Central Group 3 Baseball Final Preview: Brick Memorial Gets Its Rematch

NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III Championship

Friday, June 5, 2026

No. 3 Brick Memorial at No. 1 Northern Burlington

 

Teams at a Glance

Brick Memorial (23-7)

Head Coach: Evan Rizzitello
Last Sectional Championship: None
Last Sectional Final Appearance: 2025

 

Road to the Final

First Round: Senior catcher Joe McGlynn and senior shortstop Tyler Garbooshian each hit a double and a home run, with McGlynn going 4-for-4 and Garbooshian driving in four to lead the Mustangs to an 11-1, round-one win over No. 14 seed and crosstown rival Brick in five innings. Junior Michael Figner also socked a solo home run and classmate Zach Pirnik pitched a five-inning complete game for his seventh win of the season.

Quarterfinals: Garbooshian led off the bottom of the first with a solo home run and later added a two-run homer in Brick Memorial’s second 11-1 rout, this time in six innings over No. 6 Hopewell Valley. Garbooshian finished 3-for-4 with three RBI and senior Dan Golembiewski also blasted a first-inning solo home run for his 11th bomb of the season. Figner continued his hot start to the tournament by going 3-for-4 with two doubles. Meanwhile, senior left-hander Brody Moore pitched a six-inning two-hitter with nine strikeouts and one walk in the win.

Semifinals: For the second straight game, Garbooshian led off the first inning with a solo home run and Pirnik kept the dangerous lineup of No. 2 Colts Neck enough to lead the Mustangs to a 3-2 semifinal win. Pirnik allowed one earned run on four hits with four strikeouts over six innings and Moore finished off the game with an eight-pitch seventh. Senior Gavin McCue also delivered an RBI single for Brick Memorial and sophomore Matt McGlynn was 2-for-3 in the win.

Projected Lineup (2026 Stats)

Tyler Garbooshian, Sr., SS (.494, 43 H, 10 2B, 6 HR, 47 R, 33 RBI, 25 SB)

Brody Moore, Sr., P (.426, 43 H, 7 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 22 R, 29 RBI, 12 SB)

Dan Golembiewski, Sr., 1B (.402, 37 H, 8 2B, 11 HR, 40 R, 44 RBI, 13 SB)

Joe McGlynn, Sr., C (.345, 30 H, 7 2B, 3 HR, 4 R, 22 RBI)

Matt McGlynn, So., 3B (.402, 33 H, 6 2B, 32 R, 15 RBI, 17 SB)

Michael Figner, Jr., RF (.243, 18 H, 7 2B, 1 HR, 9 R, 15 RBI, 1 SB)

Trevor Kish, Sr., 2B (.275, 22 H, 3 2B, 2 HR, 19 R, 23 RBI, 6 SB

Will Montanye, Jr., DH (.167, 3 H, 1 2B, 7 R, 2 RBI, 1 SB)

Gavin McCue, Sr., LF (.210, 13 H, 5 2B, 1 3B, 15 R, 8 RBI, 5 SB)

DH for: Cayden Concepcion, Jr., CF

 

Projected Starting Pitcher (2026 Stats)

Brody Moore, Sr., LHP (7-0, 1 Save, 57 IP, 38 H, 15 BB, 88 SO, 1.35 ERA) – 110 pitches available

 

Available Relief Pitchers (2026 Stats)

Will Montanye, Jr., RHP (1-1, 2 Saves; 25 IP, 35 H, 13 BB, 22 SO, 5.32 ERA) – 110 pitches available

Jack Moriarty, So., RHP (2-0, 1 Save)13.1 IP, 5 H, 9 BB, 17 SO, 0.52 ERA) – 110 pitches available

James Martin, Sr., LHP (2-3, 16.1 IP, 17 H, 15 BB, 14 SO, 3.86) ERA – 110 pitches available

Michael Figner, Sr., RHP (1-0, 10.2 IP, 13 H, 7 BB, 10 SO, 3.28 ERA) – 110 pitches available

 

Ineligible Pitcher

Zach Pirnik, Jr., LHP

 

 

Northern Burlington (24-3)

Head Coach: Gene Darling
Last Sectional Championship: 2025
Last Sectional Final Appearance: 2025

 

Road to the Final

First Round: Junior Logan Downey and sophomore Mark Klusman each went 2-for-2 with a home run and Cole Marchetti struck out the first six Long Branch batters of the game before calling it a wrap in a 14-0 win in five innings for Northern Burlington over the No. 16 Green Wave. Junior Brent Walulak was 2-for-2 with a pair of doubles and two RBI and senior catcher Liam Velit went 2-for-4 with two RBI as well.

Quarterfinals: Jordan Gilligo worked five solid innings on the mound and was one of three Northern Burlington players to go 2-for-3 with an RBI in a 5-1 Greyhounds win over No. 8 Burlington Township. Gilligo combined with junior Damian Oto on a three-hitter, while Downey and Marchetti each went 2-for-3, with Downey also hitting a double. The Greyhounds trailed, 1-0, heading to the bottom of the sixth before breaking out behind the bats of Marchetti, Downey and Gilligo.

Semifinals: After Northern Burlington allowed No. 4 Lawrence six runs in the top of the seventh to fall behind by a run, Velit drilled a game-tying solo home run and Brenner Pourghassem won it with a walk-off RBI base hit, capping a wild, 7-6, win for the Greyhounds of the Cardinals that continued Northern Burlington’s championship defense. Klunsman and senior Jake Vasil each hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth to stretch Northern Burlington’s lead to 5-0 before Lawrence rallied against the Greyhounds bullpen following five scoreless, two-hit innings with 10 strikeouts by Marchetti.

 

Projected Lineup (2026 Stats)

Brent Walulak, Jr., SS (.440, 37 H, 6 2B, 4 HR, 38 R, 19 RBI, 13 SB)

Cole Marchetti, Sr., 1B (.488, 40 H, 6 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, 30 R, 28 RBI, 12 SB)

Liam Velit, Sr., C (.567, 51 H, 10 2B, 1 3B, 8 HR, 32 R, 47 RBI)

Logan Downey, Jr., DH (.392, 31 H, 9 2B, 7 HR, 15 R, 35 RBI, 1 SB)

Jordan Gilligo, Sr., P (.329, 24 H, 2 2B, 1 HR, 15 R, 13 RBI, 5 SB)

Mark Klusman, So., CF (.342, 27 H, 5 2B, 2 3B, 4 HR, 22 R, 22 RBI, 8 SB)

Brenner Pourghassem, So., 2B (.300, 21 H, 1 2B, 1 HR, 11 R, 12 RBI, 12 SB)

Damian Oto, Jr., RF (.276, 8 H, 2 HR, 4 R, 7 RBI, 4 SB)

Jake Barlett, Sr., 3B (.241, 13 H, 1 2B, 22 R, 8 RBI, 9 SB)

 

Projected Starting Pitcher (2026 Stats)

Jordan Gilligo, Sr., RHP (5-0, 40.2 IP, 31 H, 12 BB, 52 SO, 1.89 ERA) – 110 pitches available

 

Available Relief Pitchers (2026 Stats)

Damian Oto, Jr., RHP (3-1, 21.2 IP, 24 H, 18 BB, 20 SO, 3.55 ERA) – 104 pitches available

Jake Vasil, Jr., RHP (15.1 IP, 19 H, 4 BB, 11 SO, 5.93 ERA)– 110 pitches available

Alex Gladwin, So., RHP (2-0, 4.2 IP, 9 H, 3 BB, 7 SO, 4.50 ERA) – 110 pitches available

Matt Lutzker, Sr., RHP (2-0, 14.2 IP, 16 H, 18 BB, 18 SO, 2.86 ERA)– 110 pitches available

Logan Downey, Jr., RHP (4-1, 30 IP, 14 H, 22 BB, 63 SO, 1.17 ERA) – 110 pitches available

 

Ineligible Pitcher

Cole Marchetti, Sr., RHP

 

Prediction

A year ago, Brick Memorial made the trek to Northern Burlington High School and found itself in a 6-0 hole by the end of the first inning. The Mustangs put up a fight the rest of the way before losing, 8-4, and since that season-ending defeat, the returning core of that group has been eagerly awaiting its chance at redemption.

That chance arrives Friday at 3 p.m., when Brick Memorial will send senior ace Brody Moore to the mound to face a Northern Burlington team coming off its most thrilling win of the season as the Greyhounds try to repeat as Group III champions. Moore is 7-0 and already has a championship victory to his credit in the form of a four-hit complete game in Brick Memorial’s 15-1 rout of Toms River South in the Ocean County Tournament final.

Northern Burlington, meanwhile, will counter with Wagner commit Jordan Gilligo after ace Cole Marchetti threw 98 pitches over five shutout innings in Wednesday’s 7-6, walk-off win over Lawrence. The Greyhounds have another hard-throwing right-hander in Logan Downey, but he has neither pitched nor played the field since May 16 and is figures to be a DH only on Friday.

The Gilligo-vs.-Moore portion of the game will be a battle, with both pitchers capable of challenging and beating the quality hitters littered throughout each lineup. Both pitchers, however, will have to keep it up for as long as possible and with a few mistakes as possible, because moving the game to the bullpen for either team will feature a steep drop-off.

Both lineups are elite and figure to put runs on the board. Both starting pitchers should at least keep their respective teams close. In the grand scheme of things, Brick Memorial would appear to have the slight edge in the starting pitcher and likely in the bullpen as well, although Will Montanye, James Martin and Jack Moriarity have yet to be tested in a close tournament game this year. If there is one encouraging result for Brick Memorial to lean on, it is the Mustangs’ 12-9 win at DePaul in April in which neither Moore nor Zach Pirnik threw a pitch.

It should not take 10 runs to win with Moore on the mound, but at a homer-happy field with two powerful lineups standing in the box, a pitchers’ duel would come as a surprise. With Brick Memorial sending red-hot Tyler Garbooshian to the plate as the first batter of the game and with Shore Conference home run leading Dan Golembiewski lurking two spots behind him, a fast start could again be the difference in the game and the Mustangs are hoping to be the team to set the tone this time around.

Because of those lineups, this one could come down to the bullpens and if it does, Montanye becomes the under-the-radar key for the Mustangs. Very few teams win a sectional title with only two pitchers combining for every inning and at some point, the junior right-hander will have a chance to show what he can do in a key spot. Whether it is a complete slugfest or a duel that stays between Moore and Gilligo, it feels like it might finally be Brick Memorial’s time.

The Pick: Brick Memorial, 7-5