By Bob Behre/For The Star-Ledger
May 03, 2010, 9:41PM
Okay, let's get into it.
The calendar has turned to May. The games are getting more important by the day. The NJSIAA tournament cutoff is Friday. County tournaments are both raging and seeding. A couple are still off in the distance, like Bergen County, one of my favorites.
It was one of those weeks when it was easier to rank teams from the bottom up, instead of the top down. That is, if you want to call it easy. Apparently it is easy for some folks. We hear that all the time.
Let's dissect this a bit.
The only loss in-state for No. 1 St. Joseph (Met.) is to No. 12 Immaculata. Its other two losses were absorbed in Florida. Second-ranked West Essex's loss is to No. 15 Delbarton and No. 3 Randolph fell to unranked Seton Hall Prep. Remember, think body-of-work.
Let's clean up some loose ends on Delbarton. We, mistakenly, gave Delby an extra loss last week and dropped them from the Top 20. That shouldn't have happened. That's been rectified. I can only hope I remain an invitee to the pre, during and post-game hot sausage sandwich-fest at Brian Fleury Stadium.
The big movers and shakers
Jackson came from outside the Top 20 and ran all the way up to No. 8. It has won eight straight, including a 12-2 victory over then-No. 1 Toms River South on Saturday. As I always say when a team comes from outside the Top 20 and moves way up the ladder, "we've been watching them carefully all season."
Pope John dropped from No. 2 to No. 14 after falling to Voorhees, 6-1, in the first round of the inaugural Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament. In case you don't know where Voorhees is, it's in High Bridge, but the nearest post office is Istanbul.
South Plainfield, one of my favorite wrestling schools and the reigning Star-Ledger Top 20 Trophy-winner in that sport, has made a similar move up the rankings in the beautiful game -- baseball. South Plainfield was No. 13 when it rocked No. 4 Monroe, 10-0, last week. As you can see, 10-run decisions have an effect on the psyche of the Top 20-ranker. South Plainfield is now No. 5.
Paramus climbed up to No. 1 in Bergen County and No. 4 in the Top 20 just in time to, you guessed it, lose to No. 11 St. Joseph (Mont.) on Monday, about 15 hours after the Top 20 was put to bed for the week.
Let me be the first to thank St. Joseph coach Frank Salvano for a raging case of heartburn.
Here's what we have with Bergen County's top three teams: Paramus beat Don Bosco Prep. Bosco beat St. Joseph. St. Joseph beat Paramus. Like you guys always tell me, "If you can't take the rankings heat, grab a bat and get in the cage against Rick Porcello."
I just received an email from Steinert coach Brian Giallella. Brian says, "We won 13 in a row. You ranked us. We lost to Cherokee." Actually, Brian didn't send that email. But he should have.
Thought of the week
I know I'll alienate half of you with this one, but its grinds me. Don't you think your team should win a World Series more often than every 20 or so years before the media refers to you as "The Amazins?" You don't see me calling this weekly Top 20 "Amazin" do you?
The Star-Ledger Baseball Top 20
1-St. Joseph (Met.) (14-3)
2-West Essex (14-1)
3-Randolph (17-1)
4-Paramus (15-2)
5-South Plainfield (16-1)
6-Gloucester Catholic (12-3)
7-Monroe (15-2)
8-Jackson (12-3)
9-Toms River South (12-3)
10-Don Bosco Prep (12-3)
11-St. Joseph (Mont.) (14-3)
12-Immaculata (11-1)
13-Morristown (14-4)
14-Pope John (14-2)
15-Delbarton (13-3)
16-Millville (12-2)
17-Ramsey (13-2)
18-Cherokee (9-3)
19-Steinert (16-3)
20-Red Bank Catholic (10-2)
This week in Middlesex County baseball
JOSH ROSENFELD,
May 03, 2010 5:23 p.m.
PLAYER TO WATCH:
When Timothy Christian (6-2) traveled crosstown to face Piscataway on Monday, junior catcher Robert Terracciano toted a gaudy .708 batting average with him.Terracciano was 17-for-24 with 17 RBI through Timothy Christian’s first eight games. In Timothy Christian’s last four outings he has gone 11-for-12 (.917), including back-to-back 4-for-4 efforts. Among his 17 hits are two home runs, three doubles and two triples.Timothy Christian plays an independent schedule, but its three contests against Greater Middlesex Conference-Gold Division foes include 10-run victories over Perth Amboy Tech and East Brunswick Tech and a 9-7 loss to division champion South Amboy (10-1).
TEAM TO WATCH:
Metuchen (10-6) reeled off four victories in four days last week, including triumphs over Blue Division rivals South River, Spotswood and Bishop Ahr. Stephen Fortuna and James Warren combined for a two-hit shutout Saturday in a 2-0 victory over Bishop Ahr (8-4), which had scored at least three runs in each of its previous 11 games and was averaging more than eight runs per game coming in.For Metuchen to win four games in four days, it needed its pitching staff to come through and that’s precisely what occurred. Fortuna (4-2) hurled five innings in a 9-4 victory over South River last Wednesday, enabling him to come back for five more innings on Saturday. Anthony Tagliaboschi (3-3) went the distance in a 6-5 decision over Spotswood on Thursday and Matt Walters (1-1) followed suit in a 14-5 triumph over Bound Brook on Friday.Metuchen scored 29 runs in the first three victories but managed just three hits in the pitcher’s duel with Bishop Ahr. Two of them came in the fourth inning, when Anthony Feltre poked a leadoff single and Dom Parrinnello drove him in with a triple before scoring on a wild pitch.With the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament seeding meeting coming up on Tuesday and the cutoff for the state tournament later in the week, Metuchen has gotten hot at just the right time.
GAME TO WATCH:
The Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament seeding meeting will take place on Wednesday. The teams likely to be the top two seeds will meet in a non-divisional game the following day.St. Joseph (14-3), which has not lost to a Middlesex County school since a 13-7 setback at Edison on April 8, 2009 and began the week with a 10-game winning streak, will travel to South Plainfield (16-1), winner of 14 in a row since a 6-5 loss at Monroe on April 5. South Plainfield avenged that defeat with a 10-0, five-inning victory last week.With divisional play completed and the start of the state tournament more than a week away, both teams should be able to throw their top pitchers, although both have so much depth that it won’t matter much who is on the mound.
GROUP 3
1-Paramus (15-2)
2-South Plainfield (16-1)
3-Morristown (14-4)
4-Wall (13-3)
5-Ocean (12-2)
6-Pascack Valley (13-3)
7-Sparta (13-4)
8-Scotch Plains (13-4)
9-Cranford (13-3)
10-Moorestown (12-2)
MIDDLESEX
1-St. Joseph (14-3)
2-South Plainfield (16-1)
3-Monroe (15-2)
4-South Brunswick (9-6)
5-Iselin Kennedy (10-7)
6-East Brunswick (10-6)
7-Woodbridge (9-6)
8-Bishop Ahr (8-4)
9-Middlesex (11-3)
10-Metuchen (10-6)
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