With the beginning of county baseball tournaments in North Jersey, upset wins are impacting the weekly Top 25. Long winning streaks help, too.
The biggest movers in this week’s rankings are Wayne Hills (up 14 spots) and St. Mary (up 12). The former had won seven in a row entering Tuesday’s Passaic County quarterfinal against Lakeland.
The Gaels, meanwhile, went on the road to knock off 2019 Bergen County champion Ridgewood – which was technically the defending champ since COVID won out in 2020. St. Mary had won seven straight before a Monday loss to Cranford, which produced the champion of last year’s Last Dance World Series.
Head-to-head factors are becoming trickier to figure as well. Hasbrouck Heights owns divisional wins over both St. Mary and Wood-Ridge. Yet, whereas St. Mary bested Ridgewood, the Maroons dealt Hasbrouck Heights a 19-5 loss four days earlier.
Meanwhile, Wood-Ridge’s only losses are to ranked teams, while the Aviators were upset by currently unranked Midland Park earlier in the season.
The good news for those looking to climb the ladder is, division rematches are beginning to take place – and season sweeps can carry more weight than one win.
Top 25 rankings
- St. Joseph (17-0)
- Don Bosco (13-2)
- Bergen Catholic (10-3)
- Pascack Valley (12-3)
- Mahwah (11-3)
- Ramsey (12-3)
- Clifton (11-2)
- Wayne Hills (12-3)
- Wayne Valley (10-4)
- Westwood (11-4)
- St. Mary (8-4)
- Wood-Ridge (14-3)
- Pascack Hills (10-7)
- Ramapo (10-5)
- Waldwick (13-3)
- Ridgewood (9-7)
- Hasbrouck Heights (10-3)
- Passaic Tech (8-5)
- DePaul (8-8)
- Park Ridge (10-3)
- Rutherford (12-2)
- Dwight-Englewood (10-3)
- Indian Hills (8-6)
- Hawthorne Christian/Eastern Christian (9-3)
- Saddle Brook/Bogota (9-3)
Also considered: Bergenfield (9-7), Glen Rock (9-5), NV/Demarest (8-9), River Dell (8-10), Teaneck (9-7), West Milford (9-6).
(Records through Monday’s games)
Around the diamond
► What do Dwight-Englewood, Glen Rock, St. Mary and Hasbrouck Heights have in common? All are small schools that came up big over the weekend, winning on the road as lower seeds in the first round of the 62nd Bergen County Tournament.
► Dwight-Englewood became the second No. 24 seed ever to win a game in the event. The Bulldogs blanked No. 9 Indian Hills, 7-0, behind senior Beau Rottmann’s pitching (6⅔ IP, 2 H, 9 K) and senior David Miller’s hitting (3-for-4, double, 2 RBI) while stretching their win streak to five.
► No. 22 Glen Rock topped No. 11 NV/Old Tappan, 6-1, for its first tournament win since 2013. Sophomore Hayden Yuzon had a home run and two RBI for the Panthers.
► In No. 20 St. Mary’s 6-3 victory over No. 13 Ridgewood, senior Christian Figueroa was 3-for-5 with two doubles and two RBI.
► No. 19 Hasbrouck Heights won its first BCT game since 2005, 4-2 over No. 14 Rutherford. Senior Connor Friedel scattered four hits over six innings and struck out seven to help the Aviators earn their sixth victory in seven games.
► In the Passaic County Tournament, junior Kyle Bednarski tossed a two-hitter with 11 strikeouts to pace No. 5 West Milford to a 5-0 victory over No. 12 Hawthorne. Junior Joe Palminteri had a double, two walks, two runs and an RBI as the Highlanders won for the fifth time in seven games.
► Senior Jake Leonard and sophomore Michael Whooley made big impacts with the bat for Ramapo. Leonard hit a walk-off grand slam in a 6-2 win over NV/Old Tappan and homered in a 10-3 win over Bergenfield in the first round of the Bergen County Tournament. Whooley had a three-run double and homer against Bergenfield to raise his RBI total to 21.
► Junior Chris Marte had a productive week for Dwight Morrow. Over four games, he was 6-for-11 with four doubles, three runs and four RBI.
► Sophomore Dylan Spinosa of Elmwood Park had a stellar week. He went 5-for-7 (.714) with one triple, one homer, three walks, four steals, three runs and four RBI.
► Seniors Brendan Hughes and Jimmy Brazofsky led Park Ridge to a 4-0 week to stretch the team’s winning streak to five games. Hughes was 7-for-12 with three runs and seven RBI, and he struck out 14 in eight innings over two appearances. Brazofsky was 6-for-10 with a run and two RBI.
Conference standings
NOTE: Based on results reported to and researched by NorthJersey.com thru Monday, May 17th
COLONIAL DIVISION
Rutherford 8-0
Glen Rock 7-1
Pompton Lakes 7-3
Garfield 5-4
Hawthorne 3-5
Lodi 3-6
Manchester 1-7
Elmwood Park 0-8
MEADOWLANDS DIVISION
Hasbrouck Heights 7-0
St. Mary 5-1
Wood-Ridge 5-2
North Arlington 4-4
Becton 2-5
Wallington 0-5
Weehawken 0-6
LIBERTY DIVISION
Dwight-Englewood 6-1
Secaucus 6-2
Leonia 5-2
Lyndhurst 5-2
Butler 2-3
New Milford 2-6
Ridgefield 1-5
Harrison 0-6
PATRIOT DIVISION
Park Ridge 6-2
Saddle Brook/Bogota 6-2
Waldwick 6-2
Hawthorne Christian/Eastern Christian 5-3
Cresskill 4-4
Midland Park 3-5
Emerson 2-6
Palisades Park 0-8
Greg Tartaglia is a high school sports reporter for NorthJersey.com. For full access to live scores, breaking news and analysis from our Varsity Aces team, subscribe today. To get breaking news directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter and download our app. Email: tartaglia@northjersey.com Twitter: @njtags13
