Woodbridge’s Gavin Slicner is Central Jersey Sports Radio GMC Player of the Year after star-studded senior season

Sometimes in high school baseball, you see a stat that makes you rub your eyes to make sure you read it right.

Woodbridge shortstop Gavin Slicner could’ve wrote a whole book of those in his senior year.

The Barrons’ leadoff batter put up a stellar senior campaign and is the winner of the 2026 Central Jersey Sports Radio GMC Player of the Year.

Slicner had already put up a solid junior campaign, but came into his senior year with a determination to build and get even better for his follow-up.

The shortstop put up eye-popping offensive numbers as a senior, batting .517 on the year (including a .966 slugging percentage), with 12 extra-base hits and nine home runs, all team-highs. And even after doing the damage with his bat, Slicner was still a threat on the basepaths with 26 stolen bases to lead Woodbridge.

And the numbers weren’t of the empty kind at all. Slicner came through in countless big spots as a clutch hitter, with plenty of his 32 RBIs playing big roles in Barrons victories.

Comparing his junior and senior seasons, he raised his batting average – already at a solid .400 mark – by over 100 points, added 14 more RBIs, and hit six more home runs.

And while this is print, what we can’t show you is all the defensive gems he turned in at shortstop.

Slicner played a big role leading a veteran-laden Woodbridge squad, with an extremely strong senior class, flanked by standouts such as Xavier Diaz, Kevin Arroyo, Michael Gurovich, and Billy Mansfield. It was a tight-knit group, one that had played alongside each other since their younger days in Little League, and they helped the Barrons win plenty of games.

They made the North 2, Group 4 semifinals twice and the quarterfinals once, and two GMC Tournament quarterfinals. That included a sectional quarterfinal appearance this year, where tenth-seeded Woodbridge knocked off seven-seed Scotch Plains-Fanwood, and nearly took down second-seeded Bayonne on the road.

And the Barrons relied on Slicner plenty in that first-round win over Raiders, as he clubbed an insurance home run in the seventh as part of a three-hit, three-RBI day.

In the end, Slicner and his fellow veteran teammates put together a strong run of Woodbridge baseball to look back fondly on.

The righty shortstop won’t be veering too far away for his next step, either. Slicner will head to Edison to play baseball at Middlesex College after graduation. The Colts finished off a strong 38-17 year, making it to the NJCAA Region 19 / District Final Four Series.

They also featured two former Barrons, as well, in pitchers Drew Lukachyk and Eddy Nunez, as all three played together in 2023. Middlesex boasted 15 former GMC players on its 2026 roster, and will bring in the best of the conference this upcoming season.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel talk with CJSR GMC Player of the Year Gavin Slicner from Woodbridge

HONORABLE MENTIONS

• Connor Murphy, Edison: The Monmouth-bound senior had an ERA you’d need a microscope to see: 0.54, while going 5-1 on the season, including a no-hitter on April 14 against St. Joseph-Metuchen. He fanned 83 this year, after striking out 82 last year, and graduates with 207 career whiffs, and an ERA of just 2.05 for his four varsity seasons.
• Grant Lorentzen, JFK: This kid does it all, and not just in baseball. While he was 4-5 as a pitcher despite a 1.97 ERA, he also hit .472 this season. He finished his career with 220 strikeouts and a 1.81 ERA over four seasons, while also logging 102 hits at the plate. And as an impressive side note, he was also a thousand-point scorer in basketball – finishing with 1,246 points – and finished his football career as a two-thousand yard receiver, with 2,470 yards and 34 touchdowns. He had 1,221 this past season along with 22 TD catches, one of the top single-season totals all-time in New Jersey. He’ll play baseball and football at TCNJ.
• Chris Kozak, Middlesex: While Kozak and junior Dominic Long were really starters 1a and 1b this year – and the difference may at times have been microscopic, the senior Kozak gets the nod here. We saw him get his 200th strikeout late in the season against St. Joseph-Metuchen. Kozak was 6-2 this season with a 1.98 ERA, and fanned 76 hitters, a career high.
• Ben Faigin, Monroe: Just a junior, Faigin – who’s committed to Rutgers – was 7-1 this season, winning three GMC Tournament games while allowing just four total hits, including a 9-2 first-round win over Colonia in which he threw an immaculate inning. He also got a 1-0 win over South Plainfield in the semis, and led the 9th-seeded Falcons to a 7-0 victory over Old Bridge in the GMC final; both were one-hit, complete-game efforts.
• Matt Chin, Old Bridge: The senior hit .407 with 22 RBI and two home runs to pace the Knights’ offense this year, helping his team gain a berth in the GMC Tournament and Central Jersey Group 4 finals. He’s also an excellent and smart center fielder.
• Aiden McCarthy, South Plainfield: “The Bull” is a Rutgers commit, and tough as they come. He was 8-2 this past season, always giving his team a chance to win the big game, including an upset of top-seed Chatham in the opening round of the North 2, Group 3 playoffs. McCarthy struck out 74 this season, and had an even 2.00 ERA, while also getting it done at the dish, where he hit .367 – the best of his career – with 28 RBI, ten doubles, and two home runs. He also no-hit Old Bridge in a 4-1 win on April 21.
• Louis Rizzolo, St. Thomas Aquinas: The senior and Marist commit was 8-0 this season, with a 0.90 ERA, and also got it done at the plate, batting .382 with 12 RBI and three home runs. In the state playoffs, he hit a big, early three-run home run at Rutgers Prep in the Non-Public North B semifinals, en route to a 7-3 win and berth in the championship game against St. Mary-Rutherford. A four-year varsity player, he never had an ERA over 1.74 in his final three seasons, and finished with a career 1.49 ERA.