Season-Savers: Brick Memorial Rallies in Last Inning to Reach Group 3 Final

BRICK TWP. — Zach Pirnik needed the power of modern medicine just to be able to pitch his Brick Memorial High School baseball team’s NJSIAA Group III semifinal Monday vs. Delsea.

Once he was done pitching his seven innings of work and with his team on the verge of being shut out by one of the state’s hottest pitchers this postseason, he turned to a higher power.

Pirnik, pitching through a bout with strep throat, had done all he could do for the day, so with little other recourse, he found a spot in the dugout and prayed for his teammates to find some way to extend Brick Memorial’s deepest ever run into the NJSIAA Tournament.

“I just sat down and took a prayer,” Pirnik said. “I was just like, ‘Let it happen now.’ We have been playing for so long, and it didn’t feel real that the season could end today. I was just thinking: ‘Don’t let it happen today.'”

Divine intervention may or may not have played a part in the ending of Monday’s Group III semifinal, but if God was not available to answer Pirnik, the two best hitters on his team were.

Shortstop Tyler Garbooshian singled home the tying run with two out, and fellow senior and centerfielder Brody Moore singled home Garbooshian with the winning run two pitches later, and the Mustangs — down to their final strike — completed a season-saving, seventh-inning comeback to stun Delsea, 2-1, on the final at-bat.

After Tyler Garbooshian ties the game with a 2-out RBI single, Brody Moore wins it with a walkoff RBI single through the right side. Final: Brick Memorial 2, Delsea 1. Brick Memorial will play in the Group 3 final Sunday at Rutgers, 10 a.m. pic.twitter.com/KSaZ9Cz7e3

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) June 8, 2026

“I was confident they would come through,” Pirnik said. “But sometimes, you’ve got to ask for a little help.”

Brick Memorial will play in its first-ever state final Sunday at Rutgers University against Old Tappan at 10 a.m.

“We were on the edge of our seats,” Moore said. “This is the end of our season, or we get another game at Rutgers. We are really excited.”

Pirnik allowed one unearned run in seven innings, but heading to the bottom of the seventh, he stood to be the losing pitcher because Delsea senior left-hander Kyle Harrison was shutting out the Mustangs’ powerful offense. Brick Memorial, however, had one more chance to break through, and with the bottom of the order due up vs. Harrison, it would take only one base-runner, two of the Shore’s hottest hitters to the plate with a chance to tie or win the game.

“He was hiding the ball really well,” Moore said of Harrison, who had allowed one run over 31 consecutive innings prior to surrendering the two runs in the seventh. “His fastball and his curveball, you couldn’t really tell which one you were getting out of his hand. He worked well.”

For many teams — including Brick Memorial at certain points during the season — the bottom of the order coming up to save the season would be far from ideal. On Monday, however, the Mustangs’ No. 7-through-9 hitters gave the host team some of its best at-bats of the game, which comes on the heels of a strong showing in the Central Jersey Group III Tournament by the bottom three in the order.

Harrison started the inning by striking out senior second baseman Trevor Kish, who homered in Friday’s sectional final at Northern Burlington and stung a fly-out to the gap in right-center in his prior at-bat. With Brick Memorial down to its final two outs, junior designated hitter Will Montanye skipped a single past Harrison and through the middle of the infield for a single that put the tying run on base and the lead-off hitter, Garbooshian, on pace to hit in the inning.

First, No. 9 hitter and senior leftfielder Gavin McCue stepped into the box having doubled in each of his first two at-bats. McCue also made a crucial defensive play in the top of the seventh when he started a relay from leftfield that cut down a Delsea runner attempting to score from second on a single. In the bottom of the seventh, however, McCue did not have a perfect ending for a perfect game, as he popped out on the infield for the second out.

“We have a great bottom of the lineup,” McCue said. “Our top has carried us this year, but the bottom is so deserving. Trev coming up huge the other day, Will was a (pitcher only) to start the year, and he is our DH right now. I know the coaches are proud of the fact that we can just deliver at any moment.”

That set the stage for Garbooshian, who safely reached base in his previous seven plate appearances. Harrison pitched his way to a 1-1 count, and on the third pitch of the at-bat, Montanye broke for second and slid in safely with a stolen base after Garbooshian watched strike two go by. The tying run was in scoring position, but Harrison and Delsea were also one strike from advancing to the Group III final.

“I was thinking, ‘You gotta be safe,'” Moore said of Montanye’s stolen base. “We had a couple stolen bases, so the opportunity was there, and I knew we had to get that runner in scoring position.”

“When Will stole second, that was huge for us,” Garbooshian said. “That’s probably the most overlooked thing in the game, Will stealing second. Now, a single scores him, which means I just have to put the ball in play. That’s a lot of pressure off the hitter now.”

Garbooshian simplified his approach on the 1-2 offering and hit a hard ground ball to the right of shortstop Ryan Looby, who made a diving attempt at the ball as Montanye broke for third. The ball kicked off Looby’s glove and into shallow leftfield, far enough from the triangle of Crusaders defenders for Montanye to sprint to the plate with the tying run.

“I’ve dreamed of being up in that pressure situation my whole life,” Garbooshian said. “I didn’t want anybody else to be up in that spot. I wanted it to be me.”

Here is the Tyler Garbooshian single to tie it with 2 out, on a 1-2 count. Will Montanye singled and stole 2nd to set it up. pic.twitter.com/SpFiraiHg2

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) June 8, 2026

The game-tying single extended Garbooshian’s streak to eight straight plate appearances safely reaching base, including a 2-for-2 performance with two walks on Monday. The Rutgers University commit is 9-for-15 (.600) with two doubles, four home runs, four walks, nine runs scored, nine RBI, and four stolen bases during the state tournament. On the season, Garbooshian is now hitting .511 with 17 extra-base hits (11 doubles, six home runs), 50 runs scored, and 34 RBI.

Those robust numbers from Garbooshian, plus a Shore-Conference-best 11 home runs by senior first baseman Dan Golembiewski, have somewhat overshadowed Moore’s season at the plate. Moore’s pitching has also outshone his offense, but with the senior left-hander ineligible to pitch Monday following his two-hit shutout in the sectional final at Northern Burlington, he would have to contribute with his bat. Moore entered the game leading Brick Memorial with 45 hits on the season, and once Garbooshian stole second base on the first pitch of Moore’s at-bat, a 46th hit by Moore would extend Brick Memorial’s season to the Group III final.

“I was just thinking: ‘If I end my high school career today, I want to end it with me getting another at-bat in a big situation,'” Moore said.

On Harrison’s 1-0 pitch, Moore swatted a ground ball to the right side of the infield and under the dive of second baseman Jake Loguidice, into rightfield. Garbooshian stormed around third base and dove head-first to the plate, touching down with the winning run to unleash the Brick Memorial dugout upon Moore after his walk-off RBI single.

“Once I stole second, I knew the game was over with Brody up,” Garbooshian said. “I was talking to (NJ.com reporter) P.J. (Potter), and he was comparing him to Jalen Brunson on the Knicks. I was like, ‘Oh yeah, Captain Clutch. Number 11. It fits.'”

“Those two guys have been doing it for us all season,” McCue said. “They are racing each other for the (Brick Memorial single-season) hit record right now. It’s unbelievable what these guys have done, and I think they’re going to deliver at Rutgers.”

Brick Memorial’s only three hits against Harrison prior to the seventh inning were all doubles, including a lead-off double by Garbooshian in the first and two more from McCue. Garbooshian hit a shallow fly ball and a combination of a bad break, wind, and miscommunication allowed it to drop. While the hit was courtesy of the Delsea defense, the double was a product of hustle from Garbooshian, who ran hard out of the box and dove into second base with his 11th double of the season. He advanced to third with none out on an errant pick-off throw, but Brick Memorial’s top RBI threats behind him could not push him home. Harrison recorded a strikeout, a ground out, and a fly out to escape the first without allowing a run.

“Our lineup has been unreal,” Pirnik said. “We’re normally putting up at least seven runs, so I think we were in a spot today that we weren’t used to. On the mound, it definitely made me think it has to be lights-out. I let up that one run and it was like, ‘Okay, that has to be it.'”

McCue hit a one-out double off the glove of leftfielder Dom Montana near the warning track in the bottom of the third inning, but Montana then ran down a hooking fly ball down the leftfield line by Moore for the second out, and Harrison induced a ground ball to second base by Mustangs RBI leader Golembiewski (45) to end the inning. In the fifth, McCue ripped a double into the leftfield corner with two out, and after an intentional walk to Garbooshian, Moore flew out to right to end the inning.

“My message to the guys in the dugout was just get that heater,” McCue said. “The top of our lineup is awesome. I didn’t need to give them any special advice. My message is just, ‘Be confident in yourself and who you are.'”

“The situations Gavin put us in with his at-bats, that’s all you can ask for from guys at the bottom of the lineup,” Garbooshian said. “They were doing their job. We were coming up with runners on base and a chance to drive in runs, and we eventually came through. That’s what we do.”

In the top of the seventh, McCue made his presence felt on defense when Delsea was attempting to tack on an insurance run. With runners on first and second, first baseman Ethan DuBois ripped a single into left, and pinch-runner Owen Reissek got clearance to attempt to score. McCue double-clutched after fielding the ball cleanly, but made up for it with an accurate throw to third baseman Matt McGlynn as the cutoff man. McGlynn turned and made an accurate throw to senior brother and catcher, Joe McGlynn, who dropped the tag on Reissek for the final out of the top of the seventh.

“I actually looked in my mitt to see if I had the ball,” McCue said. “Once I had it, I got it in as quick as I could, and I saw the ball tailing out, and I thought (Matt McGlynn) was going to let it go. Then he cut it, and Matt was so quick on that transfer. We literally practice that play every day, and I hadn’t really had the opportunity to do it yet, so of course it comes in the top of the seventh inning in the biggest game of the year. I don’t even really remember it. I just ran in to get my stuff to hit. It was awesome.”

A throwing error with one out in the top of the third led to the lone Delsea run of the game, which scored on a two-out RBI single to left-centerfield by centerfielder Milo Gebhard.

One of Brick Memorial’s 2 errors in the 3rd proves costly and Milo Gebhard cashes in with a 2-out RBI knock. Bottom 3: Delsea 1, Brick Memorial 0 pic.twitter.com/M5IiDSFSbc

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) June 8, 2026

Pirnik shook off the run in the third and a 26-pitch fourth inning to throw only 34 pitches over his final three innings to complete his outing on 103 pitches. On Sunday, Pirnik was feeling the effects of his third instance of strep throat during the season and treated his symptoms to get himself ready to pitch on Monday.

“I took a lot of stuff,” Pirnik said. “I took my antibiotics, Tylenol, Advil, basically anything that would help. I was feeling pretty good, much better than yesterday.

“Coach told me I was going to go for seven or 110 (pitchers) — whichever came first. That’s pretty much how I have been all year, so that part wasn’t any different today. When coach (Evan Rizzitello) told me I was at 95 pitches after the sixth, I said. ‘Okay, I’m going back out there.”

With five off days between Monday and Sunday’s Group III championship game vs. Old Tappan at Rutgers, all pitchers will be eligible to pitch, which means Brick Memorial will give the ball to Moore as the starter with Pirnik ready to back him up if needed.

“We have the best pitcher in the state on the mound going into Rutgers,” McCue said. “I couldn’t be happier.”

Box Score

Brick Memorial 2, Delsea 1

 

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Delsea (20-7)	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	5	2
Brick Mem (25-7)	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	6	3

Pitching

Delsea	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	PC
Kyle Harrison (L, 5-3)	6.2	6	2	2	2	9	107

Brick Memorial	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	PC
Zach Pirnik (W, 9-3)	7	5	1	0	3	3	103

Top Hitters

Delsea	Game Stats
Milo Gebhard	1-3, HBP, RBI
Ryan Looby	1-1, 2 BB

Brick Memorial	Game Stats
Tyler Garbooshian	2-2, 2B, 2 BB, R, RBI, SB
Gavin McCue	2-3, 2 2B
Brody Moore	1-4, RBI
Will Montanye	1-3, R, SB