UPDATE: Rain forces GMC to move Jim Muldowney Championship quarterfinals to Thursday at local schools due to rain; Cipperly Invitational first round now Thursday as well

As expected, the Greater Middlesex Conference has postponed Wednesday’s quarterfinals in the Jim Muldowney Championship Tournament. At first, the league moved those games to Thursday, but kept them at North Brunswick Community Park.

But Wednesday evening, GMC officials announced that Community’s fields would be unplayable, and the games are moving to local schools.

Meanwhile, the three first-round games of the Ray Cipperly Invitational – all at higher seeds – have all been moved to Thursday, with second round games initially scheduled for Thursday now set for Friday, meaning the teams that advance will play back-to-back.

GMC President Mike Pede made the initial announcement on the Championship Tournament just before 10 am Wednesday, after heavy rain at times Tuesday, overnight, and Wednesday morning.

The Weather Channel forecast for achance of showers Thursday, with the.peraturea around 70. While it might not be ideal for baseball, the schedule is a tough one with the semifinals set for Saturday, although there’s a good chance of thunderstorms that day. And it’s good enough to play on turf, which looks to be the case for at least three of the four games.

Meanwhile, all Somerset County Tournament quarterfinal games Wednesday – which were to be played at higher seeds – are now at Diamond Nation in Flemington.

Here’s the updated schedule for all three tournaments, as of Wednesday evening:

JIM MULDOWNEY GMC CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT
Quarterfinals

(5) St. Joseph-Metuchen vs (13) Metuchen, 4;30 pm at Diamond Nation, Flemington.
(16) South River at (8) Spotswood, 4 pm (Listen Live on CJSR)
(2) South Plainfield vs (10) Middlesex, 5 pm at North Plainfield HS (Follow Alec Crouthamel on Twitter for updates)
(3) St. Thomas Aquinas at (11) Edison, 4 pm

RAY CIPPERLY GMC INVITATIONAL
First Round at Higher Seeds

(9) Highland Park at (8) Piscataway Magnet, winner at (1) JP Stevens on Friday
(11) Timothy Christian at (6) Dunellen, winner at (3) East Brunswick Magnet on Friday
(10) Perth Amboy Magnet at (7) Somerset Tech, winner at (2) North Brunswick on Friday

Note: The top five seeds have byes, and the fourth quarterfinal game on Friday will feature (5) New Brunswick at (4) Piscataway.