Pats, Colonials, Cougars alive in Central Jersey
Baseball teams advance to sectional semifinals
BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer

It's survive and advance time for area high school baseball teams.Leading the way for the locals were Freehold Township, Freehold Borough and Colts Neck.

All three advanced to Tuesday's NJSIAA Central Jersey semifinals. Township in Group IV, while Freehold Borough and Colts Neck playing each other in Group III, with the winner moves on to the sectional final on Friday at the home field of the highest-seeded team.

Last week, it was Frank Gualtieri's Freehold Township nine (19-6), which did the most surviving and advancing on three fronts. Playing a demanding schedule that required six games in eight games, the Patriots reached the semifinals of Central Jersey, Monmouth County and Shore Conference tournaments.

Although Ocean eliminated them Saturday from the SCT, Gualtieri knows what the team did spoke volumes for the team's heart and depth. You don't win five tournament games in a year without having more than one pitcher and more than a couple of offensive stars.

"We're the only team in the Shore to reach the semis in three tournaments," he said. "We played six tournament games in eight days and won five of them. I think we did a pretty good job.

"We got multiple contributions from multiple players," he added. "We got strong efforts on the mound from Sean Stewart and Jason Elo."

Among the things that the Patriots can point to this year is having an undefeated pitcher in Brett Brach. He ran his record to 10-0 this spring by winning the club's two state playoff games. He began it on May 22 tossing a two-hitter in a Pats' 7-1 win over West Windsor South in Freehold.

Friday, Freehold Township, seeded fifth, beat No. 4 seed Edison, 8-2, with Brach getting his 10th win.

Rodger Wilmot delivered the big hit, a two-run home run, as the Pats jumped out to an 8-0 lead and coasted. Brach went five innings with Wilmot closing it out over the last two innings.

Tuesday, the Patriots visited No. 1 seed Steinert (Hamilton East) in their semifinal game. Two years ago, Steinert beat Freehold Township in the sectional final, and the Pats would like nothing better than to get some payback.

The CJ IV final is Friday.

Along with their state wins, the Patriots dethroned defending champion Wall in the Monmouth County Tournament behind Elo, 4-2, on May 23. Wilmot and Mike LaCava staked the righty to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first with RBI singles.

Tom Porricelli made it 3-0 in the last of the fifth, building a run of a single. He stole second after his base hit and went to third on the errand throw. He would score on a wild pitch.

Porricelli's run loomed very large in the top of the sixth, when Ed Galante went deep with a runner on for Wall to cut the lead to 3-2.

The Patriots came right back though, and made it a two-run margin in their at-bat on Ian MacLean's RBI single that scored Wilmot.

Elo, who fanned three, finished the win off in the ninth and improved to 4-2.

The next day, it was the SCT for the Patriots and another tournament win, 2-1, over Brick Memorial.

Damian Csakai played a part in both runs for the Patriots, driving in the first on an RBI double (bringing home Porricelli) and scoring the winning run on LaCava's sacrifice fly in the sixth.

Wilmot got the win in relief pitching out of a jam in the top of the sixth, when it was 1-1, and shut the door in the seventh.

Manwhile, Mike Yorke's Colts Neck Cougars (17-10) are in their best position yet to get to a state sectional final. The Cougars threw Central Jersey Group III wide open Thursday when they ousted the No. 1-seeded Wall Crimson Knights, 5-4.

Matt Yuhas pitched six solid innings and Dominick Hayes closed it out in the seventh getting the save.

A.J. Rusparsky was 3-for-4 with an RBI, Ethan Jackson delivered a two-RBI double, and Pete Salvati an RBI triple.

The Cougars built a 5-0 lead before Wall began chipping away it. A two-run home run in the sixth by Matt Logan cut the lead to 5-4, and when Yuhas surrendered a leadoff single in the seventh, Yorke put in lefty Hayes to put out the fire. He struck out the side to preserve the win and the Cougars first trip to the sectional semifinals.

Yuhas struck out nine and allowed just six hits while evening his record at 4-4.

Colts Neck, seeded eighth in the section, opened play on May 22 at home against Willingboro and the offense was on fire in the 17-3 win.

Kevin Przybylko had a game to frame coming up with six RBIs. He hammered a three-run home run, two-RBI double and sacrifice fly on the day as he went 2-for-2.

Rusbarsky, Ashton Jackson and Ethan Jackson each had two hits. Hayes and Mike O'Reilly had doubles.

Hayes (2-1) got the win, striking out eight.

Freehold Borough (17-7) rode Jason Nardi's four-hitter to a 2-0 win over Ewing in its first-round game on May 22.

Ryan Cuneo and Ryan Kresky had RBI doubles for the Colonials. Colton Ruggieri also had a two-bagger.

Saturday, the Colonials beat Monmouth Regional for the third time, 4-2, to reach the sectional semifinal, which they will host.

It was Nardi again, this time tossing a three-hitter. He improved to 6-2 on the season.

Cuneo had an RBI double, and Marc Hubbert and Rich Pultar had RBI singles during a three-run third inning that staked Nardi to a 3-0 lead.

Tuesday's game at Freehold Borough was the rubber game of the season for the two teams. They split their two regular season B North Division games. The reward is more than bragging rights, it's for a trip to the Central Jersey Group III finals on Friday.