Baseball: The GMC Top 10, games to watch and storylines from Week 3

 Andy MendlowitzMyCentralJersey.com

The pennant races for the five Greater Middlesex Conference divisions are starting to heat up, and there was some movement in our Top 10. Here’s a recap of last week's action with a look ahead.

Old Bridge/South Plainfield series – Thursday at Old Bridge, 4 p.m., Friday at South Plainfield, 4 p.m.: Down the stretch they come, and the Red Division has three teams pulling away: Old Bridge (6-1 in division), South Plainfield (5-2) and Monroe (6-2). First, they have key games Tuesday – Old Bridge hosts South Brunswick (3-4) and South Plainfield goes to Monroe.

This week’s GMC Top 10

(Records through Sun., April 21)

1. Old Bridge (8-2) – last week No. 1: When it comes to the Old Bridge pitchers, it’s almost like it’s, "Anything you can throw, I can twirl better." The Knights beat East Brunswick, 4-0, as Frank Papeo threw a two-hitter over 6 1/3 innings with 10 strikeouts. Two days later, JT Meyer tossed six shutout innings (3 hits, 7 Ks) as Old Bridge topped South Brunswick, 8-2. Who’s got next start?

2. Monroe (6-2) – last week No. 2: The Falcons gave their fans plenty of thrills – and knuckle-biting – with a walk-off win over South Plainfield and a win over Shore Conference power Jackson Memorial, fueled by Harrison Lollin’s two-run homer in the top of the seventh. Monroe also went 1-1 against South Brunswick.

3. Woodbridge (9-1) – last week No. 4: Hey, losses are going to happen in the White Division. The Barrons fell to Middlesex, 4-3, to split their series. Woodbridge bounced back quite nicely to get a pair of wins over Red Division teams in North Brunswick and East Brunswick.

4. South Plainfield (6-3) – last week No. 5: Well, the Tigers had your typical action-packed week that included a quite amazing 27-6 win over North Brunswick and a 3-2 walk-off loss against No. 2 Monroe. In all, they went 3-2 against quality teams.

5. Edison (7-2) – last week No. 7: Not getting hits sure makes it hard for teams to win. In Edison’s case, that’s a plus. The Eagles allowed two hits in three victories last week. Dom Innocenti had a five-inning no-hitter with 10 strikeouts in a 13-0 win over J.P. Stevens and Robert Roma allowed a single with 10 strikeouts in an 11-0 triumph over J.P. In a 4-0 win over Middlesex, Jaxon Appelman gave up a hit with 17 K’s. Edison ended the week with a 7-6 loss to Perth Amboy.

6. Spotswood (9-0-1) – last week No. 8: Keeping that 0 in their record wasn’t easy for the Chargers, but Spotswood kept winning – except for getting stopped by the sun. Spotswood’s lone blemish was an 8-8 tie against Marlboro that was called for darkness. Spotswood also prevailed over Somerville, Plainsboro and South Brunswick.  

7. North Brunswick (3-7) – last week No. 3: This is where the records start to look not-so-great. The Raiders had a 1-5 week with losses against teams with winning records. North Brunswick does have splits with No. 1 Old Bridge, No. 2 Monroe and No. 8 St. Joseph.

8. St. Joseph (2-8) – last week No. 6: Yeah, the two wins don’t look so great, but they’re all against teams with non-losing records save for the split with North Brunswick. The Falcons beat East Brunswick, 5-2, last week.

9. Colonia (4-4) – last week No. 9: After opening with two losses against Woodbridge, the Patriots have White Division splits with Edison and Perth Amboy, as well as a 1-0 win last week over Sayreville.

10. South Brunswick (4-7) – last week No. 10: The Vikings had a 1-4 week, but it included a split with No. 2 Monroe. The Vikings lost to No. 2 Old Bridge, No. 6 Spotswood and West Windsor-Plainsboro South.  

NJ Baseball: GMC Top 10, games to watch and Week 3's storylines (mycentraljersey.com)