Teams expected to earn top seeds when NJSIAA announces playoff pairings Monday

The South Plainfied baseball team with its Red Division championship plaque, awarded before Saturday’s GMC final against Old Bridge at Ray Cipperly Field in East Brunswick. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

Baseball Notebook

May 19, 2024 by Mike Pavlichko

Old Bridge and South Plainfield – the two GMC Tournament finalists – along with Bridgewater-Raritan are expected to earn top seeds in the NJSIAA playoffs when the seedings are announced Monday.

Saturday was the cutoff date, with the top 16 power point results for all teams counting toward playoff qualification. And it appears 36 teams from the CJSR coverage area will qualify.

Here is a breakdown based on official NJ.com power point standings as of noon Saturday, when power points officially close, with projected first round matchups for all local teams qualifying:

2023-2024 Baseball North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3 Power Points

Rank	Team	W-L-T	PCT	PP
1	South Plainfield	19-5-1	.780	572.5
2	Randolph	17-8	.680	565
3	North Hunterdon	18-5	.783	544
4	West Morris	14-11	.560	516
5	Colonia	17-5	.773	508
6	Summit	16-4-1	.786	482.5
7	Mendham	11-12	.478	422.5
8	Cranford	12-10	.545	414.5
9	Belleville	15-9-1	.620	406.5
10	Warren Hills	13-10	.565	382
11	Ridgefield Park	14-10	.583	372.5
12	Millburn	9-15	.375	357.5
13	Chatham	7-11	.389	328.5
14	Nutley	5-17	.227	279.5
15	Payne Tech	10-9	.526	279
16	Cliffside Park	7-16-1	.312	267
17	Rahway	6-13	.316	242
18	North Plainfield	5-19	.208	241
19	Ferris	4-15	.211	196
20	Lincoln	5-11	.312	189.5
21	Orange	5-13	.278	184
22	Snyder	6-10	.375	171

NORTH JERSEY, SECTION 2, GROUP 3

There are only three area teams in this section, and two have qualified with South Plainfield looking like they’ll get the top seed, despite the Tigers’ loss to Old Bridge in Saturday’s GMC Tournament final. They’re in first at 19-5-1 with 572.5 points, ahead of second-place Randolph (17-8, 565). In fifth is Colonia (17-5, 508). North Plainfield (5-19, 241) finished two spots out of the running.

Projected Local Matchups:

- (12) Millburn at (5) Colonia
- (16) Cliffside Park at (1) South Plainfield

Three area teams expected to earn top seeds when NJSIAA announces playoff pairings Monday – Central Jersey Sports Radio (cjsportsradio.com)

Projected seeds for the 2024 N.J. baseball state tournament

By Luis Torres | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Kevin Minnick | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
PJ Potter | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

The 2024 New Jersey high school baseball state tournament will be officially seeded on Monday. The seeding, as it has in the past, will be based off power points.

Under tournament regulations this year, the power point calculation will take a team’s 16 best power point games from the start of the season to the cutoff. Residual points earned from opponents will be calculated from an opponent’s first 16 games played.

Tie-breaking procedure: In case of a tie-breaker among teams with the same number of power points, the NJSIAA has specific scenarios to break the ties as follow:

1. Head-to-Head Competition (any matchup to and including the cutoff date)
2. Common Opponent(s) (any matchup to and including the cutoff date). 

a. CL: Team A is 3-0 vs. team C and team B is 2-0 vs. team C, go to #3. 

b. CL: Team A is 2-1 vs. team C and team B is 1-1 vs. team C, go to #3. 

c. CL: Team A is 1-1 vs. team C and team B is 2-0 vs. team C, the tie is broken. 

d. CL: Team A is 3-1 vs. team C and team B is 2-0 vs. team C, the tie is broken.
3. Winning % (any matchup to and including the cutoff date)
4. The total number of residual points earned from the first 16 games.
5. Coin Toss

North 2, Group 3

1-South Plainfield (19-5-1)
2-Randolph (17-8)
3-North Hunterdon (18-5)
4-West Morris (14-11)
5-Colonia (17-5)
6-Summit (16-4-1)
7-Mendham (11-12)
8-Cranford (12-10)
9-Belleville (15-9-1)
10-Warren Hills (13-10)
11-Ridgefield Park (14-10)
12-Millburn (9-15)
13-Chatham (7-10)
14-Nutley (5-17)
15-Payne Tech (10-9)
16-Cliffside Park (7-16-1)

NOTE: These projections do not account for any teams that may choose not to participate in the state tournament or have been barred from participating from the state tournament.

Projected seeds for the 2024 N.J. baseball state tournament - nj.com

2024 - Game #25 Old Bridge 6, South Plainfield 5 GMC Tournament, Final Round

 

Old Bridge jumps to lead, hangs on for GMCT championship

Andy Mendlowitz

MyCentralJersey.com

This is way one to sum up Old Bridge’s 6-5 win over South Plainfield in Saturday’s Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament baseball final.

“I mean, it was just a good old-fashioned brawl between two good teams, you know,” Old Bridge coach Matt Donaghue said.

Sometimes, it’s that eloquent simplicity which says it all.

The Knights jumped to an early lead. South Plainfield came back. Old Bridge added insurance runs. South Plainfield cut it closer and the Knights held off a seventh-inning rally highlighted by a slick double play at host East Brunswick Magnet.

It added up to Old Bridge’s third GMCT crown, with championships in 2011 and 2019. (Old Bridge Township schools Cedar Ridge in 1987 and Madison Central in 1989 also won titles before the merger.)

“Huge win,” Knights shortstop John Smith said. “Huge win. I mean, we worked hard all season for this and it’s well deserved.”

The third-seeded Knights (18-7) avenged two regular-season defeats to top-seeded South Plainfield (19-5-1). Old Bridge used its winning formula of nothing fancy, just contagious hitting and getting on base combined with stellar pitching.

Frank Papeo earned the victory by pitching a gritty four innings, JT Meyer went 2 2/3 innings in relief and Justin Hascup got the final out via a groundout and the celebration was on.

All three have been excellent this spring, but Papeo got the start and the senior lefty delivered.

“I wasn’t too worried about strikeouts today, just pitched to contact,” said Papeo, noting he cut down on walks. “My infield and outfield did a good job.”

In the top of the first, Old Bridge opened a 4-0 lead via four singles, two walks and a hit batter with 10 up to bat.

“We’re not a home run-hitting team,” Donaghue said. “We’re just trying to get good at-bats together one after another and they did. We put up four runs in the first inning but even with that, you knew the game was not going to be over at that point. It’s a long baseball game.”

He was right.

South Plainfield cut it to 4-3 after the second inning, but the Knights got two key insurances runs in the sixth inning.

The Tigers threatened in the bottom of the seventh with Dan Kapsch singling past the diving shortstop to open the frame. Meyer then got a double play from second baseman Chris Crosta to shortstop John Smith, who threw it to first baseman Noah Balbuena.

Jayden Smith doubled and Nick Irizarry got an infield single, but the Tigers couldn’t get closer. Alvarez and Irizarry each went 2-for-4 and Zach Robinson had a two-RBI single. Dom Massaro and Brandon Bickunas each singled, drove in a run and scored.

“You got to play a complete game,” South Plainfield coach Scott Gleichenhaus said. “We gave them opportunities, they took advantage of the opportunities we gave them and they won the game as a result.

“… We’re never out. We battled to the end, just came up short here. Obviously wish things would have worked out a little different in certain situations. I’m going to look back on it, kick myself why didn’t I do this. Why didn’t I do that.”

But that’s just baseball, coach.

Saturday, Old Bridge got the more timely hits. Akhil Penkala went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a walk. Also having a hit – all singles – were Papeo (run), John Smith (run), Hascup (RBI), MJ Altman (RBI, run) and Evan Smith (RBI). Meyer also had an RBI.

With the win, Old Bridge’s Donaghue earned his 100th career victory in the sixth season as head coach. Yeah, it’s a nice milestone, but …

“To me that’s just a number,” he said. “Championships are more important. That’s more important to me.”

Saturday, he got both.

NJ Baseball: Old Bridge tops South Plainfield in GMCT final (mycentraljersey.com)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Old Bridge (18-7)	4	0	0	0	2	0	0	6	7	2
South Plainfield (19-5-1)	0	3	0	0	2	0	0	5	9	0

South Plainfield Batting

	AB	R	H	RBI	1B	2B	3B	HR	BB	HBP	SB	AVG	SLG
Dom Massaro	4	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250	.250
Dan Kapsch	3	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	.333	.333
Zack Robinson	4	0	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	.250	.250
Jayden Alvarez	4	1	2	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	.500	.750
Nick Irizarry	4	1	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500	.500
Brandon Bickunas	3	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	.333	.333
Aiden McCarthy	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.000	.000
Ryan Balent	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000
Steve Studlack	2	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500	.500
Anthony Tomei	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000
Totals:	30	5	9	5	8	1	0	0	3	0	2	.300	.333

South Plainfield Pitching

	PIT	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HB	ERA
Kevin Penny (LP)	0	4	6	6	6	2	5	0	10.50
Mike Castagna	0	1.2	1	0	0	1	1	0	0.00
Chase Donovan	0	1.1	0	0	0	0	2	0	0.00
Totals:	0	7	7	6	6	3	8	0	6.00

Click below to listen to Mike Pavlichko and Justin Sontupe call all the action, as heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio from Ray Cipperly Field in East Brunswick.

https://cjsportsradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/5-19-24-GMCT-Final-South-Plainfield-vs-Old-Bridge-192-kbps.mp3

The Tigers lost to Old Bridge 6-5 yesterday in the GMC Finals. Our dogs fought til the last but came up short. We tip our caps to the Knights, now to the states.