NUTLEY — The seventh-seeded Nutley High School baseball team upset No. 2 seed Caldwell and No. 3 seed Caldwell to advance to the 93rd Greater Newark Tournament championship game. The GNT is the de facto Essex County tournament.
The Raiders scored two runs in the top of the eighth inning to beat Caldwell 4-2 in the quarterfinals May 6 at Caldwell.
Senior Eugenio Roman had a single, a double and two RBIs; and junior Dominic Saldino had a single and two RBIs to lead the Raiders. Junior Jackson Veneziano and senior Chris Kovacs each had two singles.
Junior Gabe Rodriguez pitched all eight innings, giving up four hits and striking out four for the win. He totalled 111 pitches.
The Raiders defeated West Essex 2-1 May 9 in the ECT semifinals doubleheader May 9 at Porcello Field in West Orange, home of Seton Hall Prep, to move to 12-8 on the season.
Nutley scored two runs in the top of the fifth. West Essex scored a run in the sixth inning. Rodriguez had an RBI and Kovacs had a single and an RBI.
Junior Sean Fealey fired a seven-inning one-hitter with four strikeouts and three walks on 108 pitches for the win.
The Raiders, under head coach Eric Puzio, will face top-seeded Seton Hall Prep in the GNT final May 16 at Verona High School’s Doc Goeltz Field at noon. Seton Hall Prep defeated fourth-seeded Columbia 6-0 in the other semifinal on a no-hitter by JJ Drennan. SHP improved to 16-4.
SHP defeated Nutley 12-7 April 27 at Nutley’s Park Oval in a Super Essex Conference game.
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