Baseball – NJSIAA Tuesday Baseball Washed Out, Moved to Wednesday

The two NJSIAA public school Group semifinals and the Non-Public sectional final involving Shore Conference teams scheduled for Tuesday have all been postponed to Wednesday at 4 p.m.

The Group II baseball semifinal between Manasquan and Governor Livingston, Group IV semifinal between Southern Regional and Hunterdon Central and the South Jersey Non-Public B final between St. Rose and Gloucester Catholic will all be played at their originally scheduled sites. Manasquan will play Governor Livingston at Rowan University, Southern and Hunterdon Central will both travel to East Brunswick Tech and St. Rose will take on Gloucester Catholic at Monmouth University.

Tuesday's rain out means all teams affected will have their entire pitching staffs eligible on Wednesday. Manasquan had senior left-hander and Notre Dame signee Tommy Sheehan lined up for a full plate of work on Tuesday anyway, so he will pitch will a full week of rest since his last start, in which he struck out 14 in a two-hitter against Cedar Creek.

Senior right-hander Connor Muly needed only 83 pitches to shutout West Deptford in the South Jersey Group II final on Friday, so he would have been eligible to throw 57 pitches on Tuesday. Now, he can throw a 110 pitches, although the Warriors would like to keep him fully available for Saturday's championship game, if possible. In order to be eligible to pitch at all on Saturday, a pitcher can throw no more than 70 pitches on Wednesday and would then be limited to 70 pitches on Saturday. Under the new NJSIAA rules, pitchers can throw up to 140 pitches during a span of five calendar days.

Governor Livingston also had its senior left-handed ace lined up for Tuesday, so Nick Cocchia will still likely get the call on Wednesday. Cocchia is 8-0 with a 0.88 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 48 innings. He pitched 2 2/3 innings of relief in to pick up a  win over Bernards in the sectional semifinals on May 31 and needed 63 pitches to do so, which made him ineligible to pitch in the final against South Plainfield.

Governor Livingston has needed some late-game magic to get to this point. The Highlanders beat Bernards, 8-5, after scoring six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to erase a 4-2 deficit. In the Central Jersey Group II finals against South Plainfield, Dan Baroff hit a three-run double in the bottom of the seventh inning to give Governor Livingston the sectional championship in walk-off fashion.

Like Manasquan, Southern also had Friday's starter, Nick Simone, available for 57 pitches if the Rams played Hunterdon Central on Tuesday. Simone will now be available for a full workload, while scheduled starter Pat Barrett is still good to go as well. The Rams made it through the South Jersey Group IV bracket using only Simone, Barrett and senior left-hander Zach Fillmore.

Hunterdon Central had senior Peter Woltersdorf - who is 14-0 over the last two years and won the Group IV final last year - ready for a full workload on Tuesday and his status remains unchanged. Junior left-hander Joey DeChario threw 69 pitches Friday against Freehold Borough and is now also available to throw 110 pitches. DeChario would have been eligible for 71 on Tuesday.

St. Rose already had its best-case scenario drawn up with senior Brandon Mology fully rested for Tuesday and will simply push him back by a day. Juniors Riley Maypother and Will Gannon combined on a two-hitter on Friday against Rutgers Prep and both would have been eligible but limited on Tuesday. Both will be fully available now that the game is set for Wednesday.

Gloucester Catholic also had all of its pitchers available on Tuesday, but will now have no restrictions on any of them for Wednesday. Angelo DeAngelis pitched five innings in Friday's win over Holy Spirit and is now eligible to throw 110 pitches.