Baseball Tuesday NJSIAA Group Semifinal Scoreboard, 6/5/18

NJSIAA Tournament

Group Semifinals

Group IV

At Rider University

Hunterdon Central 3, Jackson Memorial 1

Pete Ciuffreda singled home two runs and Joey DeChiaro fired a four-hitter to lead the Red Devils past the Jaguars and into the Group IV final for the third straight year, where they will look to win a third straight state championship.

Ciuffreda tied the game with an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth off Jackson Memorial starter Nick Sefick and later added an insurance run with an RBI infield single off reliever Mike Dimino that made the score 3-1 in the bottom of the sixth.

Dave Cucci followed Ciuffreda with an RBI single in the fourth to push Hunterdon Central in front, 2-1.

Jackson Memorial jumped on top when senior Tom Pellone singled home junior Alex Iadisernia in the top of the first after Iadisernia roped a double with one out. Pellone also singled in the fourth along with sophomore Carmine Petosa, but DeChiaro escaped trouble and did not allow a hit the rest of the way.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Jackson Mem (25-7)	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	1
Hunterdon Cent (27-2)	0	0	0	2	1	0	X	3	8	0

Pitching

Jackson Memorial	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	PC
Nick Sefick (L, 7-1)	4	5	2	2	1	0	65
Mike Dimino	2	3	1	1	1	1	26

Hunterdon Central	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	PC
Joey DeChiaro (W, 9-1)	7	4	0	0	1	2	88

Top Hitters

Jackson Memorial	Stats
Tom Pellone	2-3, RBI
Alex Iadisernia	1-3, 2B, R

Hunterdon Central	Stats
Pete Ciuffreda	2-2, R, 2 RBI
Dave Cucci	2-3, RBI
Tyler Casella	1-3, 2B, R
Colin Mason	1-3, R, SB

Group II Semifinals

At East Brunswick Tech

Raritan 5, Haddonfield 1

Zack Johnston pitched a three-hitter on 73 pitches and also doubled during a two-run fourth inning to lead the Rockets over the Bulldogs and into their first NJSIAA Group final since losing to Wall in the 2004 Group III championship.

Johnston - the Shore Conference leader in strikeouts - struck out just two, but did not throw more than 15 pitches in any inning and threw 10 or fewer in five. One of the hits he allowed was a solo home run by Haddonfield catcher John Cristino in the bottom of the fourth and the other two were a bloop single in the first and an infield single in the fifth. The senior right-hander also did not issue a walk or hit a batter.

Johnston doubled in the top of the fourth inning to set up runners on second and third with none out for the top of the order. Junior center fielder Tyler Bruno singled home junior Shawn Ohea and sophomore Ryan Kasmer followed with an RBI single through the right side to score Johnston and make the score 5-0.

Raritan scored three runs in the top of the third inning thanks to four Haddonfield errors in the frame. Junior third baseman Jake Tennant lifted a sacrifice fly to center field for the only RBI of the inning.

Raritan will face a 29-2 Pascack Hills team in the Group II championship game on either Saturday or Sunday at Veterans Park in Hamilton, Mercer County. The NJSIAA will release the weekend schedule on Wednesday.