South Jersey baseball semifinal round roundup

Senior Kyle Harrison fired a four-hitter with 10 strikeouts to power the Delsea Regional High School baseball team into the South Jersey Group 3 final with a 4-1 win over Toms River South on Wednesday.

The fourth-seeded Crusaders (19-6) will look for its second sectional crown in three seasons when they host seventh-seeded Mainland in Friday’s sectional final.

Harrison has been on a heater since May 12, only allowing one run in his last five appearances. The 10 strikeouts were his third double-digit K game of the season and he’s only allowed two hits and two walks over his last 14 innings.

Harrison threw 112 pitches in his gem, silencing South for the final six innings after it pushed a run across in the first.

Delsea’s offense was powered by leadoff hitter Milo Gebhard, who knocked in two runs and swiped a pair of bases. Dom Montana and Andrew Weir also drove in runs for the Crusaders.

Mainland 7, Toms River East 0: Senior Will Hickman needed 90 pitches to cover seven shutout innings as he blanked East and sent Mainland into the sectional final.

The Mustangs will play for their first sectional title since 2023 when they travel to Delsea’s for Friday’s final.

Central Jersey Group 3

Northern Burlington 7, Lawrence 6: After coughing up a five-run lead in the top of the seventh, the defending state champion earned its way back to the sectional final by pushing across two runs in the bottom of the frame to fight off elimination.

The top-seeded Greyhounds (24-3) will host third-seeded Brick Memorial (23-7) in Friday’s sectional championship.

Liam Velit and Mark Klusman launched homers and Jake Vasil came off the bench to swat a two-run home run to power Northern Burlington.

Velit finished with three hits and Klusman had two RBIs.

Cole Marchetti fired five shutout innings with 10 strikeouts for Northern, but left the game after 98 pitches. He gave up two hits and three walks.

South Jersey Group 4

Eastern 10, Cherry Hill East 1: After splitting the regular-season series with East, the Vikings earned a trip to the sectional final for the fourth consecutive season by knocking off the Cougars.

Second-seeded Eastern will go for its third South Jersey crown in the last four years when it travels to top-seeded Kingsway on Friday. Game time is to be determined.

Senior Vinny Milillo collected career hit No. 100 for Eastern while junior Matt Gryskiewicz launched a two-run homer for Eastern, which scored the final seven runs of the game.

Eastern’s defense was solid, turning three double-plays in the first four frames.

Kingsway 4, Rancocas Valley 1: Nate Bott returned to the mound and spun four strong innings en route to the win as the Dragons advanced to the sectional title game for the first time since 2022.

Nursing a shoulder injury, Bott had only pitched two innings before Wednesday’s appearance. He was outstanding over his four innings of work, allowing one run on three hits with one walk and five strikeouts.

Senior Jake Mangifesta was even better as the southpaw worked three innings of one-hit ball en route to the save.

South Jersey Group 2

Haddonfield 1, Seneca 0: Will Solak fired a four-hitter and James Rowe drove in the game’s lone run in the sixth inning as the defending champion Haddons checked back into the sectional final.

Get ready for Haddonfield-Haddon Heights III after the two teams split the regular-season series.

Top-seeded Haddonfield (22-6) will host its Colonial Conference foe and second-seeded Haddon Heights (19-7) on Friday at Russ Spicer Field. Haddonfield won 9-5 on May 5 while Heights earned a 9-8 decision on April 13.

Solak needed just 71 pitches to polish of his gem. He held Seneca to four singles and one walk over seven innings, striking out six. In his last 14 frames, which included a no-hitter against Collingswood on May 28, Solak has fanned 22 batters.

Rowe had a pair of hits, none bigger than the knock that scored Lino Tete in the fifth.

Haddon Heights 8, Cedar Creek 6: Ryan Govito and Jackson Butler each had two hits and two RBIs while Cole Simon contributed two hits and two runs scored to power the Garnets win.

Haddon Heights pushed across two runs in the bottom of the sixth en route to the victory. The Garnets will attempt to win their first sectional title since 2022 when they face Haddonfield.

Jaxon Motta had three hits, two runs scored and an RBI for Heights, which had 10 knocks, five walks and five stolen bases in the game.

JJ Watkins had a two-run homer for Cedar Creek, which finished at 18-10.

South Jersey Group 1

Maple Shade 6, Schalick 4: The fourth-seeded Wildcats eliminated the top-seeded Cougars, rallying from a three-run deficit to accomplish the feat.

Maple Shade (16-9) will look for its third sectional title and its first since 2008 when it travels to second-seeded Woodstown for Friday’s final.

Edward Leahy had two hits and two RBIs to spark the Maple Shade offense. Anthony Schafer contributed three hits and Chase Blum scored twice.

Braydon Morgano was impressive in relief for Maple Shade, throwing 4 2/3 innings of shutout ball. He gave up two hits and walked on.

Woodstown 6, Pennsville 3: Blake Rodriguez went 2-for-2 with a homer, two runs scored and two RBIs and Walker Battavio chipped in a pair of knocks and three RBIs as the Wolverines advanced to the sectional final.

Woodstown (20-8) is seeking its first South Jersey Group 1 crown since it won back-to-back titles in 2021 and 2022.

Tom McGurk is a regional sports editor for the Courier-Post, The Daily Journal and Burlington County Times, covering South Jersey sports for over 35 years. If you have a sports story that needs to be told, contact him by email at tmcgurk@usatodayco.com. Follow him on Twitter at @McGurkSports. Help support local journalism with a digital subscription.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: South Jersey baseball semifinal round roundup

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