Speculation on State Seedings (The Rain Ain't Helping)

 

Baseball Notebook

May 21, 2025 by Mike Pavlichko

The NJSIAA last week announced it would extend the cutoff for the state tournament, moving it from Saturday to Wednesday to accommodate some teams that had not played the minimum 16 games yet.

Teams can still qualify, but when points are averaged out, those that haven’t played 16 games would still have been divided by 16, artificially lowering their average.

Some coaches, off the record, have complained about the extension, with their issue two-fold: First, since the vast majority of teams did play 16 or more games, they believe it was the responsibility of teams to schedule more games early, just in case of rainouts. More importantly, some scheduled lesser opponents this week, knowing it was after the cutoff, and now those games could come back to bite them.

With rain expected most of the rest of the day – the SCT finals not withstanding – few teams are likely to get games in today, especially those without turf. Here’s a look at the current standings as of 11:45 am, per NJ.com. Seeding will be tomorrow, and results will be official as of Friday at noon.

North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3: It’s a good lead for Colonia (18-4, 14.548), which should have the top seed locked up over South Plainfield (14-9, 22.121), followed by Millburn (21.965) and North Hunterdon (11-10, 21.444). We’re not sure yet if the Tigers are locked in, or could fall to third. North Plainfield (14-7, 20.987) checks in at five, then after Cranford (13-9, 19.669), there’s Somerville (11-10, 19.08). There’s a chance, we think, they could fall from seven to eight, but probably not out of the top eight behind current ninth-place team Payne Tech (13-6, 18.46). Carteret (9-11) is all the way down at 11, followed by JFK (9-12, 17.418).

Ridge, Colonia, Middlesex in drivers’ seat for top seeds in state tournament heading into Wednesday’s extended NJSIAA cutoff – Central Jersey Sports Radio

2024-2025 Baseball North Jersey,

Section 2, Group 3 Power Points

Rank	Team	W-L-T	PCT	PP
1	Colonia	18-4	.818	24.548
2	South Plainfield	14-9	.609	22.121
3	Millburn	11-13	.458	21.965
4	North Hunterdon	11-10	.524	21.444
5	North Plainfield	14-7	.667	20.987
6	Cranford	13-9	.591	19.669
7	Somerville	11-10	.524	19.08
8	Middletown North	11-10	.524	18.829
9	Payne Tech	13-6	.684	18.46
10	Summit	10-11-1	.477	18.121
11	Carteret	9-11	.450	18.066
12	Iselin Kennedy	9-12	.429	17.418
13	Chatham	8-12	.400	17.32
14	Rahway	5-13	.278	12.486
15	Matawan	4-15	.211	11.76
16	Newark Central	6-11	.353	9.337
17	Lincoln	2-13	.133	5.865
18	Orange	3-14-1	.194	5.714
19	Weequahic	3-10	.231	5.235
20	West Side	0-0	.000	0