Hunterdon Central won the school’s ninth sectional title on Friday and eighth since 2008.
By Rich Bevensee
The home crowd at Fred Cole Field in Old Bridge slowly filed out into the parking lot in stunned silence.
Their top-seeded Knights entered the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 4 championship game without giving up a single run in three sectional contests, but surrendered more runs than in any game this season to the hot-hitting Hunterdon Central Red Devils.
Senior Trevor Wallace went 4-for-5 with three doubles and two RBI, all nine starters got at least one hit, and third-seeded Hunterdon Central shockingly pummeled the hosts, 14-1, to claim its first sectional title in four years on Friday evening.
The Red Devils (18-13) collected 16 hits and blitzed Old Bridge with three whopper innings to support sophomore righty Jack Edwards, who allowed one run in a complete-game effort.
It was a lopsided result no one saw coming, and that includes the Red Devils, who scored 26 runs in their three previous tournament games but held Old Bridge (21-10) in high regard for shutting out three straight sectional opponents.
“We came in here knowing they haven’t let up a run, and our game plan was just to attack right away,” said Wallace, whose team reached double digits in runs for the seventh time this season. “Once we scored in that first inning we knew they wouldn’t be able to come back from it. I’m really proud of our guys.”
The Group 4 state semifinals are set for Monday. Unranked Hunterdon Central will travel to Kingsway (23-5), ranked No. 13 in the NJ.com Top 20, while Ridgewood (23-7) hosts Ridge (19-10) in the other semifinal. The Skyland Conference, represented by Hunterdon Central and Ridge, has stepped to the fore once again in the state tournament.
Hunterdon Central jumped on Old Bridge starter Blake Dunleavy for four runs in the top half of the first inning – two were unearned – and the Red Devils never trailed. Central added six more runs in the third inning and four in the seventh to end with a flourish.
Both much-respected coaches – Tom Reindel of Hunterdon Central and Matt Donaghue of Old Bridge – said after the game that they were expecting a dogfight, not a lopsided affair. Both ballclubs entered on hot streaks. Hunterdon Central went 10-4 in May while Old Bridge went 11-2.
Trevor Wallace went 4-for-5 with three doubles and two RBI to pace Hunterdon Central’s offense.
The sectional final was just the third time this season Old Bridge allowed an opponent 10 runs or more.
“Usually in games you get one to four guys that are hot that day. I feel like all nine of them were hot,” said Donaghue, a 2005 Old Bridge graduate who led his team to a second straight sectional final in his ninth season at the helm. “They did a great job fighting off really tough pitches and getting pitches to drive. They had great defense, great pitching and great offense and they just outplayed us today.”
Reindel, a 2004 Central grad in his first year leading the Red Devils, never got the chance to play for a sectional title in his four years in the varsity red and black, although they did win four Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex tournament crowns as a player. Reindel is no stranger to big games, though, as he led West Morris (Long Valley) to the NJSIAA Group 2 championship game last year and the same school to the Group 3 final in 2019. So the veteran skipper now has three sectional crowns on his resume.
So, leading his alma mater to the program’s ninth sectional title – and first since 2022 (in North 2, Group 4) – was special to Reindel, especially because of how the team rebounded from a poor start. Eight of those sectional crowns for Hunterdon Central have come since 2008.
Hunterdon Central dogpiles on winning pitcher Jack Edwards (that’s him, bottom right) after winning the Central Jersey, Group 4 title over Old Bridge.
The Red Devils weren’t sending anyone to the parking lot in silence back through the first month of baseball, at which time they were 6-9. Reindel said how the team learned to improve and played with more passion is its biggest accomplishment of the season.
“Our expectation is to compete for championships every year, but it took us four weeks to hit our stride,” Reindel said. “We were 6-9 and I don’t think anybody thought much of us at that point.
“But over the last month we’re 12-4 and we’re playing some of the best baseball in the state. It’s testament to how competitive and coachable the kids are. It’s been fun to watch.”
Edwards never seemed fazed by waiting out those long offensive innings to get back on the mound. He scattered nine hits and allowed two walks while striking out four over 100 pitches.
The 6-3 righty waded in and out of trouble, stranding five runners in scoring position. He was the benefactor of two double plays anchored by sophomore shortstop J.P. Santos and junior second baseman Matty Dalfonzo, and two individual fielding gems, one by Santos and the other by senior catcher Chase Reinhard.
Santos slid on knees to stifle a grounder up the middle hit by Chris Crosta and threw him out. Reinhard took a throw from center which was too late to get Old Bridge’s Jared Volpe from scoring, but he fired a frozen rope back to second to nail Erich Shikshneit trying to stretch the single into a double.
In the seventh, Edwards labored through five batters, allowing two walks to load the bases, before he got a strikeout looking to end the game and capture the sectional title. Edwards lowered his season ERA to 3.02.
“One of the best teams in our group got knocked out today,” Edwards said. “Coach told me before the game to use my best stuff and attack. My slider was working heavily today – that did most of the work – and my four-seam fastball outside. In the end there I was just digging deep, trying to hit the zone and trying not to walk in a run.”
The boisterous Old Bridge faithful were taken out of the game when Hunterdon Central erupted for four runs in its first at bat. Wallace opened the scoring when he reached the left center field wall for an RBI double. Reinhard singled home Wallace and then raced all the way around on an outfield error for a Little League home run. Santos singled and later scored from second on an errant throw to first trying to get Matty Dalfonzo.
Old Bridge countered with a run in the bottom of the first on Shikshneit’s two-out, RBI single.
Hunterdon Central really put a damper on the home field celebration in the third, sending 11 batters to the plate and scoring six runs on four hits, two walks and two hit batsmen.
Hunterdon Central is loaded with Diamond Jacks. Front left to right, Mason Matis, Trevor Wallace, Danny Contiliano, Nik Holot, Charlie Carlevarini; back, left to right, assistant coach Mark Crawford, Liam Goyette, Tristan Ovalle, Trey Garutti, Henry Kusant, Jake Masterton and Graeden Blane.
Dalfonzo and Trey Garutti walked with the bases loaded. No. 9 hitter Ryan Ganzuzza slapped a two-run single into shallow left. Danny Contilliano had an RBI single and Nik Holot added a sacrifice fly for a 10-1 lead.
In the sixth the Red Devils nearly hit for the cycle, as Holot had an RBI triple, Joey Tedesco had an RBI single, and Wallace stroked a grounds rule RBI double. Dalfonzo tacked on another run-scoring single for the final score.
For Old Bridge, which was seeking its first sectional crown since 2023, Shikshneit was 2-for-3 with an RBI and Volpe had two hits.
Dunleavy, who pitched 6 ⅔ innings and got the win in the team’s first sectional game against East Brunswick on May 27, lasted two innings against Hunterdon Central. He allowed seven runs, five earned, on eight hits and no walks with one strikeout.
Brady Meyer faced four batters in relief in the third inning before handing off to Mason Mule, who kept the Red Devils quiet for most of his 4 ⅓ innings. He pitched three shutout innings before giving up four runs on four hits and two walks in the seventh. Harry Denny recorded the final two outs.