Tues. S.J. boys’ roundup: Audubon wins semifinal

Shane Furlong scored on a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the eighth inning to give Audubon another narrow win in the NJSIAA baseball tournament on Tuesday.

The South Jersey champion Green Wave (22-5), who have won three of four postseason contests by one run, edged Central Jersey winner Florence, 6-5, in the state Group 1 semifinals and advanced to the state title game against Waldwick.

In the eighth, Furlong singled and advanced on a wild pitch, and Brian Flacco and Justin Jannetti drew intentional walks to set the stage for Brett Phillips, who drew a walk-off base on balls for his third RBI of the game.

"Another pressure cooker," Audubon coach Rich Horan said. "Our kids know how to respond and they came up large."

Chris Fehr (7-0) pitched 12/3 innings of relief to get the win, and Flacco went 3 for 4 with three runs scored.

Florence (18-3) got a home run from Jake DeWitt and led by 3-1 after four innings.

Group 2. West Deptford (15-12) came up a win short of the state finals after suffering a 12-3 semifinal loss to Governor Livingston (25-6) at Monmouth University.

Group 3. Toronto Blue Jays draftee Kevin Comer pitched a five-hit shutout and carried Seneca (15-7) to a 7-0 state semifinal win over Middletown South (19-9) at Rutgers University.

Comer (5-0) struck out seven in a complete-game effort and has 56 strikeouts in 361/3 innings this spring.

The Golden Eagles turned three double plays behind Comer, and the offense featured Rich Powelson's single, double and three RBIs, and Robert Antoniewicz's two hits and two runs scored.

Powelson singled in two runs with two outs in the fourth inning for a 4-0 lead, and also doubled in Antoniewicz in the three-run fifth inning.

Seneca will face Paramus in the state title game.

Group 4. Rich Ricciardi doubled twice and scored two runs while sparking Manalapan to a 9-4 state semifinal win over South Jersey champion Millville (21-5) at the College of New Jersey.

Millville led by 3-1 after five innings, but Central Jersey winner Manalapan rallied for an eight-run sixth inning, including a two-run double by Jake Winston.

The Braves moved into the state finals against Westfield.

St. Augustine freshman Shane Monroe advanced to the state's final four by winning his quarterfinal match in the NJSIAA state singles championships at Mercer County Park.

Monroe (39-0) knocked off Livingston's Thomas Caputo, 6-3, 6-2, and will face top-seeded and defending state champion Michael Lippens (27-0) of Shore Regional at 3 p.m. on Wednesday on the same courts.

After dropping the first game of the opening set, Monroe reeled off five straight games to take command of the match.

Singles quarterfinals: Shane Monroe, St. Augustine, def. Thomas Caputo, Livingston, 6-3, 6-2; Michael Lippens, Shore Regional, def. Alex Ruderman, Ridge, 6-3, 6-3; Freddy Marcinkowski, Sparta, def. Maclane Smoke, Manasquan, 6-3, 6-3; Jonathan Carcione, Ramapo, def. Derek Liu, Holmdel, 6-1, 6-4.