Tag: divisional alignment

by Mike Pavlichko

Greater Middlesex Conference releases new alignments for 2027 baseball season with few changes

The Greater Middlesex Conference opted to make very few changes when it released its baseball alignments for the 2027 season last week.

But perhaps the biggest move was one that did not happen.

Middlesex – coming off a GMC White Division championship – did not move up from to the Red Division, despite the Blue Jays’ division title, and the fact that “moving up” division winners has become more and more common in the GMC and other leagues, as they tend to veer away from using mainly school size as a determining factor.

White Division champs have moved to the Red for each of the past two seasons, as the trend started to take hold around the state.

St. Thomas Aquinas won the GMC White Division in 2024, then moved up to the Red for 2025. The year before, in a five-division alignment for 2023 that was short-lived – for just two seasons, the first in 2022 – Woodbridge won the White Division, and moved up to the Red for 2024, and stayed there in 2026. Sayreville won the White in 2022, but stayed in the division for 2023 and has remained there since.

But a move for Middlesex would have been unprecedented for the GMC, which traditionally has included the largest schools in the county, generally Group 4 schools; the Blue Jays are in Group 1, which includes the state’s smallest.

Ultimately, there are only four teams who will find new homes next season.

  • JFK: The Mustangs finished last in the White Division in 2026, and move down one to the Blue Division for 2027.
  • Piscataway Magnet: The Gold Division champions had a magical year, setting a program record with 25 wins, winning their first 18 games, earned their first-ever state tournament win and reached the Central Jersey Group 1 semifinals. The Raiders move up to the Blue Division for 2027.
  • East Brunswick Magnet, New Brunswick: Coming off a head-to-head matchup in the Ray Cipperly GMC Invitational in 2025 – won by the Zebras – they finished seventh and eighth in the eight-team Blue Division last season, and move down to the Gold for 2027.

The 2027 GMC Baseball divisions are as follows:

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

Big Central Conference unveils divisional alignments for 2026, 2027, with big school divisions little changed, but more movement among mid-size, smaller schools

The Big Central Conference has announced its divisional alignments and schedule for the next two-year scheduling cycle – which covers the 2026 and 2027 seasons – with very few major changes at the top levels.

The American Gold was untouched, but Hunterdon Central moved out of the American Silver division, which was reduced to four members: defending champion Phillipsburg, Ridge, Hillsborough and Bridgewater-Raritan, two of whom – the Stateliners and the Panthers. Central still drew those four teams as crossover games, however.

The Red Devils will move into the Liberty Silver Division, joining previous members Somerville, Montgomery, Watchung Hills, and North Hunterdon. That moves Rahway out, where they will replace struggling Perth Amboy in the Liberty Gold Division.

The National Gold and Silver remain untouched.

Hillside is out of the United Gold Division, and North Brunswick and North Plainfield leave the United Silver, which picks up Bernards, moving up from the Patriot Gold.

JP Stevens also leaves the Patriot Gold, with Hillside, North Plainfield and New Brunswick moving in, joining Delaware Valley and Voorhees.

Perth Amboy moves down to the Patriot Silver Division, while Spotswood moves up following an 8-1 year in which they got snubbed from the playoffs, bumped on a 16th-place tiebreaker with Camden Eastside – a 3-5 team at the cutoff that had lost its last four games a combined 160-20 – based on the OSI tiebreaker. Spotswood’s lone loss was by one point to Dayton.

The Freedom Gold gets JP Stevens to replace Spotswood, and the Freedom Silver Division was retained.

Here’s a look at the new Big Central Divisional Alignments for 2026 and 2027, along with each squad’s crossover/non-conference games. (Please note that, per the Big Central Conference, additional games may be added in Week 0 by schools on their own, or additional crossover matchups may be found between now and the start of the 2026 season. Notes on home and away games are for 2026; those will be reversed in 2027.)

AMERCIAN GOLD:

  • Elizabeth: Linden, Hillsborough, Somerville (home), Ridge (away)
  • St. Joseph-Metuchen: Bridgewater-Raritan, Phillpburg, Donovan Catholic (home), Delbarton, Piscataway, St. Thomas Aquinas (away)
  • Union: Plainfield, Bridgewater-Raritan (home), Watchung Hills, Hillsborough, Linden (away)
  • Westfield: Scotch Plains-Fanwood, Bridgewater-Raritan, Plainfield (home)

AMERICAN SILVER:

  • Bridgewater-Raritan: Hunterdon Central, Watchung Hills (home), St. Joseph-Metuchen, Westfield, Union (away)
  • Hillsborough: Hunterdon Central, Union, Colonia, Ridge (home), Elizabeth, Montgomery (away)
  • Phillipsburg: Parkland (PA), Hunterdon Central (home), Emmaus (PA), Freedom (PA), St. Joseph-Metuchen, Easton (PA) (away)
  • Ridge: Sayreville, Elizabeth, Westfield (home), Hunterdon Central, Old Bridge (away)

NATIONAL GOLD:

  • East Brunswick: North Hunterdon, Voorhees (home), Monroe, Edison, North Brunswick (away)
  • Monroe: Governor Livingston (home), Perth Amboy, North Brunswick, North Hunterdon, Carteret (away)
  • Old Bridge: St. Thomas Aquinas, Ridge (home), Montgomery, Sayreville (away)
  • Piscataway: Somerville, Franklin, St. Joseph-Metuchen (home), East Orange (at Northern Highlands), Sayreville (away)
  • South Brunswick: North Brunswick, Franklin (home), Rahway, Colonia (away)

NATIONAL SILVER:

  • Edison: Woodbridge, East Brunswick (home), Summit, Rahway (away)
  • Franklin: Colonia (home), Piscataway, South Brunswick, Woodbridge (away)
  • North Brunswick: Monroe, Carteret, East Brunswick (home), South Brunswick (away)
  • Sayreville: Old Bridge, Piscataway (home), Ridge, Somerville (away)
  • St. Thomas Aquinas: Westfield, St. Joseph-Metuchen (home), Hudson Catholic, Old Bridge, Somerville (away)

LIBERTY GOLD:

  • Colonia: South Brunswick (home), Franklin, Montgomery, Hillsborough (away)
  • Linden: New Brunswick, Union (home), Scotch Plains-Fanwood, Elizabeth (away)
  • Plainfield: Elizabeth, Watchung Hills (home), Union, Westfield (away)
  • Rahway: Summit, Cranford, South Brunswick, South Brunswick, Edison (home)
  • Woodbridge: Westfield, Franklin (home), Edison, Summit (away)

LIBERTY SILVER:

  • Hunterdon Central: Ridge (home), Hillsborough, Bridgewater-Raritan, Phillipsburg (away)
  • Montgomery: Hopewell Valley, Old Bridge, Colonia, Hillsborough (home), Cranford (away)
  • North Hunterdon: Monroe, Voorhees (home), East Brunswick, Scotch Plains-Fanwood (away)
  • Somerville: St. Thomas Aquinas, Sayreville (home), Piscataway, Elizabeth (away)
  • Watchung Hills: Union, Summit (home), East Brunswick, Scotch Plains-Fanwood (away)

UNITED GOLD:

  • Carteret: Perth Amboy, South Plainfield, Monroe (home), North Brunswick, JFK (away)
  • Cranford: Montgomery, Hillside (home), Bernards, Rahway, South Plainfield (away)
  • Scotch Plains-Fanwood: Linden, North Hunterdon (home), Westfield, South Plainfield, Governor Livingston, New Brunswick (away)
  • Summit: Edison, Woodbridge, Bernards (home), Rahway, Watchung Hills (away)

UNITED SILVER:

  • Bernards: Cranford, Voorhees (home), Delaware Valley, Hillside, Summit (away)
  • Governor Livingston: Johnson, Scotch Plains-Fanwood (home), Dayton, Monroe, Lyndhurst, New Providence (away)
  • JFK: Spotswood, North Plainfield, Carteret (home), Metuchen, Johnson (away)
  • South Plainfield: Scotch Plains-Fanwood, Cranford, Perth Amboy (home), North Plainfield, Carteret (away)

PATRIOT GOLD:

  • Delaware Valley: Johnson, Warren Hills, Bernards (home), Belvidere (away)
  • Hillside: Roselle, Bernards (home), Manville, Cranford (away)
  • New Brunswick: Scotch Plains-Fanwood (home), Highland Park, Metuchen, Linden, Perth Amboy (away)
  • North Plainfield: South Plainfield, Spotswood, Brearley (home), JFK (away)
  • Voorhees: New Providence, East Brunswick, Bernards, North Hunterdon (away)

PATRIOT SILVER:

  • Johnson: JFK (home), Delaware Valley, Governor Livingston (away)
  • Metuchen: New Brunswick, JFK (home), Highland Park (away)
  • New Providence: Voorhees, Governor Livingston (home), Dayton (away)
  • Perth Amboy: Monroe, New Brunswick (home), Carteret, South Plainfield (away)
  • Roselle: Roselle Park (home), Hillside, Brearley (away)
  • Spotswood: South River (home), JFK, North Plainfield (away)

FREEDOM SILVER:

  • Brearley: Manville, Roselle (home), Wallington, North Plainfield (away)
  • Dayton: Governor Livingston, New Providence, Manville (home), Bound Brook (away)
  • Highland Park: New Brunswick, Middlesex, Metuchen (home), Bound Brook (away)
  • JP Stevens: Dunellen, South Hunterdon (home), Spotswood (away)
  • Roselle Park: Belvidere (home), Middlesex, Roselle (away)
  • South River: Dunellen (home), South Hunterdon, Spotswood (away)

FREEDOM SILVER:

  • Belvidere: Delaware Valley (home), Roselle Park, North Warren (away)
  • Bound Brook: Dayton, Highland Park, Sussex Tech (home)
  • Dunellen: NJIC opponent TBA Week 8 (home), JP Stevens, South River (away)
  • Manville: Hillside (home), Brearley, Dayton (away)
  • Middlesex: Roselle Park, JP Stevens (home), Highland Park (away)
  • South Hunterdon: New Hope (PA), South River (home), JP Stevens (away), NJIC opponent TBA Week 8 (home or away TBA)