Piscataway junior outfielder/pitcher Jaden Peace is expected to be one of the big stars returning for the Chiefs in 2023. He’ll also be playing in the GMC Underclassmen All-Star Game on June 25 at North Brunswick Community Park. (Source: @PwayBaseball on Twitter)
Piscataway is one of the larger schools in Middlesex County, but the Chiefs aren’t playing in the GMC Red Division, or even the White.
With a move by the league to get more competitive games, the trend has been to put teams in divisions with similar ability levels. So, the Chiefs moved to the GMC Blue this year. And had things gone perfectly, they might have had a better season.
Yet, at 6-14, the Chiefs – with just one senior on the roster – are expected to be in the state tournament, thanks in large part to two big wins in the last two weeks over St. Thomas Aquinas.
The first came in the newly-expanded GMC Tournament’s first round, an upset by 20th-seeded Piscataway, 7-4 over the 13th-seeded Trojans. The second came eleven days later, on Wednesday – the cutoff date for the state tournament – when they pounded out eleven hits and mercy-ruled STA 14-4 with their season on the line.
A loss, and the Chiefs would have been done, in 17th place in the North 2, Group 4 power point standings. But they won a game that absolutely had to have, in triumphant fashion, likely earning a road matchup with projected top-seed Ridge in the first round of the sectionals, which begin next week.
Though the team still has one fewer win than a year ago, it’s part of what the Chiefs hope is an upward trend for the program, which saw it’s last .500 season in 2017, when Piscataway went 10-10 under Scott Gleichenhaus, who’s now at South Plainfield.
Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Piscataway third-year head coach Rob Stoddard:
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