Freshman Aaron Graeber smashed a pair of home runs and knocked in 4 runs, lifting the No. 1 seed Roadrunners to a 14-10 triumph over No. 3 seed Brookdale in the Region 19/North Atlantic District Championship Series semifinals Friday afternoon afternoon.

Also slugging home runs were Eric Sabato, Felix Diaz and Jose Correa to help the Runners earn a berth in the championship finals Saturday vs. the winner of Saturday's Brookdale vs. RCSJ Cumberland semifinal. Mitch Balint also added 2 RBIs.

Click Here for Day 1 Tournament Photo Highlights

The Runners can win the championship outright and earn a berth to the NJCAA Division III World Series Tournament by winning their Saturday game. Should they lose, a second winner take-all championship final will be played Sunday at RCSJ.

Earlier in the day. Mitch Balint and Shawn Dougherty cracked home runs as the No. 1 Runners rallied to beat No. 4 seed Northampton 11-8 in an opening round contest.

The Runners roared back from an 8-5 deficit to tie the game 8-8 with three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. They added three more runs in the seventh and eighth innings to pull away with the win.

Eric Sabato also collected 3 RBIs while Aaron Graeber knocked in 2 runs in a winning effort.

In other tourney action, No. 3 Brookdale routed No. 2 RCSJ Cumberland, 7-1, in the opening round. In a losers' bracket game, RCSJ Cumberland edged Northampton, 2-1.

Click Here for Day 1 Box Scores and the Tournament schedule for Saturday action at the Roadrunner Baseball Complex

Watch all the action on livestream at https://rcroadrunners.com/watch-live