Anybody can beat anybody.
At least that's what it seems like in the Red, White and Blue Divisions. Past results against common opponents aren't meaning much on game day.
Hey, baseball is supposed to be this fun.
While they didn't make this week's ranking, several teams are coming on with key wins last week and can be sleepers in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament that begins on Saturday.
They include Colonia (wins over Edison and North Brunswick), J.P. Stevens (wins over Old Bridge, St. Joseph, Perth Amboy), Old Bridge (wins over East Brunswick and Edison) and Perth Amboy, which has a sweep over Old Bridge.
Top 10
1. St. Joseph (13-5) – last week No. 1
Timely hitting, strong pitching, what more do you want? Sure, every team strives for that, but the Falcons have been able to put it together in key games. That includes a sweep over South Brunswick and a split against East Brunswick by taking the second game. Last week, St. Joseph lost to J.P. Stevens, but again took the second game 6-4 with four runs in the top of the seventh, keyed by a Robbie Carvelli two-RBI double. Saturday, Andrew Goldan threw a three-hitter with no walks in the 2-0 win over Monroe to go a game up in the division. The teams were set to play again Monday. I can't penalize St. Joseph that much for losing to unranked J.P. Stevens, a talented team which has other big wins.
2. South Plainfield (12-2-1) – last week No. 3
Make space on that banner. South Plainfield clinched the White Division title with its win Saturday over Sayreville. The Tigers started the week with a 2-1 loss to North Brunswick, but then swept the Bombers and Woodbridge, doing what they had to against tough divisional opponents. The balanced lineup includes hitters who all contribute. In the four wins last week, Kennedy Ferguson, Nick Loniewski, Troy O'Connor, Austin Scott and Brandon Shine all had multi-hit games.
3. Monroe (11-4) – last week No. 4
So, the Falcons go 1-2 last week ... and they move up a spot? It's sort of been that kind of a season. Simply, Monroe's both loses were to high quality teams and its body of work is impressive. That includes sweeps over J.P. Stevens, Old Bridge, Piscataway and Perth Amboy, while splitting with South Brunswick. Last week, the Falcons had that split with No. 6 East Brunswick and lost to No. 1 St. Joseph. In the 4-3 win (8 innings) over EB, Karan Patel had the walk-off hit to finish the exciting game.
4. South Brunswick (10-6) – last week No. 2
The Vikings may not win every game, but they're going to be right there and give everyone fits. South Brunswick has lost three games each by a run and another by one run. Last week, they went 3-1 with an impressive win over improving Old Bridge, nonconference Pennington and a split with Piscataway, another team playing its best baseball as the season heats up. The Vikings' front line pitching of Frankie Sanchez, Neel Telivedara and Joey Tuttoilmondo boosts their chances of making a run in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament.
5. Middlesex (9-3) – last week No. 5
The Blue Jays got closer to an outright Blue Division title with a 3-1 week that included wins over South River and Spotswood and a split with Metuchen. You can't really fault Middlesex for that 5-0 loss to the Bulldogs, in which Rutgers-bound Matt Rowe threw a gem. Middlesex, too, has top pitching and it got through the division with some big wins. Kenny Yonker and Raiden Yost are going to throw some big outs in the upcoming GMCT.
6. East Brunswick (7-8) last week No. 6
With Red Division sweeps rare, the Bears held their own in the division with a split against Monroe and a win over improving Piscataway. East Brunswick also lost to Old Bridge to finish the series (on May 6, the Bears took game one). Again, it's hard to penalize a team for having both quality wins and quality losses. Saturday's 12-9 win over Piscataway, in which the Bears scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth was important to prevent a three-game slide. Damien Charleston earned the win in relief and got a key RBI-sac bunt in the sixth inning against the Chiefs.
7. Edison (10-6) – last week No. 7
The Eagles illustrated the season of parity by going 3-2 last week. That included a split with Colonia, a sweep over New Brunswick and a loss to Red Division Old Bridge. Holding serve keeps Edison at No. 7, partly because none of the other teams made a totally convincing case to make the leap. Also, the Eagles are a darn good team that sits in second place in the White Division. That includes an early sweep over Woodbridge and J.F. Kennedy, two teams coming on down the stretch. Edison has an interesting series with Sayreville to wrap up divisional play.
8. North Brunswick (10-6-1) – last week No. 9
If it wasn't for the skies opening, the Raiders might have had a sweep over No. 2 South Plainfield. But after taking a 3-2 lead in the top of the seventh on May 8, it started pouring and the game was declared a tie. Look, you can't compete with Mother Nature. The Raiders came back on May 10 to defeat South Plainfield and split with Colonia, which was ranked earlier in the spring, to close the week.
9. Woodbridge (9-5) – last week No. 8
Yes, I know that Woodbridge owns a series sweep over North Brunswick over two games in late April. But the Raiders now jump Woodbridge based on the Barrons getting swept by South Plainfield last week, to go along with wins over Sayreville and nonconference Rahway. Look, No. 8, No. 9, it doesn't matter -- Woodbridge is a quality team capable of playing with anybody. Table-setter Tom O'Halloran is hitting .585 to lead the Barrons and has 15 stolen bases.
10. (tied) Metuchen (13-3) – last week No. 10
Spotswood (13-4) – last week No. 10
It's been this way for a few weeks now, but I just can't seem to move one team up and one team out. In other words, both deserve to be in the rankings, so they'll just have to remain tied for another week, at least. Metuchen certainly made a strong case after its split with Middlesex. The Bulldogs also beat Highland Park and swept Carteret.
Spotswood, meanwhile, lost to Middlesex last week, but swept Dunellen and topped South River to conclude a sweep and beat nonconference Rahway. Considering that Spotswood and Metuchen split a couple weeks ago, it seems fair to keep them tied at No. 10. The Chargers have their annual Commander's Cup trophy game against East Brunswick on Wednesday.
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