5 with an RBI and double for the Tigers (5-1) and Nick Irizarry (2 runs) and Steve Studlack (RBI, run) each had two hits.

Also joining the hit parade were Aiden McCarthy (2 RBIs, run), Dan Kapsch (2 RBIs, run) and Jayden Alvarez (double, 2 RBIs, run).

Aiden McCarthy, Lorenzo Fuscoletti and Chase Donovan each threw a scoreless inning for the Tigers.

Watchung Hills fell to 3-4-1. 

NJ baseball April roundup for GMC and area Skyland and Union counties (mycentraljersey.com)

	R	H	E
South Plainfield (5-1)	9	10	2
Watchung Hills (3-4-1)	2	4	4

South Plainfield Batting

	AB	R	H	RBI	1B	2B	3B	HR	BB	HBP	SB	AVG	SLG
Aiden McCarthy	3	1	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333	.333
Dom Massaro	5	1	3	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	.600	.800
Dan Kapsch	4	1	1	2	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	.250	.250
Zack Robinson	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	.000	.000
Jayden Alvarez	3	1	1	2	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	.333	.667
Brandon Bickunas	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.000	.000
Nick Irizarry	4	2	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.500	.500
Anthony Tomei	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.000	.000
Steve Studlack	3	1	2	1	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	.667	.667
Totals:	32	10	10	8	8	2	0	0	5	1	4	.312	.375

South Plainfield Pitching

	PIT	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HB	ERA
Mike Castagna (WP)	78	4	3	2	1	4	3	0	1.75
Aiden McCarthy	17	1	1	0	0	0	2	0	0.00
Lorenzo Fuscoletti	17	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Chase Donovan	7	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Totals:	119	7	4	2	1	4	5	0	1.00

The Tigers defeated Watchung Hills and improved their record to 5-1. They scored 9 times on 10 hits, providing starter Mike Castagna with plenty of run support needed to pick up his first career W.

8 different Tigers crossed home plate today. The Dudes: Dom Massaro (3-5 2b rbi r) Nick Irizarry (2-4 2r sb) Dan Kapsch, Jay Alvarez, and Aiden McCarthy got in the mix and had 2rbi’s each.

Grand Poobah V

Low 50’s, dark skies, cold drizzle, a bus that sounded like Judas Priest as it limped up the hill-waterlogged baseballs 30 sec into our IO-nothing but ideal conditions for our backstop Steve “the Stud”Studlack to be helmeted. Stud (2-3 rbi r) 1st career var hits!!

This week’s Greater Middlesex Conference Top 10 (records through Sat., April 13)

 

Andy MendlowitzMyCentralJersey.com

1. Old Bridge (6-2) – preseason No. 1: Old Bridge went 1-1 against No. 3 North Brunswick, but swept No. 6 St. Joseph and beat East Brunswick to stay at No. 1. The Knights have gotten quality pitching and timely hitting, as advertised.

2. Monroe (4-2) – preseason No. 2: The Falcons also split with North Brunswick and swept East Brunswick. So, it remains status quo up top. A non-conference loss to Hamilton West doesn't hurt them here.

3. North Brunswick (2-3) – preseason No. 3: Here’s an interesting stat – the Raiders haven’t out-hit an opponent through their first five games, yet they managed to earn splits with No. 1 Old Bridge and No. 2 Monroe. Well-placed hitting and clutch pitching are good things.  

4. Woodbridge (6-0) – preseason No. 4: First test passed. While early, the Barrons swept a huge White Division series against the defending champions Sayreville. They also went 2-0 against a tough Colonia team and then outscored J.P. Stevens 33-0.

5. South Plainfield (3-1) – preseason No. 5: This is baseball: South Plainfield opened the season with a 14-0 win over East Brunswick then lost to the Bears, 3-2, two days later. The Tigers rebounded with a two-game sweep over South Brunswick by a combined three runs. Taking that series could be huge down the line.

6. St. Joseph (1-5) – preseason No. 6: The Falcons can actually make a case to move up after beating North Brunswick on Saturday. The team has several new starters but couldn’t ease into action against cupcakes. St. Joseph lost twice to Old Bridge and once to Monroe, Seton Hall Prep and St. Benedict’s.    

7. Edison (4-1) – preseason No. 9: The mostly young Eagles are shaping up to be a fun team as sophomore pitchers Robert Roma and Connor Murphy are emerging to complement senior ace Jaxon Appelman. Edison swept Sayreville and split with Colonia, along with a win over Perth Amboy to position themselves firmly in the White Division race.

8. Spotswood (6-0) – preseason No. 8: The Chargers are rolling in the Blue Division with series wins over Metuchen, North Plainfield and an improved Piscataway, outscoring them a combined 68-13. Carter Cumiskey is hitting .611 (11-for-18).

9. Colonia (2-3) – preseason not ranked: The Patriots started 0-3 after being on the wrong end of dominant pitching against Woodbridge’s Eddy Nunez and Drew Lukachyk and Edison’s Jaxon Appelman. Those are never fun. The Patriots, though, regrouped and got their own ace outings from Colin Kroner and Cory Pascarella in wins over Perth Amboy and Edison.

10. South Brunswick (3-3) – preseason not ranked: No, one can never forget about the Vikings. South Brunswick opened by sweeping East Brunswick, an 11-10 win included, and beat Allentown. They lost twice to South Plainfield by a combined three runs.

Out: Sayreville (2-4): The then-No. 7 Bombers swept Middlesex but dropped out after going 0-4 after Woodbridge and Edison in the two series.

East Brunswick (1-6): The then-No. 10 Bears got a quality win over South Plainfield in a series split but lost series against Monroe and South Brunswick and fell to Old Bridge in the first game.

NJ Baseball: GMC Top 10, games to watch and last week's storylines (mycentraljersey.com)