Power Points Analysis: East Brunswick, Bridgewater-Raritan big gainers in Central, North 2 Group 4 playoff chase

We’re now two weeks before the NJSIAA cutoff for the state high school baseball tournament, and Central Jersey Sports Radio has another closer look at how area teams stand in the playoff chase.

We’ll have a look at Central and North 2 sections in Group 4 today, with more to follow through the weekend.

For a detailed look at how power points are calculated under the NJSIAA’s new formula for 2025, click here to read our explanation. Our analysis is based on NJ.com’s standings as of noon on May 2, 2025.

Central Jersey Group 4: The top two are still Hunterdon Central (9-4, 22.414) and Hightstown (12-2, 20.743), but East Brunswick made a big push in the week gone by, jumping from seventh to third, getting a big boost from a 6-5 win over 11-5 South Plainfield Thursday afternoon. Old Bridge (9-7, 19.331) went 2-2 since our last update, and stays right where we left them, in fourth, while New Brunswick – which hasn’t lost since our last look at them, fell after two wins over Perth Amboy Magnet (3-9) and one each over Timothy Christian (0-10) and Highland Park (2-10). Those didn’t help their power point situation, so despite a 10-1 record, they are at 18.86 power points.

Monroe (6-9, 15.764) dropped a spot to seventh, while Edison (6-9, 14.982) holds in eighth, and Hillsborough (6-8, 14.854) holds in ninth. All have a good shot to finish in the top eight and get at least a first-round home game, and it’s possible all of them do just that. Further down, Sayreville (6-8, 12.466) still looks like they’ll make it. Franklin (5-6, 11.301) gained more than three power points in the past week and is now up from 15 to 13, but Montgomery (3-11, 10.198) slipped to 17th, despite also gaining around three points; other teams simply passed them. South Brunswick got on the right side of the bubble, despite a 2-13 record and an 0-3 week, with 10.599 power points, but North Brunswick (1-11) faded down to No. 19.

North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4: Despite two losses to South Plainfield since we last looked at Woodbridge, the GMC Red Division champs are still 11-3 and have taken over the top spot by less than a point over Ridge, 23.045 to 22.338. The Red Devils are 12-3, taking their third loss of the season Thursday, a defeat to Hunterdon Central that leaves them as Skyland Conference Delaware Division co-champs with Immaculata. These two could easily change in the next two weeks, and Westfield (9-4, 21.741) and Elizabeth (12-4, 20.623) aren’t far behind.

The next team down the list from the CJSR area is Bridgewater-Raritan, which has come on stronger the last few weeks after a rough start. The Panthers are still just 5-10 (16.47 points) but could very well end up in the top eight. They jumped four places this week to seventh from eleventh, and that’s what happens when you have few wins to begin with: every win makes a big impact. It may be difficult to move up too much more, but they’re on a run, indeed. Watchung Hills (8-5, 15.686) is right behind them at No. 8, down one place this week.

JP Stevens (5-10, 11.411) is next up at 13, same as last week, with Piscataway (3-10, 10.999) dropping from 12 to 14, still on the right side of the bubble. Perth Amboy, meanwhile, won two more games since our last update, tripling its win total prior, and moved up one more notch to 17th. A couple more wins and they could sneak in this section.

We’ll have additional analysis of Groups 3, 2 and 1 this weekend.