Author: Mike Pavlichko

by Mike Pavlichko

Watchung Hills football coach Rich Seubert steps down after a decade leading the Warriors

After retiring from football with the New York Giants in his mid-30s with a Super Bowl ring on his finger, Wisconsin native Rich Seubert and his family moved to California for a few years, where he coached a little football at the high school level.

But eventually, he came back to the East Coast, returning to New Jersey, and started coaching the offensive line at Watchung Hills. One year later, in the summer of 2016, he was promoted to head coach.

Now, after ten years, Seubert has stepped down as the program’s mentor. Seubert said in a text message to Central Jersey Sports Radio Saturday morning that it was “just time to move on,” but notes he “loved his time coaching” and said he would continue to be around the area, since his daughter is a freshman at Watchung Hills.

Seubert inherited a 4-6 program from 2015, but the Warriors struggled early on, going 2-8, 4-6, and 0-10 in his first three seasons. Then, things turned around, as Watchung Hills got to .500 at 5-5 in 2019, and went 5-2 in the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.

The Warriors’ best two seasons under his tutelage came in 2022 and 2023. The first of those teams went 7-3, while the ’23 squad went 8-3, with an opening round playoff win over Bridgewater-Raritan, just the program’s second playoff win ever.

In 2023, Seubert was named Somerset County Coach of the Year by the Bill Denny/Rutgers Football Letterwinners Chapter of the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame.

Seubert’s squads finished 41-57 over ten seasons, and Athletic Director Dan Root says Seubert’s impact was felt more than just in terms of wins and losses, and Xs and Os on the football field.

“We were very fortunate to have him as our head coach for as long as we did,” Root told CJSR Saturday morning via text message. “He gave so much to the program, the school and the community, and for that I am incredibly grateful. I know that ultimately whatever he decides to do, he will be successful.”

Suebert was a starter on the Giants’ offensive line in their Cinderella Super Bowl XLII run that culminated with a 17-14 win over New England, the David Tyree “Helmet Catch” game. According to the Giants website, he played in 104 games for Big Blue with 88 starts over nine seasons after joining the team as an undrafted free agent in 2001.

by Mike Pavlichko

Defending North 2, Group 3 champs South Plainfield will have much work to do to repeat after mass graduations in key spots

This time of year, high school baseball teams throughout New Jersey are figuring out who will replace their graduated seniors for the upcoming season. Maybe a pitcher or two here, or a hitter or two there.

South Plainfield will have to face more than most.

Getting some measure of redemption after a tough, late-inning loss to Ramapo in the North 2, Group 3 finals in 2024, the Tigers took the title last season, beating Colonia in the final, with a veteran group.

Now, much of that core is gone.

Of their top four pitchers by innings thrown, three are gone – Kevin Penny, Mike Castagna, and Ryan Balent – while Aiden McCarthy (1.34 ERA in 52 1/2 innings pitched) and Jayden Jiminez (2.29 ERA, 18 1/3 IP) are back.

On defensive alignment, head coach Scott Gleichenhaus will have to replace catcher Steve Studlack, as well as his middle infield combo of shortstop Dan Kapsch (.323, 24 RBI) and second baseman Nick Irizzary (.3878. 17 RBI). His corner infielders, David Butrico in left, Balent in right) are also gone.

Then again, with a real blue collar group, some is bound to step up. McCarthy will be in the lineup everyday at first base if he’s not on the mount, and he hit .297 last year with 25 RBIs to led the team.

And the Tigers also will look to senior Dom Massaro for major contributions and leadership. Massaro, CJSR’s Special Teams Returner of the Year in football, hit .394 last year – best among the regulars – knocked in 20 runs and stole 38 bases, good for No. 2 on the team last season.

Click below to hear South Plainfield head coach Scott Gleichenhaus talk about the Tigers’ upcoming 2026 season with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

by Mike Pavlichko

With three D1 commits in the rotation, veteran Edison staff should help Eagles soar in 2026

Every year, graduation forces a number of high school baseball coaches to search for a new No. 1, or even a No. 2 or No. 3 pitcher. Or maybe even a great bullpen guy.

That’s one problem, on the whole, Edison baseball coach Vinnie Abene won’t have in 2026.

The Eagles did not have a single senior take the mound last year, but they’ll have three on the bump this season who will play for D1 schools when they’re all done wearing red and gold.

Righty Dom Innocenti and lefty Robert Roma will head to Staten Island to play for Wagner, while Connor Muprhy will head to Monmouth.

Enjoy ’em while you can.

The trio combined for more than half the innings thrown by last year’s team, and none had an ERA over three.

Innocenti (.390, 21 RBI, 3 HR) and Roma (.390, 22 RBI, 1 HR) also are the top hitters in the lineup, and a good chunk of the rest are back, too, including second baseman Ray Tavarez (.263, 7 RBI, 2 triples).

The Eagles made the GMC Jim Muldowney Championship Tournament final last season, falling to St. Joseph-Metuchen. And while getting back there is never a guarantee – after all, the Falcons were a five-seed – the GMC Red does certainly make a team battle-tested.

Click below to hear Edison baseball coach Vinnie Abene talk about the Eagle’s upcoming 2026 season:

by Mike Pavlichko

Bridgewater-Raritan looks for bounceback year in 2026 with an experienced group, after major graduation, tough luck losses in 2025

Sometimes, the cyclical nature of public school high school sports is more powerful than any coaching or skill level can overcome.

That was the case in 2025 for the Bridgewater-Raritan baseball team, which was dominant en route to winning the state Group 4 title the year prior with a veteran group that had played together for years.

But so many key players graduated from that squad, and that – coupled with a ton of close losses and some injuries – resulted in a 7-18 campaign in last season, after going 30-3 in 2024.

Gone were big hitters like Matt Fattore, Michael Taylor and Frankie Verano, along with closer Corey Rible, who allowed just just six runs all season over four games out of a total 17 appearances, never taking a loss.

And then, there was the hard luck. The 2025 opener turned out to be a microcosm of things to come. They had their chances against Immaculata at Diamond Nation, but lost 2-1 in a 13-inning game that took over four hours. It was their first of 13 losses – out of a total of 18 – that came by three runs or less. Nine came by two or less, and five were by a single run.

It’s a fine line.

But head coach Max Newill is looking forward to the 2026 season. On the mound, he’ll get back Kellan Komline for his senior season, after throwing 41 innings last year, going 3-1 with a 0.68 earned run average.

At the plate, the Panthers will miss a JR Rosado and a Matthew Lehberger, among others, but Newill trusts there’s enough talent – with another year under their belts – to make an impact in the rough-and-tumble Skyland Conference Delaware Division.

Click below to hear Bridgewater-Raritan baseball coach Max Newill talk about the Panthers’ upcoming 2026 season:

by Mike Pavlichko

After thrilling GMC Tournament run, what can St. Joseph-Metuchen do for an encore? Plenty

You could look all the way back to the mid-80s, and the formation of the Greater Middlesex Conference, but it would be impossible to find a more thrilling run to the GMC Tournament title than St. Joseph-Metuchen had in 2025.

They were the five-seed, and won all four of their games in the tournament in their final at bat. Their lineup never faced a single pitch in the entire run while ahead in the game. And then won it on a walk-off grand slam by senior JP Zayle.

But there’s still more to do for the Falcons: win the GMC Red Division title, and win a sectional and state championship.

All those goals – plus the GMC Tournament – are on the table again for a St. Joe’s squad that will be playing its second year under veteran mentor Dennis McCaffery. He came in after spending nearly 30 years at Cranford, but there, he had elementary schools, middle schools and little league in town where he knew all the kids.

Last season was an exercise in getting to meet and learn about them all.

Now, he jumps in with a group he’s been around for more than a year.

Connor Walker is one of the top senior pitchers back – he only threw 12 innings last year – but there will be some younger arms McCaffery hopes will make an impact, whether they only got a handful of innings on varsity, pitched more on the jayvee squad, or are incoming freshmen.

With the weather in the Northeast during preseason camp, getting even a veteran staff ready to go outdoors often takes a while, sometimes a few weeks into the season.

Which leads us to the offense – which will lose guys like Zayle and Bobby Christensen, also middle infielders – but McCaffery likes having a half-dozen starters back, including left fielder Walter Christian (.333), centerfielder Kris Almanzar (.362), first-baseman Logan Ring (.300, 9 RBI), and third-baseman Owen Krulikowski (305).

Click below to hear St. Joseph-Metuchen head coach Dennis McCaffery talk about the upcoming season for the Falcons with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

by Mike Pavlichko

Ace starter Stieglitz is gone, but Ridge baseball has plenty back to be back in the thick of things again in 2026

Aidan Stieglitz is a special ballplayer. The starter dominated for Ridge last season, going 9-3 in 13 appearances with a 0.77 ERA and 99 strikeouts, and was named the Central Jersey Sports Radio Somerset County Player of the Year.

You don’t just replace a player like that.

But there are enough returnees for the Red Devils that head coach Tom Blackwell is confident his team can be right back in the thick of things this season, even if last year fell just a little bit short.

In 2025, Ridge shared the Skyland Conference Delaware Division title with Immaculata, lost to the Spartans in the Somerset County Tournament title game, and reached the North 2, Group 4 finals, where they lost to Westfield.

Oh, so close, on all three goals for the season. Just missed them.

Now is a chance to make it payoff.

The pitching staff may not exactly be starter by committee, but it might be high school baseball’s version of money ball: using a few different guys – Lucas Liston, Jake Dolan, Casey Kucerka, Dmitri Romer, Andy Yuan – all to get more innings, and maybe combine their production to get what they got last year for Stieglitz.

And hey, with pitch count limits, maybe spreading the pain among opponents will work out even better?

Ridge will enter the season with the No. 3 ranking in the Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten – right behind GMC Tournament champion St. Joseph-Metuchen and Immaculata … and part of the reason why is the offense.

The heaviest hitters in the lineup return, with seniors like Jake Dolan (.429, 25 RBI, 3 HR), Toby Nicholson (.296, 8 RBI) and Dan Rafanello (.417) and the junior Kucerka (.258, 15 RBI) are back, and others will move in and fill in any gaps.

No doubt all hands will need to be on deck. The Spartans aren’t going anywhere, Bridgewater-Raritan is looking at a bounceback year, Hillsborough is coming off a sectional title, and that’s just the Delaware Division.

Ridge was Somerset County’s only team to win 20 ore more games last season, but with a few more this year, they may have to slide over some of that hardware in the trophy case to make room for more.

Click below to hear Ridge baseball coach Tom Blackwell talk about the Red Devils’ upcoming 2026 season with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

by Mike Pavlichko

Defending GMC, SCT champs St. Joseph-Metuchen, Immaculata open season at No. 1, No. 2 in Bellamy & Son Paving preseason Top Ten

It’s never easy to predict how any high school team – in any sport – will do from year-to-year, what with graduation losses and unproven talent. The year before can be a guide, but who knows who a new group will respond, or if a new coach will reignite a program that struggled the year prior.

That said, it’s not where you start, it’s where you finish, and last year’s teams will mainly get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the preseason Bellamy & Son Paving High School Basketball rankings.

Defending GMC Jim Muldowney Tournament Champion St. Joseph-Metuchen will begin the year at No. 1. Though the Falcons (16-7) lose a ton of pitching – more than 134 out of 161 innings pitched by Joseph Barca, Richard Zangara and Domenic Erbafina – the bats may be able to carry them until second-year veteran skipper Dennis McCaffery sees what his young pitching staff has. The Falcons won the GMCT last year as a five seed, taking all four games in their final at bat, and they never led for a single at bat in the entire run.

Last year’s Somerset County Tournament champion holds in second place, Immaculata. At 17-8, they were also Skyland Conference Delaware Division co-champions with Ridge, and they’ll bring back a good amount of pitching. While they lose Rob Sikorski to graduation, their top two pitchers in terms of innings thrown – Jackson Trego and Ryan Auten, both seniors – return.

Ridge checks in at No. 3. Going 20-7 a year ago, the Red Devils lose ace Aidan Stieglitz but have a good chunk of returnees that should keep the Red Devils right in the thick of things, a year after sharing the Skyland Conference Delaware Division title with Immaculata, and reaching both the Somerset County Tournament and NJSIAA North 2, Group 4 finals.

The only Central Jersey Sports Radio-area team to win a state title last year, Middlesex begins the year at No. 4. The Blue Jays (23-5) were a GMC Tournament final four squad, and beat Midland Park to win the NJSIAA Group 1 title, their first since 2021. They bring back all but ten of their 193 innings pitched last year, led by senior Chris Kozak and junior Dominic Long.

Checking in at No. 5 is Edison, which is overflowing with quality pitching. The GMC Tournament runner-up Eagles (17-11) have four Division 1 commits. Pitchers Robert Roma and Dom Innocenti are set with Wagner, while Connor Muprhy is going to Monmouth.

No. 6 is Colonia, which went 23-5 a season ago, falling to South Plainfield in the North 2, Group 3 sectional title game. While Seton Hall-bound Colin Kroner returns to the mound, starter Cory Pascarella is gone to graduation and now playing at Monmouth, as is Matt Fasulo (.289, 19 RBI) at Rutgers-Newark.

At No. 7 is South Plainfield, which took some big graduation losses, including the middle of the infield (Dan Kapsch at short, Nick Irizarry at second). And of four pitchers for the North 2 Group 3 champion Tigers (18-11) who threw at least 15 innings last year and pitchers Kevin Penny, Aiden McCarthy and Mike Castagna are gone, more than three quarters’ of last season’s innings pitched.

Checking in at eight is Hillsborough. The defending Central Jrsey Group 4 champs were 14-11 last season, but lose a ton, including pitchers James Drinkwater, Brayden Fox (also an outfielder) and Krish Patel, as well as hitters like Andrew Advani and catcher Alex Reiling, among others.

In ninth is Old Bridge. The Knights were 18-11 last year as well, and made the Central Jersey Group 4 finals, falling to Hillsborough. They lose two aces in Justin Hascup and John Smith, with Brady Meyer the most experienced pitcher coming back. The lineup may have fewer question marks, but head coach Matt Donaghue always has a deep roster, it’s just a matter of experience.

And checking in at ten, it’s Woodbridge. the Barrons were 18-8 last year and GMC Red Division champs. They’ll take a hit losing pitcher Ryan Leach to graduation, but Kevin Arroyo returns after throwing 63 1/2 innings a year ago, with a 1.11 ERA and 62 strikeouts.

Below is the complete Bellamy & Son Paving 2026 Baseball Preseason Top Ten:

by Mike Pavlichko

Central Jersey Sports Radio unveils 2026 High School Baseball Broadcast Schedule featuring a dozen regular season games, plus County, State tourneys

With a dozen regular season games, plus coverage of the GMC and Somerset County Tournaments – as well as state tournament coverage to be announced at a later date – Central Jersey Sports Radio has announced its 2026 high school baseball broadcast schedule.

It all gets started next week, with our opener on Tuesday, March 31 at 4 pm between defending 2025 SCT champion Immaculata and NJSIAA Central Jersey Group 4 winner Hillsborough. Then, after the calendar turns to April mid-week, we get state Group 1 champion Middlesex visiting Spotswood, on Thursday, April 2.

Coverage also includes two regular season games at TD Bank Park in Bridgewater – Montgomery vs Pingry on April 11, and Rutgers Prep against South Plainfield two Saturdays later – as well as the semifinals and finals of the Somerset County Tournament on April 18th and 20th, respectively.

The schedule includes three of last year’s SCT semifinalists, and all four of 2025’s GMC Tournament semifinalists, including a rematch of the title game between Edison and St. Joseph-Metuchen, and a rematch on the Invitational final between New Brunswick and East Brunswick Magnet.

Last year’s North 2, Group 3 winner South Plainfield also is on the schedule, as well as finalist Colonia.

Click here to see the full 2026 broadcast schedule.

by Mike Pavlichko

A few shuffles in Greater Middlesex Conference baseball alignments for 2026; St. Thomas Aquinas moves up to Red Division

Unlike basketball’s one-year experiment with split divisions – Red American, Red National, for example – and six divisions overall, Greater Middlesex Conference baseball will retain the traditional four-division format for the upcoming 2026 season, but a few teams have moved around.

The top-division stays mainly in tact, with South Brunswick – which went 4-20 last season but has brought GMC stalwart Lou Urbano in to take over the program as head coach – moving down to the GMC White, while St. Thomas Aquinas takes the Vikings’ place.

The Trojans were 16-9 last year, and won the White Division with a 10-2 record, their two division losses coming to Middlesex – a GMC Final Four team and NJSIAA Group 1 state champion a year ago – and Colonia.

Meanwhile, the GMC White picks up two new teams that move up from the Blue: JFK and Metuchen. Kennedy was 9-13 a year ago, 7-7 in the division, while the Bulldogs finished 17-10 and won the Blue with an 11-3 mark. They lost twice to second-place North Plainfield and once to Carteret.

Making room for them was Aquinas’ move to the Red, and North Brunswick moving to the White. The Raiders finished 5-17 last season, and were 1-11 in the White, last place in the Division.

Meanwhile, the Blue picks up two more schools from the Gold: GMC Invitational finalists East Brunswick Magnet (20-6) and New Brunswick (15-3), the Gold Champion from 2025 who won the Invitational over the Tigers. South Amboy, meanwhile, which finished 7-14 last year, 5-9 in the Blue, moves down to the Gold.

Here are the 2026 GMC baseball division alignments:

  • Red: East Brunswick, Edison, Monroe, Old Bridge, South Plainfield, St. Joseph-Metuchen, St. Thomas Aquinas, Woodbridge
  • White: Colonia, JFK, Metuchen, Middlesex, Perth Amboy, Sayreville, South Brunswick, Spotswood
  • Blue: Carteret, East Brunswick Magnet, JP Stevens, New Brunswick, North Brunswick, North Plainfield, Piscataway, South River
  • Gold Division: Dunellen, Highland Park, Perth Amboy Magnet, Piscataway Magnet, Somerset Tech, South Amboy, Timothy Christian, Wardlaw-Hartridge.

While a handful of GMC teams will start the season sooner than others – North Plainfield opens the earliest, taking on Dickinson (Jersey City) on Wednesday, March 25th – the bulk of the season begins Monday, the 30th.

Central Jersey Sports Radio will announce its broadcast schedule for the 2026 season later this week.

by Mike Pavlichko

Stellar sophomore campaign earns East Brunswick’s Ava Catanho CJSR GMC Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year

We get asked a lot about our process for naming a Player of the Year. It starts out that they have to be really good, of course, but there are a lot of very good ball players out there.

So, our next criteria is the value to their team. A team is just that, never one player, but sometimes, there’s one star who stands out, without whose contributions the success of that season might very well not have been possible.

For East Brunswick, that’s sophomore Ava Catanho.

Sure, senior Julianna DelosSantos-Branson had a huge impact, nearly averaging a double-double, with 64 steals, and no one really knew what she might be able to do this year coming off an ACL injury. Juniors Sophia Tannura and Zoey Alexio could hit the three, with 50 each. And sophomore Ave Krzywdzinski dished the ball to the tune of 161 assists with the best of them.

But without Catanho – the team’s top scorer with 543 points (18.7 per game) and a team-best 61 treys, and now a member of the 1,000 point club (at 1,011 and counting) – East Brunswick doesn’t reach the GMC Tournament finals, nor do the Lady Bears get to the CJ4 semis.

And for that reason, Catanho is our 2025-26 GMC Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year.

Catanho also has the athletic lineage: her mother, Kara (nee Motusesky), is an assistant under Travis Retzlaff, who was named CJSR Coach of the Year in the GMC as well, and was a thousand-point scorer at East Brunswick when she was in high school. Her father is Alcides Catanho, a standout football player at Elizabeth and Rutgers who spent two seasons in the NFL with New England and Washington.

“I’ve been shooting since I was in the crib,” Ava says.

And she’s still going to be shooting for years to come.

Click below to listen to East Brunswick sophomore Ava Catanho – with additional comments from head coach Travis Retzlaff – with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

  • Jordan Barnes, St. Thomas Aquinas: Barnes finishes a four-year career in North Edison with 1,385 points and 746 rebounds, good for career averages of 11.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. This year, she averaged 16.2 points and 5.6 boards in helping lead STA to its record seventh straight GMC Tournament championship, and next year, she’ll be playing at Rider.
  • Trista Whitney, St. Thomas Aquinas: The senior – who played her first year at Edison – also has been a huge factor in the last three championship seasons for the Trojans. This year, she averaged 11.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, and next year, will play at Maryland-Eastern Shore.
  • Angel Smith, Woodbridge: The senior was consistent for the Lady Barrons, scoring double figures in all but four games this year, while also registering 15 double-doubles. She hit for 15.7 points per game and 11.2 boards, helping Woodbridge flip the script this year, going 17-9 coming off a 6-19 campaign a year ago.
  • Layla Gutierrez, North Plainfield: Finishing her career with 1,289 points, the senior was one of the league’s most prolific scorers the last three seasons. She even dropped 50 in a GMC Tournament game this season against New Brunswick, less than a month after scoring 42 against South Brunswick. And she opened the season with 30 against a solid Piscataway team.
  • Gabrielle Hill, Spotswood: Though her scoring was down a tad from last year (15.4 to 13.8), the junior more than doubled her rebounding numbers from a year ago, grabbing 6.4 a game this year. She also got to the foul line 24 more times and hit 34 triples on the season for the Chargers.