Columbia HS baseball team advances to North Jersey Section 2, Group 4 tournament quarterfinals

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MAPLEWOOD – Luke Jackson had an RBI double, Ryan Davis had a run-scoring single and Reid Evans knocked in a run to lead the ninth-seeded Columbia High School varsity baseball team to a 3-1 win at eighth-seeded Bridgewater-Raritan in the first round of the state North Jersey Section 2, Group 4 tournament on May 23.

Pete Nolet threw a six-hitter with four strikeouts for the Cougars, who improved to a 16-9 record.

CHS will visit top-seeded Watchung Hills in the quarterfinals on May 26. The semifinals are May 31 and the final is June 3.

Nolet hurled a five-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts and no walks in the 10-0 win at Montclair Kimberley Academy on May 16 in a Super Essex Conference-Liberty Division game. Quinn Krais went 2-for-4 and Eliot Dix had a three-run single for the Cougars, who avenged a 7-5 loss to MKA in the first round of the Greater Newark Tournament on May 9.

CHS fell at West Orange, 3-2, May 18, in a divisional game. West Orange won it in walk-off fashion on an RBI sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh inning.

The Cougars lost again in walk-off fashion at Cedar Grove, 1-0, May 19. Cedar Grove scored in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Krais went 2-for-4 with a double and a run and Mike Nitti had a double and an RBI in the 6-5 home win over Scotch Plains-Fanwood in a non-conference game on May 20. Davis went 1-for-2 with an RBI; Daniel Cotler went 1-for-3 with an RBI and Evans and Eliot Dix each had an RBI. Palmer Krais scattered eight hits over six innings for the win.

CHS defeated North 13th Street Tech, 13-1, May 21, at home in a division game. Christian Pierre went 3-for-4 with a triple, three RBI and two runs; Quinn Krais went 2-for-3 with two doubles and three RBI; Jackson had a double and two RBI and Dix had an RBI.