It’s not much of a surprise that either third-seed Old Bridge or nine-seed Monroe will play Saturday for the Jim Muldowney GMC Tournament Championship.
Just about anyone from the Red Division in the Greater Middlesex Conference (and others, too) would have been a worthy participant in one game to determine conference supremacy.
But when they do play Saturday for the title at Ray Cipperly Field in East Brunswick, it will be a unique situation, and different for both teams.
Years ago, the GMC decided to move its tournament up earlier in the calendar, so the finals would not me in the middle of the NJSIAA state tournament. Bun rain all last weekend prevented that from happening, and the game got rescheduled to Saturday, May 30th.
Old Bridge, meanwhile, earned a top-seed in Central Jersey Group 4, and Monroe got the five-seed. Had it worked out, both could have been facing each other again next week in the semifinals. But while the Knights won their semi Friday against Freehold Twp., 8-0, Monroe fell 10-2 at Hightstown.
Now, the two teams enter in much different situations.
Old Bridge is coming off a playoff win, and will “break” for the GMC final, then have to shift back into “one-and-done” mode next Wednesday, and hope they don’t have to go too deep into their bullpen Saturday. Monroe has it’s top two pitchers both available in Ben Faigin – who will get the start – and Andre Love, with nothing to save them for. This is the end of the line.
With that, here’s a look at the 2026 GMC championship.
2026 JIM MULDOWNEY GMC CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT FINALS AT-A-GLANCE
Teams:
(3) Old Bridge Knights (20-8, 9-5, 2nd place in the GMC Red)
(9) Monroe Falcons (14-14, 6-8, 5th place in the GMC Red)
Date and Time: Saturday, May 30 at noon (pregame 12:40)
Location: TD Bank Park, Bridgewater
Weather: 66, mix of sun and clouds, NW wind (across the diamond from right to left) at 20 mph, gusts 33 mph
Listen On: Central Jersey Sports Radio
Watch On: Our YouTube Channel
Announcers: Mike Pavlichko & Justin Sontupe
Head Coaches:
Old Bridge: Matt Donaghue (9th year, 8th season, 138-91, GMCT champs in 2019 and 2024)
Monroe: Sean Field (8th year, 7th season, 93-73)
Probable Starters:
Old Bridge: Brady Myer (3-1, 2.93 ERA)
Monroe: Ben Faigin (6-1, 1.18 ERA)
ORIGINAL PREVIEW STORIES:
- Well-balanced, battle-tested Old Bridge set for GMC final – whenever it is – seeking second title in three seasons
- Red-hot Faigin, Mangano lead equally red-hot Monroe into GMC Tourney final against even hotter Old Bridge squad
UPDATED INTERVIEWS WITH BOTH HEAD COACHES:
HOW THEY GOT HERE:
Old Bridge:
First Round: def. (14) Sayreville, 1-0
Quarterfinals: def. (6) Woodbridge, 1-0
Semifinals: def. (2) Middlesex, 9-3
Monroe:
First Round: def. (6) Colonia, 9-2
Quarterfinals: def. (1) Edison, 9-1
Semifinals: def. (5) South Plainfield, 1-0
TEAM LEADERS:
Old Bridge:
- Batting Average: Matt Chin (.427), Michael Chiarella, Jared Volpe (.318)
- RBI: Matt Chin (21), Jared Volpe, Adrian Lutomski (14)
- HR: Matt Chin, Michael Chiarella (2), four others with 1
- Walks: Matt Chin (15), Chris Crosta (11)
- Stolen Bases: Chris Crosta (7), Brady Meyer (5)
- Wins: Blake Dunleavy (5), four others with 3
- ERA (min 12 innings): Brady Meyer (1.34), Matt Levitt (2.15)
- Strikeouts (Pitcher): Brady Meyer (42), Blake Dunleavy (40)
Monroe:
- Batting Average:Ben Faigin (.481), Justin Mangano (.427), Alex Marcus (.289)
- RBI: Alex Marcus (23), Ben Faigin (17), Niko Antoniades (15)
- HR: Ben Faigin (2), Robert Profaci (1)
- Walks: Ben Fiagin (21), Michael Cinque (14)
- Stolen Bases: Ben Faigin (21), Justin Mangano (10)
- Wins: Ben Faigin (6), Siddarth Desai, Aadi Shah (3)
- ERA (min 12 innings): Ben Faigin (1.18), Camerron Kappus (2.74)
- Strikeouts (Pitcher): Ben Faigin (74), Andre Love (70)
Team Stats:
- Batting Average: Old Bridge .281, Monroe .270
- Home Runs: Old Bridge 8, Monroe 3
- Stolen Bases: Monroe 58, Old Bridge 18
- Runs Scored: Old Bridge 119, Monroe 119
- Runs Allowed: Monroe 137, Old Bridge 105
- Strikeouts (Pitchers): Monroe 230, Old Bridge 163
PREVIOUS COVERAGE
Old Bridge
- State Playoff Preview: Top-seeds Old Bridge, Middlesex among 19 area teams opening state tourney play in Central Jersey sections
- Old Bridge, Monroe and GMC stuck between turf and a rainy place on Jim Muldowney Championship; how did others handle it?
- NJSIAA releases baseball brackets for state tournament; as expected, Old Bridge, Ridge, Middlesex, Immaculata gain top seeds
- INSTANT REPLAY – GMC Tournament Semifinals: (3) Old Bridge 9, (2) Middlesex 3 (8 inn.)
- After Middlesex forces extras, Old Bridge explodes for three in eighth for 9-3 win, berth in GMCT finals
- It’s Group 1 vs. Group 4, Middlesex battling Old Bridge, in Saturday’s second GMCT semifinal
- Third-seed Old Bridge clicking at the right time heading into Middlesex tussle in Saturday’s GMC Tournament semis
- GMCT Quarterfinal Roundup: Monroe ousts top-seed Edison, Old Bridge wins pitchers duel, Middlesex tops Aquinas, South Plainfield holds off Metuchen
- Top teams roll on again in Week Three, but bottom-half turmoil brings Old Bridge, Rutgers Prep into Bellamy & Son Paving baseball rankings
- INSTANT REPLAY: Old Bridge 9, No. 7 South Plainfield 3
- Timely hitting, pitching, send Old Bridge past No. 7 South Plainfield, 9-3, and put Knights ahead of Tigers in GMC Red
- As GMC Red beats each other up, Old Bridge and South Plainfield tussle in Friday matchup at Fred Cole Field
Monroe
- State Playoff Preview: Top-seeds Old Bridge, Middlesex among 19 area teams opening state tourney play in Central Jersey sections
- Old Bridge, Monroe and GMC stuck between turf and a rainy place on Jim Muldowney Championship; how did others handle it?
- INSTANT REPLAY – GMC Tournament Semifinals: (9) Monroe 1, (5) South Plainfield 0
- Faigin’s one-hit gem, Mangano’s double in 7th send Monroe past South Plainfield in GMCT semifinals
- Battle-tested GMC Red foes South Plainfield, Monroe set to go in first GMCT semifinal Saturday
- Ninth-seed Monroe seeks its highest point of rollercoaster season, trip to title game in GMC Tourney semifinals
- GMCT Quarterfinal Roundup: Monroe ousts top-seed Edison, Old Bridge wins pitchers duel, Middlesex tops Aquinas, South Plainfield holds off Metuchen
- Nine-seed Monroe upsets top-seed Edison in dominant road victory, advances to GMC semifinals
- GMCT Recap: Monroe knocks off Colonia in only first round upset, as seven other higher seeds advance
- No. 5 Monroe goes on the attack early, hangs on to stun state-ranked Red Bank Catholic, 5-2, in Autism Awareness Challenge; plus all weekend Challenge scores
NOTES AND NUGGETS:
New blood, again….
Even though both schools have won a GMC Tournament title in the last decade or so – Monroe in 2015, Old Bridge in 2029 and 2023 – this will be the third straight year the defending champion failed to make the finals.
St. Joseph-Metuchen made it back in 2022 after beating South Brunswick the year before, and North Brunswick beat the Falscons in 2022, then got back in 2023 – and lost again to St. Joe’s.
But the finals saw two different teams in 2024 – Old Bridge and South Plainfield – while last year’s title game featured St. Joe’s (in its third trip in four years) against Edison.
This year, same deal: St. Joe’s came in as the 12-seed and lost their opening round game to fifth-seed South Plainfield, 2-1. Edison was the top-seed, but after a 10-0 victory over 17-seed and Gold Division champ Piscataway Magnet in the first round, lost 9-1 to ninth-seed Monroe in the quarterfinals.
How will the seeds fare?
While the nine-seed in the tournament last reached the title game in 2016, when JP Stevens lost to second-seed East Brunswick, 1-0, you don’t have to go too far back to find an even lower-seeded team that made the finals. Edison made it as an 11-seed last year, and lost to fifth-seed St. Joseph-Metuchen, 7-4, on a walk-off grand slam by JP Zayle.
The lowest seed ever to win the GMC Tournament was Woodbridge, 26 years ago. The Barrons were the 17-seed and knocked off second-seed JFK, 7-1.
The nine-seed is 0-2 in the finals all-time. Besides the Hawks, mentioned above, Monroe also was a nine-seed when they made the finals in 2013, but lost to seven-seed JFK, 4-2, for Kennedy’s only title ever, in four trips to the finals.
- 2013: (7) JFK 4, (9) Monroe 2 (top-seed Middlesex, Blue Div.)
- 2016: (2) East Brunswick 1, (9) JP Stevens 0 (top-seed Monroe, White)
The third-seed has fared better, going 5-3, with wins coming in 1997, 2002, 2012, and twice since COVID, in 2023 and 2024. Old Bridge won it as a three-seed in 2024, and also beat a three-seed. That came in 2019, when the Knights were the No. 1 seed and beat third-seed South Brunswick, 2-1, Donaghue’s first title in just his second season at Old Bridge
- 1994: (1) Edison 10, (3) Monroe 3
- 1997: (3) East Brunswick 3, (5) JFK 2
- 1999: (1) Edison 7, (3) Bishop Ahr 2
- 2002: (3) South Brunswick 4, (1) Piscataway 2 (9 innings)
- 2012: (3) Middlesex 10, (1) Sayreville 4
- 2019: (1) Old Bridge 2, (3) South Brunswick 1
- 2023: (3) St. Joseph 2, (1) North Brunswick 0
- 2024: (3) Old Bridge 6, (1) South Plainfield 5
Big Schools….
While the NJSIAA only classifies teams by size into four groups in baseball, football is divided into five, with Group 5 being the largest schools. And this will be the first time since 2019 two “Group 5” football schools have made the finals. That year, the Knights were the top-seed and beat third-seed South Brunswick, 2-1, for Matt Donaghue’s first of two championships as Old Bridge head coach.
St. Joseph spoiled that party by making four of five GMC finals since COVID, but the one year it was two public schools, in 2024, it was third-seed Old Bridge (Group 5) over top-seed South Plainfield (Group 3 in baseball and football) by a 6-5 score.
Parallels…
Last year, St. Joseph-Metuchen won the GMC Tournament without ever having led for a single pitch of any of its four games, from the first round through the finals. They won their first two games 1-0, both in extra innings, then walked off Spotswood in the semifinals and beat Edison for the title on a first-pitch grand slam by JP Zayle.
While Old Bridge hasn’t been that dramatic, their games have kept their fans ont he edge of their seats. They even won their first two games by 1-0 scores in this year’s tournament, and the second was in extra innings. In the first round against Sayreville, they won 1-0 with their run coming in the fourth. In the quarters, Eric Schnickschneit drove in Jared Volpe with a single in the bottom of the eighth to win it.
And while they didn’t walk-off Middlesex in the semifinals two Saturdays ago, Middlesex trailed 3-0 going into their final at bat, and tied it with three in the seventh, but Old Bridge came back and scored six in the top of the seventh to take a 9-3 lead, holding Middlesex scoreless in the bottom of the inning to take the win.
CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY (wins in bold)
Old Bridge (3-1):
- 2008: (10) St. Joseph 3, (4) Old Bridge 2
- 2011: (2) Old Bridge 3, (4) South Plainfield 2
- 2019: (1) Old Bridge 2, (3) South Brunswick 1
- 2024: (3) Old Bridge 6, (1) South Plainfield 5
Monroe (1-3):
- 1994: (1) Edison 10, (3) Monroe 3
- 2013: (7) JFK 4, (9) Monroe 2
- 2015: (2) Monroe 1, (8) Sayreville 0 (8 innings)
- 2017: (1) St. Joseph 1, (6) Monroe 0
Note: Old Bridge was comprised of Madison Central and Cedar Ridge prior to the 1994 merger. Their combined histories are below. Each team made two appearances in the finals, with one win each.
- 1986: (12) East Brunswick 14, (7) Madison Central 3
- 1987: (10) Cedar Ridge 2, (16) Colonia 1
- 1989: (1) Madison Central 8, (6) Cedar Ridge 7 (8 innings)
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