Third-seeded Old Bridge and ninth-seeded Monroe will meet in the GMCT final on Saturday, May 23, at Bainton Field at Rutgers at 2 p.m. The GMC Invitational final is still going on with the final set at host Edison on Friday, May 22.
This will be the last Top 10 of the regular season with a light week before the NJSIAA sectional tournaments begin. The non-public schools kickoff on May 26 and the public school teams begin May 27. Our final ranking will be part of our post-season all-area package in late June.
Here is the top 10 with notes underneath the ranking.
GMC Top 10
(Records through Saturday, May 16)
1. Old Bridge (17-8) – last week No. 3: This seems like a non-controversial choice. Old Bridge survived and advanced to reach the GMCT final with a pair of 1-0 wins and a 9-3, eight-inning victory over No. 2-seeded Middlesex in the semifinals. Yes, putting up six runs in extra innings shows just how gutsy the Knights play with a balanced lineup. The hot Knights have won eight in a row.
2. Edison (17-6) – last week No. 1: One tough day doesn’t take away the body of work. Top-seeded Edison got upset against ninth-seeded Monroe 9-1 in the GMC quarterfinals. That just happens sometimes as the Eagles faced an ace on his game in Monroe’s Andre Love. Edison did win the GMC Red Division and looks to compete in the Central Group 4 section, which includes Old Bridge and Monroe.
3. Middlesex (20-3) – last week No. 2: The Middlesex magic happened in the bottom of the seventh in the GMCT semifinal as the Blue Jays scored three times to force extra innings against Old Bridge. Then, the Knights came back to earn the 9-3 lead against the No. 2 seed. One can never predict how a baseball game will go but, chances are, Middlesex will be right there. They’ll likely earn the top seed in Central Group 1.
4. Monroe (12-12) – last week No. 7: Is this too low for the GMCT finalist? The ninth-seeded Falcons are on a heck of a run reaching the championship with wins over No. 8 Colonia, No. 1 Edison and No. 5 South Plainfield. We wrote in last week’s ranking, “Teams with top pitching are scary come tournament time. The Falcons have the arms and can compete with anyone when they’re firing.” There was no crystal ball needed to see that one as Ben Faigin (twice) and Andre Love have thrown gems, while the offense scored 18 runs in the first two rounds. For now, with the postseason pending, we’ll put Monroe at No. 4.
5. South Plainfield (13-11) – last week No. 4: The Tigers are going to be a tough out as they look to defend their North 2 Group 3 title. South Plainfield plays gutsy and should be in about every game. Take the GMCT when the fifth-seeded Tigers advanced with a 2-1 win over No. 12 St. Joseph, a 7-6 win over No. 4 Metuchen and then suffered a 1-0 loss to Monroe in the semifinals. Aiden McCarthy is an ace, the Tigers have stellar defense with players like Dom Massaro (CF) and Joe Stanzione (RF) and pesky hitters.
6. Woodbridge (13-9) – last week No. 5: The Barrons had been one of the hottest teams entering the GMCT winning eight of 10 and then topped East Brunswick 7-1 in the first round. Sixth-seeded Woodbridge bowed out of the GMCT falling to Old Bridge 1-0 (8 innings) in the quarterfinal. Can’t knock a team for that. All the pieces remain for the Barrons to make a run in North 2 Group 4 play. Pitchers like Kevin Arroyo, Mike Gurovich and Billy Mansfield lead the way and Gavin Slicner is batting .500 (36-for-72) with 26 RBIs.
7. Metuchen (18-6) – last week No. 6: A play here or there, and the Bulldogs’ GMCT outcome might have been different. Hey, that’s baseball and Metuchen fell 7-6 to South Plainfield in an eventful quarterfinal. One thing seems sure – the Bulldogs are equipped to make a run in Central Group 1 and can meet Middlesex at some point. The fourth-seeded Bulldogs beat Spotswood 3-0 in the GMCT opener behind James Fenton throwing 6 1/3 shutout innings with 15 strikeouts.
8. Colonia (10-6) – last week No. 8: The Patriots had some key injuries at the worst time as they fell 9-2 to Monroe in the GMCT first round. The team is hopeful they’ll be healthy come North 2 Group 3 play. Colonia’s bats came alive by scoring 23 combined runs in regular season wins over South Amboy and Carteret last week.
9. St. Thomas Aquinas (11-14) – last week No. 10: The seventh-seeded Trojans got a nice, opening round GMCT win over 10th-seeded South Brunswick 3-2 behind another one of Louis Rizzolo’s gems (7 IP, 13 Ks, 0 ER). We had South Brunswick ahead of STA in last week’s ranking – sorry Trojans fans! St. Thomas Aquinas looks to make a run in Non-Public North B.
10. South Brunswick (11-10) – last week No. 9: The Vikings are in the midst of a nice bounce-back season after going 4-20 last spring. South Brunswick finished fourth in the White Division and they’ll be among a handful of GMC teams in Central Group 4, making for intriguing possible matchups.
Milestones Galore
The GMC has plenty of big-time players who have already established program records or reached milestones this season. The accolades continued last week.
South Plainfield’s Dom Massaro, who earlier this spring set the program’s all-time hit record, stole his 80th career base to break the school’s steals record in a 7-6 win over Metuchen in the GMCT quarterfinal on Wednesday, May 13.
Edison ace Connor Murphy surpassed 200 career strikeouts with a 14-strikeout output against Piscataway Magnet in the GMCT first round on Monday, May 11.
Colonia’s Dylan Chiera earned his 100th career hit in a 10-0 win over South Amboy on Friday, May 15. He’s used to getting big numbers during his playing days for the Patriots. As Colonia’s quarterback in the fall, he’s thrown for 4,601 career passing yards and 45 touchdowns. He also scored 619 career points on the basketball court with 258 assists.
Edison’s Robert Roma got his 100th hit with an exclamation point as he hit a home run against Nottingham on Saturday, May 16.
Woodbridge slugger Xavier Diaz also recently passed 100 career hits when he had two knocks against Livingston on Saturday, May 9.
NJ Baseball Greater Middlesex Conference Top 10 and notes, May 16
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