Baseball: Old Bridge captures Central Group 4 championship
OLD BRIDGE – The ball ripped to Old Bridge first baseman Shaun Bogda, who was able to knock it down and then fumbled around for a few moments in the seventh inning of Friday’s NJSIAA Central Group 4 baseball final with two outs.
The North Brunswick runner raced home from third as the tying run. Bogda finally clutched the ball and dove to the base for the final out.
With that, the Knights won 2-1 and their celebration was on.
“Honestly, it all happened so fast, I don’t even really remember,” Bogda said. “I just know I knocked it down, picked it up, dove to the bag and then next thing we were in the dog pile.”
In a game of top pitching and defense, Old Bridge made one less mistake and one more big play and stopped two North Brunswick rallies for the win.
Old Bridge sophomore righty Justin Hascup allowed an unearned run in 5 2/3 innings with just two hits, no walks and two strikeouts.
Junior right-hander JT Meyer threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings giving up just a hit and a hit batter with a strikeout.
What does it mean
The Knights captured their first sectional title since 2015 and played in their first sectional final after taking second in 2019.
Old Bridge will host the Group 4 semifinal Monday against Eastern, which won the South Group 4 championship as the No. 11 seed with a 2-0 win over fifth-seeded Rancocas Valley on Friday. (The host team is predetermined with the sites alternating each year.)
Monday’s winner advances to the Group 4 state championship game June 8 at Veterans Park in Hamilton.
North Brunswick ends its season at 21-7 and had a memorable three-year run with three-straight Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament final appearances.
Game ball
The 6-foot-3 Meyer is mostly a starter and has only recently come out of the bullpen. He discovered it’s best not to think when beckoned. Just throw.
Friday, he started at right field and got the call in the sixth inning with the bases loaded and one out. North Brunswick’s top of the order all reached. Leadoff hitter Yomar Carreras got on via an error as Bogda bobbled the ball at first. Zack Konstantinovsky singled to left center field and Omar Carreras walked on four pitches.
Enter Meyer.
After a foul ball, he got dangerous cleanup hitter Justin Batts to hit a bullet to second baseman Adam Scire, who fielded it cleanly and threw to shortstop Thomas Papeo on second base and he fired to first for the 4-6-3 double play.
Hascup said, “the double play was huge momentum towards us.”
North Brunswick also rallied in the top of the seventh as Frankie Garbolino got hit by a pitch with one out and Josh Rodriguez singled to center field to make it first and third. However, Meyer got the strikeout and groundout to end the game.
Hascup didn’t seemed frazzled as a cool sophomore in a big-time game. Old Bridge coach Matt Donaghue said both pitchers have ice in their veins.
Key plays
After North Brunswick scored on an error in the second inning, Old Bridge responded to tie it 1-1. Cleanup hitter Mike Villani doubled to lead off the bottom half of the inning and advanced to third on Hascup’s groundout to second. He soon scored on a wild pitch to tie it up.
The Raiders manufactured a run in the fifth inning. Scire walked and Meyer bunted him to second. Scire scored with two outs on right fielder Chris Rosario’s error as the Raiders took a 2-1 lead.
North Brunswick game ball
Credit the Raiders pitching, as well. Junior left-hander Alejandro Jabar went a strong 4 2/3 innings giving up four hits. Kyle Anderson finished with a scoreless 1 1/3 innings to keep his team in it.
They said it
Old Bridge coach Matt Donaghue said about the team pulling it out, “That just shows the type of team we have. They’re just tough. They’re a close group. They’re close-knit. These kids deserve everything. They work hard. They buy into what we’re trying to do. I mean, the kids deserve it all. This town deserves it and we’re just happy. We’re not done yet. We got to keep going.”
Donaghue added, “Our goal is to be a state champ. We get to play again Monday. We’re not done yet. We want to keep playing. This group is special. They’re a special group. They’re fun. They work hard. They’re all close. They’re all best friends. I mean it really is a special group and I’m just so happy for them. This is a huge accomplishment right now, but we have more goals ahead for us.”
Villani on the title, “All these guys put in the work since day one. No one expected us to be here. So just to make it happen feels so special. It’s surreal, really. … I knew like we had to be perfect. North Brunswick is a great team, great team. I knew it was going to be a battle and it was.”
Bogda said, “We had a lot of ups and downs to start the season and a lot of lineup changes and (I'm) just happy we were able to get it all together at once and win it. … We just have an unbelievable team chemistry. We’re coming to work every day and love being here.”
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Baseball: Old Bridge captures Central Group 4 championship
