Baseball – Last Dance Region Semifinal Scoreboard, 7/28/20

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Last Dance World Series presented by RWJBarnabas Health

Region Finals

South Jersey

At FirstEnergy Park, Lakewood

Jackson Jags (Jackson Mem.) 6, SJ Falcons (St. Joe's Metuchen) 1

Junior Matt Potok outdueled a pair of ACC commits to the tune of a four-hitter and the Jags upended the Falcons to reach Wednesday's Last Dance World Series South Jersey championship.

Potok allowed one unearned run, struck out nine and walked none while navigating a previously-hot St. Joe's lineup in 85 pitches.

Jackson staked Potok to a 1-0 lead in the first on a two-out RBI double by senior first baseman Carmine Petosa. St. Joe's answered by reaching on an error to lead off the second, but Potok wiped out the threat by inducing a 6-4-3 double-play on the next pitch, followed by a three-pitch strikeout to complete an eventful five-pitch inning.

The Jags opened the game up in the second inning and chase sophomore left-hander and University of Virginia commit Donovan Zsak. With the bases loaded an none out, senior right fielder Bill Petrina grounded an RBI single deep into the hole between shortstop and third base - his second RBI in as many games.

After one pitch to senior second baseman and leadoff man Christian Pellone, Zsak turned the ball over to senior right-hander and Duke University commit Adam Boucher. Pellone skied a 0-2 offering to deep center to chase home the third Jackson run.

Boucher struck out Jackson senior centerfielder Ryan Lasko for the second out, but senior catcher Tom Cartnick continued his brilliant tournament at the plate by crushing a 3-2 pitch off the right-field wall for a two-out, two-run triple that made it a 5-0 Jackson lead.

Potok surrendered his first hit of the game in the top of the fourth and allowed an unearned run to cross the plate in the fifth that trimmed the Jackson lead to 5-1.

Senior Matt Feld came through with a pinch-hit, two-out RBI double inside the first-base bag in the bottom of the sixth to expand the lead to 6-1.

Potok finished off the game by inducing a soft line drive to centerfield and Lasko ended it in style with a diving catch - the last of his five defensive putouts in an impressive performance with the glove.

Sophomore Chris Cartnick went 2-for-3 with a hit each off Zsak and Boucher.

Jackson's Last Dance continues Wednesday night back in Lakewood, where the Jags will face the Sader Baseball Club from Bishop Eustace.