2026 - GMC Tournament Seedings Announced

 

Andy Mendlowitz MyCentralJersey.com

The Edison baseball team fell just short last season.

Now, they’ll enter as the favorites. The Eagles drew the No. 1 seed in the Greater Middlesex Conference Jim Muldowney Tournament at Friday’s seeding meeting. Middlesex is the No. 2 seed followed by No. 3 Old Bridge and No. 4 Metuchen.

Last year’s wild tournament featured several upsets. No. 5-seeded St. Joseph captured the championship with four walk-off wins, including in the final against No. 11th-seeded Edison.

Action begins in the 20-team tournament with four play-in games on Saturday, May 9. Then, play continues at the higher seeds with the first round on Monday, May 11, and the quarterfinals on Wednesday, May 13. The tournament then finishes at East Brunswick Magnet. The semifinal doubleheader is Saturday, May 16, at noon and 2:30 p.m. The final is slated for Saturday, May 23 at 2 p.m.

If the play-in games are rained out, then they will be played on Monday, May 11, with the first round getting pushed to Tuesday, May 12.

Schedule

Saturday, May 9

Play-in games at 10 a.m.

No. 17 Piscataway Magnet at No. 16 J.F. Kennedy

No. 20 North Plainfield at No. 13 Spotswood

No. 19 Carteret at No. 14 Sayreville

No. 18 J.P. Stevens at No. 15 South River

Monday, May 11

First round

No. 17 Piscataway Magnet/No. 16 J.F. Kennedy winner at No. 1 Edison

No. 9 Monroe at No. 8 Colonia

No. 12 St. Joseph at No. 5 South Plainfield

No. 20 North Plainfield/No. 13 Spotswood winner at No. 4 Metuchen

No. 19 Carteret/No. 14 Sayreville winner at No. 3 Old Bridge

No. 11 East Brunswick at No. 6 Woodbridge

No. 10 South Brunswick at No. 7 St. Thomas Aquinas

No. 18 J.P. Stevens/No. 15 South River winner at No. 2 Middlesex

Wednesday, May 13

Quarterfinals at higher seeds

Saturday, May 16

Semifinals at East Brunswick Magnet, noon and 2:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 23

Final at East Brunswick Magnet, 2 p.m.

NJ Baseball Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament pairings and seeds

2026 = Game # 20 Sayreville 5, South Plainfield 4

 

2026 - Game # 19 South Plainfield 14, JFK - Iselin 4

 TAPinto SOUTH PLAINFIELD

Massaro Hits for the Cycle in South Plainfield's 14-4 Win over JFK-Iselin

By Guy Kipp

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ — Dom Massaro keeps setting or tying school records, overshadowing exceptional performances by his teammates and making an emphatic case for a first-team all-state candidacy.

The senior center fielder became just the third player in South Plainfield baseball history to hit for the cycle on Thursday in the Tigers' 14-4 victory over JFK-Iselin on Thursday.

Massaro barreled up four loud line drives, hitting — in order — a single, a double, a home run and a triple. He finished the day 4-for-4 with a walk, five runs scored, three runs batted in and two stolen bases.

Massaro's five runs on Thursday gave him 109 runs scored for his career, another school record.

If it weren't for another spectacular game at the plate for South Plainfield's all-time career hits leader, more of the spotlight might be shining on senior first baseman Aiden McCarthy's 4-for-5 performance that included three doubles and two RBI, including the game-ending single in the bottom of the sixth inning that pushed the Tigers' lead to 10 runs and invoked the mercy rule.

Senior right-hander Aidan Kaplan made the start, got his first career victory and struck out a career-high six batters. Kaplan allowed four hits and two runs in five innings pitched.

Massaro joined Phil Aiello and Brandon Downes as the only South Plainfield batters ever to hit for the cycle. Massaro's RBI double in the second inning gave South Plainfield (11-8) a 4-0 lead before he stole third and came home on a wild throw to make it 5-0. In the third inning, he rifled a vicious line drive over the left-field fence with two out for a two-run homer to make the score 7-2.

The triple is usually the most difficult hit to get in a cycle, but Massaro said that when he hit a line drive into the gap in left-center field in the fifth inning, he got some extra encouragement.

"When the count got to 3-1, I told myself, 'I'm swinging here, no matter what'," said Massaro, who now has 144 career hits. "When I hit it and got to second base, everybody was yelling, 'Three! Three!' I'm playing on a little bit of a bad quad right now, but I've been keeping it tightly wrapped, and I made it."

Massaro's four-hit day boosted his batting average to an even .600 (42 for 70) this season. The home run was the eighth of his career, and the triple the fifth of his career.

Massaro is on the short list of the very best players in the Greater Middlesex Conference, and he and the rest of his teammates are now awaiting where South Plainfield will be seeded in the GMC Tournament on Friday morning. The Tigers should receive a top-five seed.

"I'm looking forward to it, and we're pumped," Massaro said of the tournament. "We're finally getting into a rhythm as a team and looking better."

South Plainfield has won three games in a row and four of its last five.

"We're battle-tested now," South Plainfield head coach Scott Gleichenhaus said. "We're looking to finish the week strong and then be ready to go for Monday. We think we should be in the top five (in the GMCT seedings)."

After preliminary-round games on Saturday, the first round of the tournament is scheduled for Monday.

Shortstop Max Espejo had a big day for JFK-Iselin (6-12), going 3-for-4 with a triple and two RBI. The Mustangs' center fielder Grant Lorentzen went 1-for-2 with a double, two walks and two runs scored. Lorentzen, who will play both baseball and football at The College of New Jersey, inched closer to the 100-hit mark for his career. He has 92 hits now, and is batting .462 this season (24 for 52).

Espejo's batting average is up to .417 this season.

JFK-ISELIN (6-12)                         002 002 -- 4 6 4
SOUTH PLAINFIELD (11-8) 322 223 -- 14 14 1
WP-Kaplan
LP-Peralta

Baseball: Massaro Hits for the Cycle in South Plainfield's 14-4 Win over JFK-Iselin | South Plainfield, NJ News TAPinto | TAPinto

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Iselin Kennedy (6-12)	0	0	2	0	0	2	0	4	4	3
South Plainfield (11-8)	3	2	2	2	2	3	0	14	15	3

WP: Aidan Kaplan    LP: Fremy Peralta

South Plainfield Batting

	AB	R	H	RBI	1B	2B	3B	HR	BB	SB	SF	ROE	FC	AVG	SLG
Dom Massaro #6	4	5	4	3	1	1	1	1	1	2	0	0	0	1.000	2.500
Chris Loniewski #15	3	1	2	1	2	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	.667	.667
Aiden McCarthy #12	5	2	4	2	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.800	1.400
Andrew Bena #19	3	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	.333	.333
Anthony Cicenia #11	2	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	1	.000	.000
Gabriel Garcia #16	4	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	.250	.250
Ed Budzinski #3	3	0	1	2	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	.333	.667
Mike Fiore #5	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	.000	.000
Hunter Ravi #2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000
Andrew Burns #7	1	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1.000	1.000
Alex Pigna #10	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	.000	.000
Sean Griswald #30	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000
Totals:	30	14	14	10	7	5	1	1	7	7	2	2	1	.467	.800

South Plainfield Pitching

	W	L	PIT	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HB	PO	ERA
Aidan Kaplan #8 (WP)	1	0	100	5	3	2	2	4	6	0	0	2.80
Ed Budzinski #3	0	0	21	1	1	2	0	1	1	0	0	0.00
Totals:	1	0	121	6	4	4	2	5	7	0	0	2.33

SPTigerBaseball

@BaseballSPHS

The Tigers picked up their 11th W of the season by a score 14-4 over JFK. The Professor Aidan Kaplan was solid on the bump (5ip 3h 6k) & picked up his first career varsity W. Captain Dom Massaro went Full Dude & had quite a day- hit for the cycle, scored 5x while breaking the all time run scored record at SP. Fellow Captain Aiden McCarthy roped 3 doubles & Chris Loniewski had 2 hits & an RBI.

SPTigerBaseball

@BaseballSPHS

There are Maestros and then there are Maestros. Dom Massaro out-Mustanged the Mustangs by galloping his way to a baseball superfecta: hitting for the cycle, drawing a walk & scoring 5x. From destroying baseballs to breaking records, Dom Massaro continues to rewrite the Maestro Manual proving once again why he is a True Maestro of the Diamond.