Baseball: Old Bridge comes together for a magical run to the Group 4 title game

It’s inevitable, just about every baseball team hits a lull at some point. Old Bridge coach Matt Donaghue knows that.

So after the Knights dropped two straight a month ago, including an upset loss in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament quarterfinals, they went back to practice. The objective – quickly refocus for the upcoming state tournament.

No pressure, just have fun and compete.

“We just did a bunch of different things that tried to get them back on track,” Donaghue said, “and were like, ‘Hey, listen the state tournament’s the biggest tournament you can win.’ Everything was preparing for the state tournament.

“Our biggest thing we wanted to see was competition. So we would do competition drills, hitting offense, defense, everything like that.”

Sophomore pitcher Justin Hascup said, “It definitely calmed us down because it was just a rough game for us, but practices afterward definitely help us get back into it.”

Old Bridge (21-8) soon started a magical run by capturing the NJSIAA Central Group 4 title by outscoring its four opponents 23-1. The Knights then topped Eastern 8-6 in Monday’s group semifinal game to advance to the first state title game in school history. (Old Bridge merged with Madison Central and Cedar Ridge in the 1994-95 school year.)

Next up is Saturday’s Group 4 title game against Ridgewood, the North 1 Group 4 champs, at Veterans Park in Hamilton at 4 p.m.

Here’s a look at what’s been propelling the Knights to their triumphs.

Team chemistry

Camaraderie and kinship are often the ingredients for a successful squad.

Old Bridge kicked off the jelling process with a trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in the preseason.

Baseball. Beach. Bonding.

Senior catcher Kyle McSorley noted the trip helped the upperclassmen get to know the newcomers and the players began to understand their roles on the team.

“Definitely from the start when we took that trip down to Myrtle Beach we felt it was special,” he said. “This is a special group for us. We’ve formed a brotherhood over the past few months and I’m sure it’s going to definitely show within the next 48 hours.”

The trio of three-year starters in McSorley, Thomas Papeo and Mike Villani have helped provide leadership and the coaches foster a competitive spirit in practice with mini-competitions.

“We’ll set up screens all over the field,” said Donaghue, a former Old Bridge player in his sixth season as head coach. “You have to hit a ball through the screen. If not, it’s an out. Just many different things we could do. If they hit a ball off the screen, the round’s over. So it forces them to hit line drives. The kids get into it. They compete. There’s some trash talking going on but that’s good. That’s good.”

Top pitching

Old Bridge faced questions on the mound entering the season. Senior ace Justin Herbstman, a Virginia Tech commit, missed the spring after recovering from Tommy John surgery. The Knights also graduated Christian Krause, Nick Covlous and Will Kennedy, who combined for nearly 50 innings.

That left junior left-hander Frank Papeo, who had a breakout season as a sophomore with a 1.25 ERA in 39 1/3 innings, as the only proven varsity arm with deep innings.

Papeo has again delivered (7-2, 1.50 ERA, 56 IP, 76 K), but has been joined by sophomore righty Justin Hascup (8-1, 1.20 ERA, 50 IP, 56 K) and junior right-hander JT Meyer (45 1/3 IP, 2.01 ERA, 33 K) to give Old Bridge a top-line 1-2-3 combo.

“We knew that Justin was going to be good,” Donaghue said. “We knew JT was going to be good. It was just a matter of how quickly they caught up. Frank does a great job leading the whole pitching staff. You know, getting the guys to buy in and work the same stuff he does. They kind of grew real quick because of Frank Papeo.”

Hitting development

It’s tough hitting in the GMC Red Division as underclassmen. Throw in Old Bridge’s challenging non-conference slate with private school powers, and the batting averages aren’t always that pretty.

“Listen, you play our schedule,” Donaghue said. “You look at our conference – they’re facing top pitchers in the state each game. So the fact that they’re hitting, Mike’s (Villani) hitting .402. Tom (Papeo) is hitting .410. Kyle’s (McSorley) hitting .345 – it’s special. They’ve seen it for two years now. So now they’ve adjusted. It takes time to adjust to our schedule and the GMC pitching because the GMC pitching is loaded.”

McSorley, who has a team-high six home runs and 29 RBI, hit .211 last year. He said the turnaround was attributed to continuing to work and “just getting that extra year under our belt and having that confidence.”

Old Bridge has other key hitters who have delivered throughout the season and down the stretch, including John Smith, Evan Smith and Adam Scire.

Add everything up, and Old Bridge seems to be clicking on all aspects. Frank Papeo noted the team has confidence, energy and they pick each other up.

“We’re playing smart baseball now,” he said. “We’re not making any stupid errors and if we ever make errors, it’s early in the game so we have time to kind of get back into the game.”

Villani added, “I just think it’s the fight we have. Just the team bond, too, and the chemistry we have just comes to play. Just playing together, making sure we got our guys back.”

Thomas Papeo was asked if everything seems like it’s falling into place.

“Not only everything’s falling into place, but we’re kind of creating our own destiny,” he said. “We come out there and compete. We don’t let anything hold us down. We’re just having fun. It’s that competitive dog mindset, but we’re just out here, just playing the game.”

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Baseball: Old Bridge comes together to reach the Group 4 title game