Through first week – and them some – these high school baseball teams have started the season red hot

The high school baseball season is already a week old, though a few got started a little earlier than most, but more than a few have started the 2026 campaign red hot.

Some were expected, others have turned out to be pleasant surprises.

And that could juggle our first in-season Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten, the Week One edition of which comes out Monday morning.

Here’s a look at who’s gotten the season off to a great start after the first week or so or play in the Central Jersey Sports Radio coverage area, with a minimum of three games played..

GREATER MIDDLESEX CONFERENCE

Red Division

• Edison: The Eagles are 3-0, and may have had the most success with the toughest opening schedule of all. It was their pitching that helped lock down their season-opening series with Central Jersey Group 4 finalist Old Bridge, picking up 5-2, and 2-1 wins last week. Of course, that’s no surprise looking at who Edison has on the mound: three D1 commits including Robert Roma (Wagner) and Connor Murphy (Monmouth) – who pitched against the Knights, and Dom Innocenti (Wagner) who went four solid innings against South Plainfield in a 5-4, eight-inning home win Saturday afternoon. But the bats can do good stuff, too. Murphy is one of then, already 4-for-8 on the year with two doubles, while Isaiah Lutz is hitting .444 with a double and two RBIs, both of which came against the Tigers, and the last of which walked it off with two outs and the bases loaded Saturday. The Eagles are back at it Tuesday at South Plainfield, then play equally red-hot Monroe (3-0) at home Thursday and away Saturday.
• Monroe (3-0): The Falcons (3-0) already are a third of the way to their win total from last year, when they went 9-13. And they’ve got two wins over East Brunswick – a series sweep with 10-7 and 5-2 wins – plus a Saturday road victory, 6-2, over defending GMC Tournament champion St. Joseph-Metuchen. In the second win over the bears, junior Ben Faigin pitched five no-hit innings before being lifted and got the win. (Don’t forget, it’s early yet, and some pitchers the first few weeks are on fairly strict pitch counts from their coaches.) Faigin is also doing it at the plate, going 6-for-8 in the first three games with three runs batted in, and he’s walked four times, stealing seven bases already. It’s Monroe’s best start since 2022. The Falcons will close their home-and-home in Monroe Tuesday when St. Joe’s visits, before they play a Thursday/Saturday home-and-home with Edison.
• South Plainfield: Despite a 5-4 loss in extras at Edison on Saturday, the Tigers are 2-1, and those two wins are nothing to sneeze at. South Plainfield crushed St. Joseph in Metuchen on Tuesday in the season opener, 11-1, then took a 6-2 decision at home on Thursday. Aiden McCarthy pitched the full five innings of Tuesday’s ten-run rule game, allowing just four hits and one earned run, while striking out five, and sophomore Andrew Bena, who blew up on the basketball court this winter, continued to shine on the pitchers’ mound in game two, throwing 6 1/3 and allowing just three hits and two earned runs while striking out eight. McCarthy and Dom Massaro also are tearing the cover off the ball, hitting .455 and .500, respectively, with McCarthy knocking in four runs, while the speedster Massaro – an outstanding football player, and the CJSR Special Teams Returner of the Year in 2025 – has four stolen bases already.

White Division

• Middlesex: The defending state Group 1 champions and GMCT Final Four team swept Spotswood two games last week, 6-1 on Tuesday at home, 12-1 at “The Swamp” on Thursday, then beat Perth Amboy at home on Saturday, 4-2 to start the season at 3-0. Their two main arms are back this year, Chris Kozak for his senior year and Dominic Long for his junior campaign, and both got wins against the Chargers, with Kozak going the distance, Long going seven, with only Kozak allowing a single earned run. Then they got a solid outing from Dylan Ianiero for the win Saturday allowing four hits and just two unearned runs in six innings pitched. That means the Blue Jays have allowed just one earned run in three wins to start the year. Not too shabby. And, Middlesex is hitting .333 as a team, getting balance from up and down the lineup. Ianiero and Long are both hitting .571 (4-for-7) on the year, with Long also knocking in three runs and walking four times, while Sean Hughes has four runs batted in. After the series finale with the Panthers in the Bay City Tuesday, the Jays get South Brunswick at home, then away, in a Thursday-Saturday two-game set.
• South Brunswick: New head coach and veteran GMC skipper Lou Urbano has brought a new mindset to the Vikings, and so far, all is looking good at 3-0. They scored a combined 21 runs in their season-opening series against Perth Amboy, which included a 13-2 home win Tuesday, and a n 8-6 road win Thursday. Then, it was a pitchers’ duel Saturday as the Vikings beat Sayreville at home, 1-0, behind four no-hit, shutout innings from starter Collin Perna in his second start of the season. The senior also got the win in Game One against Amboy, and in 8 2/3 innings pitched, has 14 Ks, six walks, and has allowed just three hits and one earned run. The Vikings close out the series with the Bombers in Sayreville Tuesday, before opening a road-home set with Middlesex Thursday and Saturday.

Blue Division

• Carteret: Off to its best start since 2023, when they went 5-0, the Ramblers have won their first four, sweeping a pair from GMC Invitational finalist East Brunswick Magnet – 4-3 and 12-6 – then picking up a 13-8 win at North Plainfield Thursday, and am 11-1 non-conference win over Long Branch Saturday. As a team, Carteret is in mid-season form at the plate, hitting a scorching .365 as a group, with seven regulars hitting almost .290 or better. Junior Miles Ferreiras is hitting .533 (8-of-15) with six runs batted in, while freshman outfielder/pitcher Jose Parra has knocked in eight. Their pitching is on the younger side, too, with soph Jayden Luciano throwing two scoreless innings at EB Magnet Wednesday, then going the distance in the five-inning mercy-rule win over Long Branch, allowing just two hits and one earned run, while striking out ten. They finish up the home-and-home with North Plainfield Monday afternoon, then open a two game set with South River on the road Wednesday, and home Thursday.

SOMERSET COUNTY

Skyland Conference, Delaware Division

• Immaculata: A home-and-home sweep of Hillsborough – 3-0 in their opener on the road Tuesday, then 3-0 again at home Thursday – plus a 5-3 win over West Essex – a North 2, Group 2 semifinalist a year ago – has the Spartans 3-0 after the first week of play. They’re not exactly tearing the cover off the ball – yet – but the pitching has dominated in the early going, allowing just the three runs to West Essex. Immaculata is off for Spring Break this week, then gets back into action with two against Bridgewater-Raritan the week after – home Tuesday at Diamond Nation and just up the road in Bridgewater Thursday, before an 11 am non-conference game Saturday morning against Delsea, which opens its season this week.
• Ridge: The Red Devils are 3-0 after a trio of wins over all different teams last week. They opened Tuesday with a 7-4 non-league win at West Morris, then came “home” Thursday and beat Montgomery 11-1 out at Diamond Nation in Flemington, before getting past Rutgers Prep Saturday in Basking Ridge 4-0. There are some new names on the mound, as Dimitri Romer got the win against West Morris, while Matt Brievogel and Dillon Henderson picked up league wins; all three are juniors. At the plate, Ridge is hitting .299 as a team, but they’ve also worked out 17 walks in three games, adding in six hit batsmen. Four games are on tape this week, including a league home and home with Hunterdon Central Tuesday and Thursday, bookended by a non-conference home game against Randolph Monday and a Saturday morning visit to Warren Hills.