CLARK, NJ- The Arthur L. Johnson High School Crusaders varsity baseball team opens up the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 2 state tournament with a game against South Plainfield HS on Monday, May 21 at 4:00 p.m.
TAPinto Clark sports writer Dan Collins will provide the coverage and post live updates in the comments section of the post. Tune in and refresh the post frequently for updates as the night rolls along.
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South Plainfield-Johnson is just about an hour and 15 minutes away from the start of gametime.
Checking in from Arthur L. Johnson High School, on site for the game.
Our starters for today are Billy Keane (SP) and Pat Grady (ALJ).
Connor Adams steps up to the plate and we are officially underway.
Adams works a full-count walk to lead off the inning.
Grady works around the leadoff walk to get through the inning and Johnson is coming to bat.
Billy Keane works a 1-2-3 inning, aided by a big defensive play to end the inning. Johnson and South Plainfield at scoreless after one inning.
Keane singles to shallow center field to leadoff the inning.
Sammy Nieves works a walk and there are runners at first and second with no outs.
A run comes in on a successful steal of home as part of a successful double steal to give South Plainfield the 1-0 lead.
An RBI single from Chris Born makes it 2-0 South Plainfield. All coming with two outs.
We head to the bottom of the second inning. 4-5-6 due up for Johnson.
Kevin Metz laces a leadoff single to right field to start the inning.
An infield single from Kyle Adorno puts runners at the corners with one out.
Keane works around trouble and gets through the inning. Johnson trails South Plainfield 2-0 after two innings.
Michael Marrero laces a leadoff single to center field to leadoff the inning.
An infield single from Rob Gonzalez and there are runners at the corners with one out.
A mishandle in the infield and another two-out run scores. It’s 3-0 South Plainfield.
We head to the bottom of the third inning.
Saul Lopez reaches on an error to leadoff the inning.
Another error and there are runners at the corners with no outs for Johnson.
Joe Turek gets one back on an RBI double. Johnson trails South Plainfield 3-1 after three innings.
Niko Vazquez leads off the inning with a single to left field.
A single from Chris Born and there are runners at first and second with no outs.
The bases are now loaded for South Plainfield with no outs.
Sacrifice fly for Michael Marrero and an RBI double from Mike Stanczak and it’s now 5-1 South Plainfield.
A long two-run double from Rob Gonzalez makes it 7-1. Tigers are off and flying.
We head to the bottom of the fourth inning.
Johnson trails South Plainfield 7-1 after four innings.
Ryan Spallone takes the mound in relief of Pat Grady.
We head to the bottom of the fifth inning.
Zach Thornton beats out a groundball to reach for an infield single.
A single from Kevin Metz puts runners at the corners with two outs.
Johnson trails South Plainfield 7-1 after five innings.
Johnson trails South Plainfield 7-1 after six innings.
Last licks for Johnson, trailing 7-1. 9-1-2 due up for the Crusaders.
Saul Lopez singles to left field to leadoff the inning.
Mike Casalino works through a full count and gets a single to put runners at first and second with no outs for Johnson.
Zach Thornton able to punch one out and the bases are loaded for Johnson with no outs.
An RBI single for Joe Turek and a two-run single for Kevin Metz makes it 7-4 South Plainfield. Still no outs for Johnson.
Sacrifice fly by Steve Harrington makes it 7-5 South Plainfield.
Johnson rally comes up short, losing to South Plainfield 7-5.