#Lawrence #Twp #baseball #teams #local #NJSIAA #Tournament #hopes #alive #-
What a spring it has been for the high school baseball teams in Mercer County’s Lawrence Township!
As the 2023 New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletics Association Tournament heads into its second week, the only baseball teams still standing from The -’s coverage area are its two NJSIAA teams from the town just to the north of Trenton’s Brunswick Circle. They are also the only two clubs from the area to post 20 wins this season, doing so in the last round.
Lawrence High continues its incredible turnaround season under first-year head coach Jim Maher. After only winning five games in 2022, the Cardinals, seeded fourth in this year’s Central Jersey Group III bracket, improved to 20-6 last Thursday with a 5-3 victory over 12th-seeded Robbinsville, which had also played Lawrence in the Colonial Valley Conference Valley Division opener back on April 3.
The Cardinals gained a home game at 4 p.m. Tuesday after top-seeded Steinert dropped a 3-2 decision to ninth-seeded Matawan last Thursday. The 15-11 Huskies have now mowed down two CVC opponents in the state tournament, also ending Hopewell Valley’s spring with a 6-1 win last Monday.
In that game versus the Bulldogs, Matawan head coach Bobby Carnovsky gave the ball to hard-throwing junior Brandon Falco, a New Jersey Institute of Technology commit who threw a complete game in that outing with two walks and six strikeouts, giving him 77 Ks on the season and a 1.73 earned run average.
Falco (5-3) may get the ball again Tuesday for a matchup of up-and-coming pitchers as Lawrence figures to send Kellen Moore, a junior right-hander who has committed to Lafayette College. Moore also threw a complete game last Monday to improve to 6-1 when he struck out five with no walks in defeating Colts Neck in the first round. Moore has 65 strikeouts this year, against just 10 walks, to go with a 1.28 ERA.
Tuesday’s winner will advance to play the winner between seventh-seeded Middletown South (13-12) and third-seeded Middletown North (15-8), the defending state champ, at the home site of the highest seeded remaining club Friday in the CJ III Final.
The CVC’s lone Catholic school, Notre Dame, also won its 20th game Thursday when it upset third-seeded Donovan Catholic, 9-6, in the Non-Public A South bracket.
Twenty-second-year head coach Joe Drulis’ sixth-seeded, 20-4 squad got home runs from Logan Eilbacher (three-run), Jack Hughes (grand slam) and Dom Vizzoni (two-run) in that game. The Irish also saw senior southpaw Luke Foley (6-0) earn his second win of the week with relief help from junior lefty Justin Prekop.
ND will have to take to the road again Wednesday because second-seeded St. Joseph’s High of Metuchen defeated seventh-seeded Paul VI, 8-4. Friday at Kean University. Head coach Mike Murray Jr.’s 20-9 Falcons have won 13 of their last 15 games, including the Greater Middlesex Conference championship.
The team which survives that clash will play for the Non-Public A South title Saturday against Wednesday’s other sectional semifinal winner between fourth-seeded St. Augustine Prep (17-7) and top-seeded Red Bank Catholic (22-5).
The non-public school state finals will then take place Thursday, June 8 at Bob DeMeo Field in Hamilton’s Veterans Park.
Central Jersey public school state semifinalists will host this season’s state semifinals against the South Jersey winners Monday, June 5 with the state finals set aside for Saturday, June 10 at Bob DeMeo Field in Hamilton’s Veterans Park.
NJSIAA Baseball Tournament
Tuesday, May 30
Central Jersey Group III
Matawan at Lawrence, 4 p.m.
Wednesday, May 31
Non-Public A South
Notre Dame at St. Joseph’s-Metuchen, 4 p.m.
GIAMBELLUCA GOLF
The second annual Chuck Giambelluca Memorial Golf Outing will be held Thursday, June 1 at Mercer Oaks East & West (725 Village Rd. West in West Windsor). There will be a 7 a.m. registration and an 8 a.m. shotgun start under a scramble format. The cost per golfer is $150 (or $50 for the dinner only). That price includes a golf cart and greens fees; beverages on the course (beer & water); winning teams, longest drive, closest to pin and putting contests; a hot buffet breakfast; then lunch on the course ahead of a buffet dinner & drinks, plus door prizes. For more details, information or scholarship opportunities, please contact: Jerry Thompson at (609) 346-1282, JerryT19@gmail.com; Mike Giambelluca Sr. at (609) 575-6525, mjgiamb@yahoo.com; Tom Dolan at (609) 847-7379, btownpost26@aol.com or Pat Papero at (609) 802-8779, pvpapero@aol.com.
| Read More Latest News From United States of New Jersey |
