South Plainfield’s Jayden Alvarez hits against Dayton on April 27, 2024 at TD Bank Park in Bridgewater. (Credit: Tsandklev Photography, courtesy South Plainfield baseball)
Other than Bridgewater-Raritan holding on to the top spot for a third straight week, chaos reigned in the Week 4 Bellamy & Son Paving High School Baseball Rankings, with several top teams going on losing streaks, while win streaks buoyed others.
At No. 1 after a 3-0 week is Bridgewater-Raritan (12-1), which won three straight on the road, beating Somerville 7-0 on Tuesday, Hillsborough 8-1 on Thursday, and Ramapo 11-3 on Saturday. With a week to go before the Somerset County Tournament seeding meeting, the top-seed is the Panthers’ to lose at this point.
Climbing five spots this week is South Plainfield (11-3), which went a stunning 5-0 in the week gone by. The Tigers beat Woodbridge 6-1 on Monday, beat Monroe 9-7 Wednesday, then swept a pair from Old Bridge – winning 6-3 on the road Thursday and 5-1 at home Friday, before topping Dayton 8-4 on Saturday. The run now has South in first place and in the drivers’ seat in the GMC Red Division, with a shot at the tournament’s top seed on the line this week when they play a pair against St. Joseph-Metuchen.
Spotswood (12-1-1) climbs two places to third after a 3-1 week, suffering its first loss of the season. After opening with a home-and-home series sweep of South River – 13-0 on the road Tuesday and 3-2 at home Thursday – the Chargers split two games on Saturday, falling 4-1 to JFK in the morning, then winning 3-1 over Highlands in the Coaches vs. Cancer showcase down in Margate.
Woodbridge (12-2) is up one spot to sixth, also putting together a 3-1 week. The Barrons opened with a 6-1 home loss to South Plainfiled on Monday, but then came back with three straight victories: Wednesday 11-1 at Rahway, Thursday 7-0 at Edison, and Saturday at home 4-1 over Edison. Woodbridge clinched the GMC White Division.
Monroe dropped from third to sixth after a 1-3 week that left them 8-6 on the season. The Falcons lost 9-7 at South Plainfield on Tuesday, then dropped a non-area game at Robbinsville 3-2 Wednesday before snapping the skid with a 6-4 home win over St. Joseph-Metuchen on Friday. They then fell Saturday at home by an 11-5 score to Sayreville.
After two weeks out, Ridge (9-5) is back in the rankings after a strong 4-1 week. That included a win over North Hunterdon 2-0 on Tuesday, a 6-0 win at Randolph Wednesday, an 11-1 rout at Somerville on Thursday, and a loss at New Providence 3-2 on Saturday before the Red Devils bounced back with a 2-1 win over Union Catholic Sunday in the Thank You Classic.
At No. 8 is St. Thomas Aquinas (10-2), up two spots from the Trojans’ previous rank of No. 10. STA picked up wins Monday at home (8-3) and Wednesday (19-3) on the road against North Plainfield, sandwiched around a Tuesday noon-conference loss at Elizabeth, 13-12. They came back and beat Piscataway Friday, 5-4.
In ninth is Watchung Hills, which went 2-1 last week, including a win over then-No. 2 Immaculata, 11-5, as heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio. Though they would lose the next day, 8-0 to North Hunterdon, they rebounded with an 11-7 win at Rutgers Prep on Thursday.
And Immaculata falls to tenth after an 0-3 week. After the Tuesday loss to Watchung Hills, they dropped a 5-1 home game to Montgomery on Thursday, and were whitewashed 10-0 Saturday at Phillipsburg.
Below are the full Week 4 Bellamy & Son Paving High School Baseball Rankings:
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