Welcome to splitsville.
Just like last season, the first full week of Greater Middlesex Conference action featured evenly matched teams having a haul of two-game splits within the division. Woodbridge was the only ranked preseason team to jump out to an undefeated start.
Here are the rankings with notes on the bottom.
GMC Top 10
(Records through Saturday. Note: because of deadlines, Sunday’s games couldn’t be included)
1. Old Bridge (4-3) – preseason No. 1: With all the splits, consider this a push. Old Bridge remains at No. 1 after going 1-1 against No. 2 South Plainfield, No. 4 Edison and unranked East Brunswick. It’s not football – you really can’t ding a baseball team too much for losing one game against an always tough Red Division opponent like East Brunswick. The Knights have a quality win over No. 5 Spotswood. The emergence of senior pitchers Akhil Penkala and John Smith, who threw a combined seven innings last season, makes the Knights that more dangerous.
2. South Plainfield (4-2) – preseason No. 2: The Tigers dropped a 14-7 slugfest to St. Joseph, in which they trailed 13-1, but ultimately remains at No. 2. South Plainfield’s hitting, speed and pitching were on display with a sweep over No. 4 Edison and splits in a pair of one-run games against No. 1 Old Bridge. They also beat non-conference Millburn.
3. Colonia (4-1) – preseason No. 3: Welcome to the White Division tussles. The Patriots split with No. 8 St. Thomas Aquinas with a 2-0 win Wednesday and a 7-6 loss Thursday. Yes, every pitch in these nail-bitters count, which makes things fun. Colonia is still well positioned to make a run for the division pennant with their pitching led by Cory Pascarella (12 IP, 25 Ks, 0.00 ERA) and Colin Kroner (12 1/3 IP, 20 Ks, 1.70 ERA).
4. Edison (2-4) – preseason No. 4: While that record isn’t pretty, there’s been plenty of fine moments on the field. First, veteran skipper Vinnie Abene won his 300th career game last week in 23 seasons at the helm. Then, the Eagles split with No. 1 Old Bridge and No. 7 Monroe, while losing twice to No. 2 South Plainfield. Despite that sweep, the quality wins keep them at No. 4. Daren Tirado is off to a nice start hitting .409 (9-for-22).
5.Spotswood (4-2) – preseason No. 5: The Chargers already have three shutout wins this season. When their pitching is on, along with the team’s balanced hitting, Spotswood is in just about any game. Spotswood lost to No. 1 Old Bridge, split with No. 9 Sayreville, swept Perth Amboy and topped South Amboy. Carter Cumiskey picked up his 100th career hit and hasn’t allowed a run in 14 innings on the mound.
6. Woodbridge (6-0) – preseason No. 7: The Barrons’ climb begins. It wasn’t that Woodbridge didn’t have talent, just some questions in the preseason with a chunk of quality seniors graduating. Well, the Barrons swept East Brunswick, St. Joseph and South Brunswick for their hot start. Ryan Leach is excelling on the mound after missing last season and juniors Kevin Arroyo and Michael Gurovich have emerged to give Woodbridge a deep rotation.
7. Monroe (3-3) – preseason No. 6: Now back to the Red Division parity. The Falcons earned a split with No. 4 Edison and swept South Brunswick, while dropping games against East Brunswick and Livingston. Monroe was another team hit by a quality graduating class and injuries. The Falcons, though, showed they should be just fine. The week was highlighted by a 2-1, 10-inning win over Edison with Ben Faigin and Andre Love each allowing a hit in five innings apiece.
8. St. Thomas Aquinas (3-2) – preseason No. 8: Up from the Blue Division, the Trojans showed they’re going to be a presence in the White Division with their veteran lineup. They split with No. 3 Colonia and Middlesex and beat North Brunswick. Louis Rizzolo has followed up his strong sophomore season by allowing one earned run in 10 innings with 19 strikeouts.
9. St. Joseph (2-2) – preseason No. 10: The Dennis McCaffery era is underway at St. Joseph and the Falcons and their several returning players are looking good in the early going. The offense has scored 36 runs under their new head coach. After getting swept by No. 6 Woodbridge, the Falcons beat No. 2 South Plainfield 14-7 and South Brunswick 11-1. Luke Palermo is hitting a scorching .538 (7-for-13) with a home run and a team-high nine RBIs.
10.Sayreville (12-13) – preseason No. 9: The Bombers got a split with No. 5 Spotswood and that keeps them in the rankings. Sayreville also split with North Brunswick and lost to No. 3 Colonia. They’ll be a tough out in the White Division. Michael Robinson is showing he’s one of the GMC’s best catchers and is off to a .389 start (7-for-18).
Other teams considered
Middlesex (5-1): The Blue Jays can certainly make a case with their split against No. 8 St. Thomas Aquinas, sweep over North Brunswick and wins over Rutgers Prep and Robbinsville. They have a series with No. 3 Colonia on tap this week. Dominic Long has starred with his bat (.476 BA, 10-for-21) and on the mound (14 2/3 IP, 15 Ks, 1.43 ERA).
East Brunswick (2-3): The Bears had some newcomers but turned heads with a split against No. 1 Old Bridge and a victory over No. 7 Monroe. EB, which lost twice to No. 6 Woodbridge, is right on the cusp.
No-no’s
From the start, there’s already been top pitching performances in a league long known for its throwers.
East Brunswick Magnet junior righty Anthony Bienvenue didn’t allow a hit over seven innings with three walks and five strikeouts in a 3-1 win over Piscataway Magnet on March 31.
Highland Park had a combined no-hitter the same day in a 26-0, four-inning win over Timothy Christian. Dorian Crocco went three innings (1 BB, 7 Ks), Julio Rodriguez got two outs and Harold Solomon (3 BBs) got an out.
Then, Metuchen was involved in games with back-to-back no-hitters. Bulldogs junior righthander Lucas Malamug fired a seven-inning no-hitter with seven strikeouts in a 10-0 win over J.P. Stevens on April 8. He allowed four walks and hit a batter.
The next day, Metuchen lost 1-0 to North Plainfield on Bennie Sokolowski’s gem. The junior righthander walked three with 10 strikeouts in the win. James Fenton was the tough-luck loser giving up just two hits himself with four walks and 11 strikeouts.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Baseball ranking and notes: GMC Top 10 through April 12