Who is No. 1?: The final NJ.com baseball Top 20 for 2015

By James Kratch | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on June 09, 2015 8:57 AM

WOODBRIDGE — Make that six championships now.

NJ.com/Star Ledger Final Baseball Top 20

1. CBA (27-5)
2. Don Bosco Prep (29-1)
3. Bishop Eustace (24-6)
4. Gloucester C. (26-5)
5. South Plainfield (24-8)
6. St. Peter's Prep (26-3)
7. Seton Hall Prep (27-2)
8. Milburn (26-6)
9. No. Burlington (27-5)
10. Bergen Catholic (24-7)
11. St. Joe (Mont.) (22-9)
12. Eastern (25-6)
13. Williamstown (21-6-1)
14. Jackson Memorial (22-7)
15. Cranford (21-5)
16. Gov. Livingston (28-6)
17. Roxbury (22-8-1)
18. Mainland (23-6)
19. Delbarton (21-8-1)
20. Notre Dame (21-3)

Thanks to a remarkable stretch run, capped with a dominating victory over previously-unbeaten and top-ranked Don Bosco Prep on Saturday in the Non-Public A final, Christian Brothers Academy is New Jersey's No. 1 team for the 2015 season as it ends the spring atop The NJ.com Top 20.

The Colts, who began the season at No. 3 before sliding out of the Top 20 for a few weeks after some tough losses before reentering during the state tournament, are the second straight Shore Conference team to finish atop the state poll, following up St. John Vianney in 2014. But while the Lancers' run to No. 1 was the result of surviving a historically chaotic state tournament, CBA simply went out and grabbed the top spot by winning every single title available to it.

CBA, which was led by star right-hander Luca Dalatri, the Gatorade New Jersey State Player of the Year, won the A North Division crown, repeated as both the Monmouth County and Shore Conference Tournament champions, grabbed the South Jersey, Non-Public A championship and then completed the stellar run by dispatching of Don Bosco in the state final. 

The Colts, who are on the short list of teams in the running to open the 2016 season, as the state's preseason No. 1-ranked club, defeated three Top 20 clubs in the state tournament, including No. 1 Bosco and No. 2 Bishop Eustace. 

Despite the disappointing state final loss, Don Bosco does not fall far, as the Ironmen finish No. 2 in the poll thanks to a tremendous body of work. The same goes for Bishop Eustace, which comes in at No. 3, and No. 4-ranked Gloucester Catholic.

Coming in at No. 5 is a team that took the state tournament by storm, South Plainfield. The Tigers were unranked entering the state tournament thanks to a resume that boasted some big wins (Millburn, St. Peter's Prep) but also some tough losses and an early exit from the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament. 

But South Plainfield earned the designation as the state's top-ranked public school thanks to a state tournament run that saw the Tigers defeat three Top 20 clubs in Cranford, Northern Burlington and Roxbury, as well as a Mount Olive club that was very much in the picture for a state ranking at the end of the year. 

Eleven of the 20 teams ranked in this final poll appeared in the preseason Top 20 released back in April, with Bosco, CBA and GC all appearing in both the top 5 of the first and last polls, albeit in a different order. 

To see the complete final NJ.com Top 20 for the 2015 season, click through the slideshow below. To look back at each week's Top 20 from this season, please follow this link. 

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