With GMC Gold Division title in hand, Piscataway Magnet seeks perfect division season, a rare occurrence in rest of league

The Piscataway Magnet baseball team claimed its first outright division title this century Monday night – the last one came in 1996 – topping South Amboy 8-2 at home to move to 14-0 on the season, 13-0 in the GMC Gold Division.

This reporter had not yet graduated high school yet.

If the Raiders can finish running the table, they would be the third Gold or Silver Division team (sort of) to do so in the last six seasons. After opening play in the NJATC Tournament against Medford Tech – a 4 pm home game Tuesday – Piscataway Tech will close the division slate with one last game, Wednesday at 4 pm at South Amboy.

The Governors finished 9-0 in the Gold in 2024, but never completed the slate, only playing division foe Somerset Tech once. (Tech fell three games short that year, due to weather.) But South Amboy beat everyone they faced that year in the Gold, and reached the GMC Invitational final, falling to Carteret, ending up 14-5.

East Brunswick Magnet did it in 2021, going 14-0 in their division, finishing 16-6 overall, while Perth Amboy Magnet won the Silver in 2019, going 10-0 in divisional play, ending 16-6 overall.

The last team above the GMC’s Gold/Silver to win a divisional title with a perfect record was Monroe in the GMC White – a notch down from the top Red Division – in 2016, a decade ago. The Falcons finished 10-0 in the white, 15-6 overall, reaching the quarterfinals in both the GMC Tournament and the state’s Central Jersey Group 4 playoffs.

But the one thing none of those teams did was go undefeated, but that could be a real possibility for this Piscataway Magnet club, which has beaten all comers. And they’ve played up, too, picking up a five-inning, ten-run rule win at Group 4 Piscataway, 13-1 back on April 14th.

They’ll further challenge themselves after division play is through, with a home game against North Plainfield on Tuesday, May 5, and a road game at North Brunswick on Thursday, May 7 – both right before the May 8th GMC Tournament seeding meeting.

The top 20 qualify for the Jim Muldowney Championship Tournament, with everyone else going to the Ray Cipperly Invitational, and there’s a good chance the Raiders could make the big tournament.

READ MORE: True team play has powered Piscataway Magnet to record season, but Raiders – the last unbeaten GMC team standing – may be just getting started

They haven’t just won, they’ve dominated. In 14 games, they have scored ten or more runs nine times, and held opponents to under two runs seven times, including four shutouts. Their average margin of victory is 10.5 runs, and they’ve scored 179 times, averaging 12.7 runs per game, allowing 2.2, with a team ERA of 1.14. All but two of their 14 wins have come by six runs or more.

This is also a team with one senior – Michael Schimpf – who has had four at bats, and no senior has taken the mound yet this season. Junior Colton Lyerly has thrown 21 innings without allowing a single run, earned or otherwise.