Danny Contilliano singles up the middle in the fourth inning to drive in a run for Hunterdon Central.
By Rich Bevensee
Liam Goyette and his Hunterdon Central baseball team seem to have the same characteristics when it comes to starting games.
It takes a little while for the both pitcher and team to get into the flow of a game, but when they do, the results are indisputable.
Wednesday’s NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 4 semifinal clash with Jackson Township was no different for Goyette and the third-seeded Red Devils. Seventh-seeded Jackson roughed him up for a pair of runs in the first inning, and Central bounced back to tie the game in the bottom of the frame.
Goyette was rock solid from there, allowing only one more run in his five innings of work, and the Red Devils offense backed him up in almost every inning to reinforce an 8-5 victory in Flemington.
“We have a habit of giving up two runs in the first inning – we’ve done it in all three state games – and today we answered back in the bottom of the first and we weren’t worried because we knew Liam would settle in and the offense would do what they do,” said Hunterdon Central’s first-year coach Tom Reindel, a 2004 graduate of the Flemington school.
Hunterdon Central (17-13) earned a chance to claim its first sectional title in four years but it must topple top-seeded and Old Bridge (21-9), the 2023 Central Jersey champ, on Friday to do so. Hunterdal Central won the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 crown in 2022, eventually losing to Howell in the Group 4 final that year.
Old Bridge has yet to yield a run in three sectional contests. The perennial Middlesex County power knocked out fourth-seeded Hightstown, 10-0, in the other sectional semi.
Jackson (12-16), which entered the semifinal on a six-game winning streak, was bidding for its second sectional title in three years. The Jaguars defeated Hillsborough and Franklin to reach the semifinals. The Franklin victory was Jackson coach Pat George’s 100th career win.
Goyette improved to 5-2 and lowered his ERA to 3.59 in a 74-pitch effort, yielding three earned runs on six hits and one walk with two strikeouts. Sophomore lefty Tristan Ovalle threw two scoreless innings in relief and gave up one hit and struck out one.
Goyette is definitely a creature of habit. In his most recent outing the junior righty gave up two runs in the first inning against 14 seed Princeton in a sectional first round game but those were the only runs he yielded in a seven-inning, complete-game effort.
“It doesn’t matter how many runs I give up because I know my offense has my back,” said Goyette, who mainly used his two-seam fastball, curveball and slider. “I went back out there (in the second inning) and I shut those kids up. They were being annoying and I shut them up. That’s just what I do.”
Tristan Ovalle delivers to the plate in the seventh en route to picking up the save for the Red Devils.
“We had confidence that he was going to settle in,” Reindel said. “We knew he’d get into the flow of the game and compete. That’s who he is.”
The key hit of the game came off the bat of sophomore shortstop J.P. Santos, who fought off an inside, 1-0 pitch with the bases loaded and two outs to knock in two runs and give Hunterdon Central a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the third. The Red Devils never gave up the lead after that.
“I love being in those moments no matter what,” Santos said. “I felt like I had to produce for the team and that’s what I did.”
“He’s only a sophomore and he’s made a habit of getting big hits for us,” Reindel said. “He’s a two-out, RBI machine so we liked him in that spot.”
To both teams’ credit, neither one flinched when the other scored. When Central expanded its lead to three runs in the bottom of the fourth, Jackson responded with a run to stay within two. When the Red Devils took a 7-3 lead in the fifth, the Jaguars returned fire with two runs in their next at bat.
“Earlier in the season in those situations sometimes we did take a game like that and minimized our chances,” Jackson’s George said. “But today when they scored we fought right back to get within reach. We kept clawing back, and that’s all you can ask of these kids.”
That was a lesson learned in the last few weeks for Jackson, which endured a brutal schedule and began an uncharacteristic 5-14. Then the tide began to turn for the Jaguars.
“We played the top teams to prepare ourselves for this,” George said. “The switch came on at the right time. We clicked at the right time when we needed to the most.”
Hunterdon Central and Goyette escaped Jackson’s biggest threat in the top half of the fifth, when the Jaguars began the inning by loading the bases on two hits and a walk.
Goyette induced leadoff hitter Dominic Zolla to hit a sharp hopper to Devils third baseman Trevor Wallace, who tagged the charging runner and threw to first for a double play. Goyette then struck out Mike Fogarty looking and yielded only one run in the process.
“We are resilient,” Reindel said. “We haven’t played perfect baseball but we compete. We don’t care what the score is. We’ll keep grinding and doing our thing. That’s who we are.”
Rightfully so, Goyette gave credit to his offense, which scored in five of its six at bats.
Red Devils senior center fielder Danny Contilliano, who’s been making headlines lately, raised his average to a team-leading .480 by going 2-for-3 with a walk, an RBI, a stolen base and a run scored. Last Wednesday in the team’s sectional opener against Princeton, Contilliano notched his 100th career hit.
Also in the semi, Nik Holot doubled, singled and scored three times. Santos had two hits and two RBI. Trey Garutti had an RBI double, Joey Tedesco had an RBI single and walked twice, and Ryan Ganguzza drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.
For Jackson, Matt Galayda hit his fourth home run of the season, a solo shot in the sixth, and finished 2-for-4 with two RBI. Zolla went 2-for-4 with a double, Carney O’Donnell had an RBI double, Mason Ciccariello doubled, and S.J. Wall had two hits and a sac fly.
Jackson’s senior southpaw Matt Colaneri yielded four runs in 2⅔ innings on five hits and three walks with three strikeouts. Brandon Wilson pitched the final 3⅓ innings and gave up four runs (one earned) on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
Hunterdon Central has five NJSIAA Group 4 championships to its credit, the most recent in 2018. Jackson last won Group 4 in 2014.