Old Bridge head coach Matt Donaghue (in purple) and Sayreville skipper Tim Ballard (in blue) meet with the umpires before the GMC Tournament semifinals on May 11, 2024 at Ray Cipperly Field in East Brunswick. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
The 38th Greater Middlesex Conference Baseball Tournament will wrap up this Saturday, with top-seed South Plainfield taking on third-seed Old Bridge in the championship game at Ray Cipperly Field in Easy Brunswick. The game can be heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with first pitch set for 2 pm; pregame begins at 1:25.
The whirlwind tournament will finish up after a week off with two Red Division teams battling it out for the second year in a row.
Here are some notes, stats and facts about the finals and the GMC Tournament in general:
GMC History
The Greater Middlesex Conference started play in the 1985-86 school year, a merger between the old Mid-State Conference, the Bicentennial Athletic Conference, and the Central Valley Conference. The idea has been talked about and was cemented in a June 1984 vote.
Not everyone was on board, initially. Piscataway – a member of the Mid-State Conference – voted “no,” but eventually joined the GMC. North Brunswick – which was in the BAC – and Dunellen – a member of the CVC, not to be confused with the current Colonial Valley Conference – also rejected the plan initially. Middlesex wasn’t represented at the meeting, but also joined eventually.
Who’s won the most GMC Tournaments?
Edison – which had won plenty in the old Middlesex County Coaches’ Association Tournament – dominated again in the new GMC, starting in 1990. They made the finals nine times in a span of 12 years, and won eight of them. But the Eagles haven’t been back to the finals since their last title in 2001.
St. Joseph-Metuchen also has won eight, and has one more appearance than Edison, but over a longer stretch of time, from 2004 to 2023. They’re 8-2 all time in the GMC title game.
How have South Plainfield and Old Bridge fared?
The Tigers are 1-4 all-time in the GMC Finals, while Old Bridge is 2-1, one of five teams to have won multiple GMC Tournaments. The others? In addition to Edison and St. Joe’s, East Brunswick has won five and South Brunswick has won two.
Here’s the championship game history for Saturday’s two finalists.
SOUTH PLAINFIELD
- 1990: (1) Edison 9, (10) South Plainfield 3
- 1991: (7) East Brunswick 6, (1) South Plainfield 5
- 2011: (2) Old Bridge 3, (4) South Plainfield 2
- 2014: (4) St. Joseph 1, (6) South Plainfield 0 (walk-off bases loaded walk)
- 2018: (14) South Plainfield 2, (12) Perth Amboy 1 (12 innings)
OLD BRIDGE
- 2008: (10) St. Joseph 3, (4) Old Bridge 2
- 2011: (2) Old Bridge 3, (4) South Plainfield 2
- 2019: (1) Old Bridge 2, (3) South Brunswick 1
This is the fourth finals appearance for Old Bridge, which is good for a fifth-place tie with JFK, Monroe, North Brunswick and South Brunswick.
It’ll be South Plainfield’s sixth; they’re fourth on the all-time list. Head of them are East Brunswick (7), Edison (9) and St. Joseph (10).
How have these seeds fared?
The top-seed – in this case, South Plainfield – has won the most GMC Tournaments, but not most of them. In 37 prior title games, the top seed has been in only 20 of them, and gone 13-7 overall. The two-seed has the second most wins, but has only been to the finals ten times, and is 8-2. Old Bridge is this year’s third-seed, which historically is 4-3 all-time in the finals.
How about when the 1 and 3 seeds meet?
It’s a toss-up. A 1 vs. 3 seed has happened six times in the finals, and each has won three times. Edison won twice as the top seed beating a three, as did Old Bridge in its most recent championship season, 2019. South Brunswick, Middlesex and St. Joe’s have won as three-seeds over the No. 1 seed.
- 1994: (1) Edison 10, (3) Monroe 3
- 1999: (1) Edison 7, (3) Bishop Ahr 2
- 2002: (3) South Brunswick 4, (1) Piscataway 2 (9 innings)
- 2012: (3) Middlesex 10, (1) Sayreville 4
- 2019: (1) Old Bridge 2, (3) South Brunswick 1
- 2023: (3) St. Joseph 2, (1) North Brunswick 0
It’s always someone new, lately…
The GMC Tournament has had only five repeat champions in its history, and several came in a stretch where Edison won four straight titles, the first of which came in 1992, and the Eagles defended in 1993, 1994 and 1995.
They also won back-to-back titles in 1998 and ’99, while St. Joseph won in 2008 and 2009. But no one has won back-to-back titles since, and it won’t happen this year, since St. Joe’s – last year’s champ – was bounced in the Round of 16.
Pitching rules, lately:
In the first 28 GMC Tournament finals, the two teams averaged 8.7 runs a game. Winning teams had scored 10 runs or more five times.
But in the last ten years – nine seasons because of COVID – the two finals teams have averaged just 2.1 runs per game, scoring a grand total of 19 runs in nine games.
There have been four 1-0 games, in that stretch. Nobody has scored more than four runs or won by more than two runs, with seven of the ten decided by a single run. Although, the last three have been two-run games.
Two of those nine finals have gone to extra innings.
Rematch in the Finals:
Old Bridge has won two GMC Tournament titles in program history (Cedar Ridge and Madison Central each won a GMCT crown in the ’80s before their 1994 merger) and South Plainfield has one.
But the two teams met in the 2011 title game. In that one, second-seed Old Bridge topped fourth-seed South Plainfield 3-2. That was after the state tournament, in June, and was the last game for both teams, with the Knights finishing 18-10; the Tigers were 21-9.
Old Bridge was knocked out in the first round of the Central Jersey Group 4 state tournament that year by Hillsborough, while South Plainfield got as far as the semifinals in North 2, Group 3, losing to Mendham.
The 1-2 Combo…
Hat tip to GMC President Mike Pede for asking us this question, which sent us down one of the shorter rabbit holes we’ve ever been on: Has the GMC ever had the same teams in the baseball and softball finals in the same year?
The answer is a resounding no. Well, until this year. Both South Plainfield and Old Bridge are competing this weekend for the softball title – Saturday at noon at Woodbridge High School – and baseball. The Tiger softball team is 19-4 and has the two-seed. The Knights are 17-4 and are the top-seed.
In the 37-year history of the GMC Conference, there have only been two seasons in which the same teams have won the softball and baseball tournaments. In 1993, Edison won the baseball title with a 12-3 victory over JFK, while the Eagle softball team beat JP Stevens 5-1. And three years later, Bishop Ahr’s softball team won the title with a 2-1 win over Piscataway, while the Trojans’ baseball team beat Edison 4-3 in 13 innings.
GMC Finals History:
- 1986: (12) East Brunswick 14, (7) Madison Central 3 (no ten-run rule)
- 1987: (10) Cedar Ridge 2, (16) Colonia 1
- 1988: (2) Carteret 4, (13) JP Stevens 2 (11 innings)
- 1989: (1) Madison Central 8, (6) Cedar Ridge 7 (8 innings)
- 1990: (1) Edison 9, (10) South Plainfield 3
- 1991: (7) East Brunswick 6, (1) South Plainfield 5
- 1992: (1) Edison 1, (7) Bishop Ahr 0
- 1993: (1) Edison 12, (2) JFK 3
- 1994: (1) Edison 10, (3) Monroe 3
- 1995: (1) Edison 5, (6) Piscataway 3
- 1996: (2) Bishop Ahr 4, (1) Edison 3 (13 innings)
- 1997: (3) East Brunswick 3, (5) JFK 2
- 1998: (1) Edison 2, (11) East Brunswick 1
- 1999: (1) Edison 7, (3) Bishop Ahr 2
- 2000: (17) Woodbridge 7, (2) JFK 1
- 2001: (2) Edison 4, (13) Spotswood 1
- 2002: (3) South Brunswick 4, (1) Piscataway 2 (9 innings)
- 2003: (1) Piscataway 9, (10) East Brunswick 5
- 2004: (1) St. Joseph 6, (6) Carteret 0
- 2005: (2) East Brunswick 8, (1) St. Joseph 1
- 2006: (5) St. Joseph 11, (6) South Amboy 0 (5 inn., mercy rule, walk-off grand slam)
- 2007: (1) Spotswood 7, (11) JP Stevens 6
- 2008: (10) St. Joseph 3, (4) Old Bridge 2
- 2009: (1) St. Joseph 6, (7) North Brunswick 0
- 2010: (6) South Brunswick 9, (16) North Brunswick 2
- 2011: (2) Old Bridge 3, (4) South Plainfield 2
- 2012: (3) Middlesex 10, (1) Sayreville 4
- 2013: (7) JFK 4, (9) Monroe 2
- 2014: (4) St. Joseph 1, (6) South Plainfield 0 (walk-off bases loaded walk)
- 2015: (2) Monroe 1, (8) Sayreville 0 (8 innings)
- 2016: (2) East Brunswick 1, (9) JP Stevens 0
- 2017: (1) St. Joseph 1, (6) Monroe 0
- 2018: (14)South Plainfield 2, (12) Perth Amboy 1 (12 innings)
- 2019: (1) Old Bridge 2, (3) South Brunswick 1
- 2020: NO SEASON – COVID
- 2021: (2) St. Joseph 2, (5) South Brunswick 0
- 2022: (6) North Brunswick 4, (1) St. Joseph 2
- 2023: (3) St. Joseph 2, (1) North Brunswick 0
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