Seton Hall Prep baseball team begins postseason play; improves to 24-3 with win over Livingston

WEST ORANGE – The second-seeded Seton Hall Prep varsity baseball team was scheduled to host seventh-seeded Paramus Catholic in the quarterfinal round of the state North Jersey Non-Public A tournament on May 31. If the Pirates win, they will host the winner between third-seeded Bergen Catholic and sixth-seeded St. Peter’s Prep in the semifinals on June 3. The final is June 7 at Ramapo College in Mahwah. The top seed is Delbarton.

The Pirates improved to a 24-3 record after beating Livingston, 16-0, May 25, in a Super Essex Conference-American Division game in Livingston. The victory gave SHP a final record of 14-2 in the SEC-American Division, which is a second-place finish. Senior Patrick O’Hare was 2-for-3 with five RBI; senior Joe Giovinco was 1-for-2 with three runs scored and two RBI; junior Eric Raio was 2-for-3 with an RBI; senior Dylan Badger, senior Brenden Weiss and sophomore Jack Zyska all scored three runs and each had an RBI; senior A.J. Cerbo had a sac fly RBI and senior John Savino had a ground out RBI. Freshman Nick Maldonado (5-0) pitched four innings, allowing five hits with two strikeouts to pick up the victory while junior C.J. Strlekar pitched the fifth inning and gave up one hit and had one strikeout.

In their previous game, the top-seeded Pirates defeated third-seeded Nutley, 11-1, May 21, in Verona to win the Greater Newark Tournament title for the fourth straight season.