Top 10 Entering Week 8
(Records through Saturday, May 21)
1. St. Joseph (20-6) – last week No. 1: Being No. 1 all season carries a big target, but the Falcons have handled the hype and are just, well, plain good. They’re also well prepared for the postseason after playing a difficult schedule that included a stretch of seven games in seven days in late April. When you have that many games, different players see time and that experience has been paying off.
2. North Brunswick (17-8) – last week No. 9: The Raiders make the leap after reaching Saturday’s GMCT final against St. Joseph as the No. 6 seed. Along the way, North Brunswick beat 11th-seeded Colonia, third-seeded Middlesex and seventh-seeded East Brunswick. The Raiders are 12-2 in their last 14 games.
3. Middlesex (18-5) – last week No. 4: In one of the Slugfests of the Year, the Blue Jays fell short to North Brunswick 14-13 in the GMCT quarterfinals. Still, Middlesex actually moves up a spot in our rankings based on other teams’ results and their body of work as the White Division champions. They split with North Brunswick in the regular season and swept Woodbridge. Middlesex should get a high seed when the NJSIAA sectional playoff pairings are released Wednesday.
4. Woodbridge (19-5) – last week No. 5: The fifth-seeded Barrons reached the GMCT semifinals and lost to St. Joseph. Woodbridge, though, had a memorable tournament. First, they avenged a regular-season sweep against Metuchen by winning 7-5 in the first round. Then, they beat fourth-seeded Old Bridge behind the complete game of Eddy Nunez and the clutch hitting of Ty Kobylakiewicz and Josh Vazquez. Woodbridge finished second in the White Division in the regular season.
5. Old Bridge (14-11) – last week No. 3: Old Bridge reached the GMCT quarterfinals beating 13th-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas 7-0, the co-Blue Division champs, in the first round and then losing a 3-1 pitching duel to Woodbridge. The Knights’ body of work includes regular season splits with East Brunswick, Monroe and St. Joseph. In fact, Old Bridge is the only GMC team to have beaten St. Joes, and that has to count for something.
6. East Brunswick (13-11) – last week No. 6: East Brunswick couldn’t have played much better in the 1-0, 12-inning loss to North Brunswick in the GMCT semifinals. The Bears have been there all season with everybody. They have eight losses by either a run or two. They also have six wins by a run or two. It’s been that kind of nail-biting spring and just shows the parity this year. East Brunswick can certainly pull out some wins in the NJSIAA playoffs.
7. Monroe (15-7) – last week No. 2: You can’t really fault a team for losing a 4-2 playoff game against a quality opponent. However, Monroe falls a few spots after the loss against East Brunswick in the GMCT quarterfinals. (Monroe swept East Brunswick in the regular season.) In the GMCT opening round, the second-seeded Falcons beat talented 15th-seeded Edison 3-2. Monroe finished second in the Red Division in the regular season.
8. South Brunswick (10-11) – last week No. 8: The ninth-seeded Vikings prevailed over No. 8 South Brunswick 3-1 in that typically tough opening round GMCT game. South Brunswick fell to No. 1 St. Joes in the quarterfinals The Vikings had tied with South Plainfield for fifth in the Red Division with an 8-8 record.
9. South Plainfield (11-12) – last week No. 7: South Plainfield had question marks entering the season with several new players, but navigated the difficult Red Division with the 8-8 record, including a sweep of Old Bridge and a split with East Brunswick right before the GMCT.
10. (Tie) Colonia (12-10) – last week No. 10
Spotswood (13-11) – last week No. 10: The teams were tied at No. 10 the last two rankings, and there’s no reason to change that up this week. Each suffered losses in the GMCT first round against higher-seeded teams. Spotswood swept Colonia in the opening series and finished in fourth place in the White Division with a 9-7 record. Colonia was right behind them at 8-8 and scored big wins over Middlesex and North Brunswick.
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