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Courtesy of Somerset Patriots
EAST BRUNSWICK – There’s never any panic, never any tension in tight spots. Close games are just the norm for the St. Joseph baseball team. The Falcons simply keep on playing frazzle-free.
Take their Jim Muldowney Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament run. St. Joseph won back-to-back, walk-off 1-0 games in extra innings to reach Saturday’s semifinal against eighth-seeded Spotswood.
Why should the semi turn out any different?
Spotswood led 3-1 entering the last of the seventh with the bottom of the order coming up for St. Joseph.
“There wasn’t one person in that dugout sitting down,” senior JP Zayle said. “I didn’t hear any background noise about people saying it’s over. We all knew that until our last strike is called, we’re in that game.”
St. Joseph’s Bobby Christensen tied it with a two-RBI double and Zayle followed up with the walk-off hit as the Falcons won 4-3 in another thriller.
It’s fun, right?
“I mean, I love it,” Christensen said. “I’ll take that spot in the bottom of the seventh, second and third down two every single time in my life. That’s what I play baseball for.”
The fifth-seeded Falcons advance to play 11th-seeded Edison in Saturday’s (May 24) final at East Brunswick Magnet.
Saturday, the Falcons’ Richie Zangara battled through bases-loaded jams in the third and fifth innings, limiting damage. He allowed three runs in five innings with 10 strikeouts. Monday, Zangara threw eight shutout innings with 10 strikeouts in the 1-0 win over Sayreville in the first round.
“Richie gave us a gutsy performance,” Falcons coach Dennis McCaffery said. “He really did. He’s been dynamite for us this year and it’s just another day out on the mound for Richie. He did a great job today.”
Domenic Erbafina earned his second win in relief in the GMCT by throwing two shutout innings allowing just a hit. Zayle went 2-for-4 and drove in St. Joe’s first run in the third inning.
Spotswood (14-9) ace Carter Cumiskey matched Zangara most of the day allowing a run and three hits until the seventh, which started with a strikeout. With one out, No. 8 hitter Walter Christian doubled and pinch-hitter Luke Baranauskas singled to set up the heroics at the end.
Christensen drove a 2-2 pitch to deep center to make it 3-3. Zayle’s hit up the middle gave St. Joseph, incredibly, its third straight walk-off win in the elimination tournament.
The Falcons (13-6) are in their fourth GMCT final in the last five years with championships in 2021 and 2023. The team has bonded under the Hall of Fame coach McCaffery, who took over in January leading a squad with several returning players.
There were some early rough patches but the streaking Falcons have won seven straight.
“The whole season was building until this tournament and we did it perfectly,” Zayle said. “Everything seems to be clicking. We’ve won the shootout games. We’ve won the close games. This is three straight walk-offs in a row and, honestly, I’ve never been on a team like this. I played for a lot of teams in my life. I’ve never been on a team like this that doesn’t quit. We don’t quit.”
Christensen added, “Coach McCaffery believed in us from day one and we knew that this was going to be a full team-thing. … We just battled the whole game, we never gave up. We knew we were always in this game and we had a chance. And now we’ll celebrate this tonight but have a long six days to get ready for the championship to hopefully bring this back home.”
