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BRIDGEWATER – Jake Dolan blasted a three-run home run in the second inning of Monday’s Somerset County Tournament semifinal.
As his Ridge teammate Casey Kucerka watched the ball sail over the left-center field fence, he wanted in on the fun, too.
“I mean he hit it, I’m like, ‘Hey, you’re not the only one that could do it,’” Kucerka said with a smile. “I wanted to get up there and hit the ball far and that’s exactly what I did.”
More: 'Showed up': Immaculata's Ryan Auten throws no-hitter as Spartans advance to SCT final
More: Vote: Central Jersey Area Readers’ Choice Baseball Player of the Week poll for Week 7
In the fifth, Kucerka got his chance and slugged a two-run shot to left field. Pinch-hitter Bode Ganny added a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth that made it 11-0 over fourth-seeded Rutgers Prep and ended the game at TD Bank Ballpark.
The top-seeded Red Devils (16-4) will meet second-seeded Immaculata in Wednesday’s 6 p.m. final back at TD Bank Ballpark.
Senior ace Aidan Stieglitz earned the win by allowing two hits in three innings with no walks and four strikeouts. He should be ready to go in the final after throwing 45 pitches. Lucas Liston and Kucerka finished up with an inning apiece.
Ridge coach Tom Blackwell noted the team had been in a mini-hitting slump over the last two weeks or so. While they beat Bernards 7-1 in the SCT quarterfinals last Wednesday, the Red Devils had scored six combined runs combined in their previous four games.
They picked a good time to bust out.
“I just think it was them just relaxing ,” Blackwell said. “I think baseball’s such a mental and an emotional game, especially when we know we have Aidan on the mound – we don’t have to score a ton of runs. That makes you relax a little bit and then the result is you usually score some more runs. So it worked out well for us today, that’s for sure.”
Kucerka added, “Up to down we can all hit.”
Monday, Ridge laced nine hits as Quinn Dashefsky was 2-for-2 with a double and two RBIs, Ryan Luo doubled and scored twice and Sawyer Paul and Dan Rafanello each singled and scored. Toby Nicholson added a double in the win.
“We’re all hitting it really well and we definitely look to continue that,” said Dolan, whose home run came on a first-pitch fastball. “When one person starts hitting, everyone seems to start hitting.”
Ridge has won seven SCT titles with the last coming in 2022. They reached four straight finals and were runners-up in 2019, 2023 and 2024 (there were no SCTs in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic).
But what was it about the Red Devils powering up Monday? They hit multiple home runs in a game for the first time all season. Did they eat their Wheaties beforehand?
“I think we’re all just like really excited to play here,” Kucerka said. “It’s a fun place to play and we really want to play in the county championship and we all knew this was going to be a good game, and we all stayed together, stayed calm and just played the best we could.”
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Baseball: Ridge powers up to top Rutgers Prep in the SCT semifinals
Continue reading...
As his Ridge teammate Casey Kucerka watched the ball sail over the left-center field fence, he wanted in on the fun, too.
“I mean he hit it, I’m like, ‘Hey, you’re not the only one that could do it,’” Kucerka said with a smile. “I wanted to get up there and hit the ball far and that’s exactly what I did.”
More: 'Showed up': Immaculata's Ryan Auten throws no-hitter as Spartans advance to SCT final
More: Vote: Central Jersey Area Readers’ Choice Baseball Player of the Week poll for Week 7
In the fifth, Kucerka got his chance and slugged a two-run shot to left field. Pinch-hitter Bode Ganny added a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth that made it 11-0 over fourth-seeded Rutgers Prep and ended the game at TD Bank Ballpark.
The top-seeded Red Devils (16-4) will meet second-seeded Immaculata in Wednesday’s 6 p.m. final back at TD Bank Ballpark.
Senior ace Aidan Stieglitz earned the win by allowing two hits in three innings with no walks and four strikeouts. He should be ready to go in the final after throwing 45 pitches. Lucas Liston and Kucerka finished up with an inning apiece.
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Ridge coach Tom Blackwell noted the team had been in a mini-hitting slump over the last two weeks or so. While they beat Bernards 7-1 in the SCT quarterfinals last Wednesday, the Red Devils had scored six combined runs combined in their previous four games.
They picked a good time to bust out.
“I just think it was them just relaxing ,” Blackwell said. “I think baseball’s such a mental and an emotional game, especially when we know we have Aidan on the mound – we don’t have to score a ton of runs. That makes you relax a little bit and then the result is you usually score some more runs. So it worked out well for us today, that’s for sure.”
Kucerka added, “Up to down we can all hit.”
Monday, Ridge laced nine hits as Quinn Dashefsky was 2-for-2 with a double and two RBIs, Ryan Luo doubled and scored twice and Sawyer Paul and Dan Rafanello each singled and scored. Toby Nicholson added a double in the win.
“We’re all hitting it really well and we definitely look to continue that,” said Dolan, whose home run came on a first-pitch fastball. “When one person starts hitting, everyone seems to start hitting.”
Ridge has won seven SCT titles with the last coming in 2022. They reached four straight finals and were runners-up in 2019, 2023 and 2024 (there were no SCTs in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic).
But what was it about the Red Devils powering up Monday? They hit multiple home runs in a game for the first time all season. Did they eat their Wheaties beforehand?
“I think we’re all just like really excited to play here,” Kucerka said. “It’s a fun place to play and we really want to play in the county championship and we all knew this was going to be a good game, and we all stayed together, stayed calm and just played the best we could.”
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Baseball: Ridge powers up to top Rutgers Prep in the SCT semifinals
Continue reading...
