Baseball: South Plainfield reaches GMCT final with aggressive approach, strong pitching
EAST BRUNSWICK – The epic rally was so much fun, it’s like South Plainfield didn’t want to stop scoring.
Only this time, it was a tad less dramatic for Tigers fans. Wednesday, South Plainfield scored six runs in the bottom of the seventh with two outs for a walk-off win in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament baseball quarterfinals.
Saturday, top-seeded South Plainfield jumped to a lead en route to an 8-3 victory over Edison in the semifinals for its 12th-straight win.
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“We just never give up,” third baseman Jayden Alvarez said. “We try to be dogs every time we come out and play.”
Calling your teammates "dogs" is a high compliment for athletes, and South Plainfield showed its moxie and grit in opening a 4-0 lead on one hit in the first inning and quashing Edison’s attempted rally in the final frame.
Brandon Bickunas had a key two-RBI single and Alvarez added insurance runs on a two-run homer that he blasted to right field.
Tigers’ junior lefthander Kevin Penny was excellent, going 6 1/3 innings allowing seven hits with five strikeouts. Chase Donovan got the final two outs with the bases loaded.
South Plainfield (18-3) faced Edison senior ace Jaxon Appelman. As a freshman in 2021, Appelman allowed two unearned runs with eight strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings in a quarterfinal win over Edison. He’s been one of the best pitchers in the area since.
South Plainfield coach Scott Gleichenhaus said: “Our goal was just to be patient and try to get him out of the game as quickly as possible and get to their bullpen, as any coach would want to do against a horse like that.”
In the bottom of the first, the Tigers’ Dan Kapsch led off with a walk followed by hit batters in Zach Robinson and Alvarez. Bicknaus followed with his two-RBI single into left field. Another run scored on Nick Irizarry’s ground out and on an error.
South Plainfield added runs in the third inning when Steve Studlack walked with the bases loaded and on Aldo Pigna’s ground out to make it 6-1.
“We all knew who we were going to get and we just try to be aggressive on him,” Alvarez said. “He’s a really good pitcher so we just try to do our thing. Stick to our approach. … There’s no really easy outs in our lineup. We all have our approach and we try to stick to it every game no matter who’s on the mound.”
Fifth-seeded Edison (13-8) plated two runs on Appelman’s groundout in the third and on freshman Shaun Garland’s single in the fourth inning. In the seventh, Teddy Eyler brought in a run on a groundout, but Edison couldn’t get closer.
Next up, top-seeded South Plainfield will meet third-seeded Old Bridge in the 2:30 p.m. final on May 18 at host East Brunswick Magnet. Old Bridge topped 10th-seeded Sayreville 10-0 in the other semifinal.
South Plainfield has scored 29 runs over three games in reaching the final and the Tigers hope to keep those smiles, and hits, coming.
“We’re here to have fun,” Penny said. “That’s what I said to these guys on the mound before my first pitch of the game, ‘Let’s have fun today.’ That’s the most important thing when you’re having fun and you’re loose, you’re going to play your best baseball and we did today.”
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Baseball: South Plainfield tops Edison in GMCT semifinals
