Seeding the Somerset County Tournament: How will coaches vote Monday night??

Well, that was fast!

It seemed like a sprint through the high school baseball regular season, and while some games remain in between and around the county and state tournaments – since some will have byes and others will get knocked out early – it’s time to seed the county playoffs, and first up is Somerset County, this Monday.

Central Jersey Sports Radio will have complete coverage of the seeding meeting, with our entire Somerset County Tournament coverage presented once again by Zoned Sports Academy of Bridgewater.

There are 14 teams in Somerset County, and it’s a unique event because all those teams are scattered about the Skyland Conference, whose other teams hail from Hunterdon and Warren Counties. Those teams play in the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament.

And it makes for some uneven comparisons, to be sure. For example, Watchung Hills is 9-5 overall in 14 games, but had played nine against Somerset County opponents, going 8-1. But Manville, which is also 9-5 overall, has only played three games against county competition, and is 2-1. Those two wins came against Bound Brook, the only other Somerset County team in their division – the Skyland Raritan – and those are the only two county games the Crusaders have played.

The seeding is determined by the coaches, each of whom vote, with points tallied, and the teams arranged in order. The coaches can appeal their seeding, one place at a time. For example, if Team A was seeded ninth and they believe they should have been eighth instead of Team B, the coach of Team A makes his case to the group. Team B gets a chance to defend their seed, then the coaches vote, and a simple majority rules. If Team A loses, it stays where it is. If Team A wins, they move up, and can appeal again, if they wish.

Some appeals are successful, some are not. Sometimes there are no appeals, as happened in the girls’ seeding this past winter. And sometimes it’s an easy one. In one appeal on the boys’ side this year, the higher seeded coach agreed they should have been lower, and the appeal was granted.

Since there are no “rules” as to the voting – for example, in the GMC, a team can’t be seeded higher than a team above it in the standings, regardless of head-to-head results – and it’s all up to the coaches, it can sometimes be difficult to predict. But here’s our take.

First, here’s a look at the standings of teams from Somerset County, by division, including their overall and division records, as well as their record against other teams in the county. A few have games still to be played Monday afternoon before the seeding meeting, while Ridge is scheduled to host New Providence at TD Bank Park in Bridgewater at 5 pm Sunday.

With nobody undefeated, especially in the lower divisions, and the Delaware considered the top division, one looks at Ridge and Immaculata – the Skyland Delaware Co-Champions – for the top seed. Here are a few notes:

• Ridge has four more wins overall, and one fewer loss than Immaculata, but they did split this season. The Spartans won the first matchup 10-4, but the Red Devils pitched an 8-0 shutout in the rematch, outscoring Immaculata 12-10 in the two games.
• The teams are co-champions in the Skyland Delaware, one of the toughest divisions in the state.
• Ridge has more wins against Somerset County opponents, 8 to 5, but they also have two county losses, while Immaculata has just one. Each team lost one to the other, but Ridge’s second Somerset County loss is to defending SCT champ Bridgewater-Raritan, which is 5-11 overall, 4-6 in the division, and just 1-6 vs. Somerset County foes. (The Panthers, for the record, started the season 0-6 but have won three of their last four.)
• Ridge is ranked No. 16 in the NJ.com state Top 20, while Immaculata is in the “Under Consideration” category, but not ranked.

A few coaches we talked to also seemed to lean toward Ridge, so with all of the above, we believe the Red Devils will get the top seed, followed by Immaculata.

The next question is who does the three-seed go to? You’ve got a good Watchung Hills team at 9-5 overall, Raritan Division champions, and 8-1 against Somerset opponents, and Rutgers Prep at 10-4, Valley Division champs, and a 6-2 record against the county. We’re going to go with Watchung Hills here, followed by Rutgers Prep to round out the top four.

The next few teams could be Bridgewater-Raritan (5-11) and Hillsborough (7-8) – who are in that order in the division even though the Raiders beat the Panthers twice head-to-head – as well as Manville (9-5). Somerville (8-6) and Franklin (5-7) split, but the Warriors are ahead of them in the Raritan Division.

We think Hillsborough will go next at five, and be followed by Bridgewater-Raritan, despite just the five wins, due in large part to the strength of schedule in the division. Remember, it’s coaches voting, and we think there’s some respect there, especially as they heat up later in the season. We think the coaches will put them higher based not simply on body of work, but potential.

Keep in mind, Rutgers Prep was 1-6 at the time the 2023 SCT was seeded, and they ran the table with upsets to win the championship.

The rest can get dicey with not much to consider apples to apples and oranges to oranges here. We’ll go with Franklin at seven, followed by Somerville at eight, being among the larger schools. (While Somerville has an extra county win out of division, it came against Pingry.) Then, it can be tricky with Manville (9-5), Bernards (7-8) and Gill St. Bernard’s (8-7). We’re going to predict Bernards at nine, Manville at ten and Gill at eleven.

That leaves the last three seeds, which we believe will go to Montgomery (3-11, Pingry (2-13) and Bound Brook (1-11).

Here are our predictions, top to bottom:

1. Ridge (13-3)
2. Immaculata (9-4)
3. Watchung Hills (9-5)
4. Rutgers Prep (10-4)
5. Hillsborough (7-8)
6. Bridgewater-Raritan (7-8)
7. Franklin (5-7)
8. Somerville (8-6)
9. Manville (9-5)
10. Bernards (7-8)
11. Gill St. Bernard’s (8-7)
12. Montgomery (3-11)
13. Pingry (2-13)
14. Bound Brook (1-11)

Here’s the schedule for each round of the tournament:

• First Round: Wednesday, May 7 at higher seeds (some games may be played other days due to conflicts with previously-scheduled matchups)
• Second Round: Monday, May 12 at higher seeds
• Quarterfinals: Wednesday, May 14 at higher seeds
• Semifinals: Monday, May 19 at TD Bank Park, 1 and 4 pm (on CJSR)
• Finals: Wednesday, May 21 at TD Bank Park, 6 pm (on CJSR)
• Finals Rain Date: Friday, May 23 at TD Bank Park