NJ State Tournament Recap Through 2nd Round/Picks for Today's Games

This has really been a great tournament so far. While there are a lot of top seeds around still, there are a substantial amount of low seeded teams who remain in the final 96 teams. It wouldn't surprise me at all if one of those teams went on to win an improbable title because you never know what can happen in baseball. It's easily the most contentious tournament of all sports in New Jersey. Here is the tournament summary so far.

• Currently 3 top 20 teams have been eliminated. #11 Toms River South lost to Clearview Regional in the first round 7-3. #18 Wall lost to Red Bank Regional in the second round 7-3 and #19 Paramus lost to Northern Highlands in the first round 5-2. Teams from here on out in the top 20 will start dropping like flies. Here are the ranked matchups for today.
  #20 Morristown vs. #1 South Plainfield
  #4 Jackson vs. #5 Monroe
  #10 Pope John vs. #6 Delbarton
  #14 Seton Hall Prep vs. #9 St. Joe's Montvale
  #16 Cranford vs. #17 Scotch Plains-Fanwood
• The GMC has fared solidly over the tournament so far with hopes still alive in each bracket. Those teams are South River in Group I, Spotswood in Group II, South Plainfield in Group III, a shocking Woodbridge-Edison matchup to decide who goes on to play for the sectional title in Group IV as well as Monroe. St. Joe's Metuchen and Bishop Ahr are both alive as well playing CBA and Red Bank Catholic today in the Non-Public A Bracket. Lastly, Timothy Christian is joining the GMC next year and they are alive as well although face a very tough matchup against St. Rose from Belmar, who's a perennial powerhouse.
• 15 seed Butler has outscored their competition in their first 2 games 32-0.
• Many Shore teams are still alive. They just weren't the ones people expected to be. The teams still playing are Henry Hudson in Group I, 15th seeded Manasquan in Group II, Monmouth Regional and Red Bank Regional in Central Group III who got their both with big upsets over powerhouses Ocean and Wall Townships, Central Regional in South Group III, Jackson, Manalapan and 15th seeded Toms River North, who just got back to .500 in Group IV, CBA, Red Bank Catholic and St. John Vianney in Non-Public A, and St. Rose and Mater Dei in Non-Public B. Of the teams alive, I think their best 3 chances for a state title are Central Regional, Jackson and St. Rose.
• 15 teams still in the tournament are seeded 10th or lower.

There are several more intriguing games but needless to say it should be a great day for baseball in New Jersey with 5 games featuring ranked teams. The most interesting game to me is Jackson vs. Monroe and think the winner of that could be looking at a state title. I'm intrigued as well by the Seton Hall Prep game because they're an underdog here and I beleive they are a live dog and always put up good fights. I'm taking them to win today. I'll get caught up with my records after today but for now here are my picks.

North I, Group I
#4 Emerson Boro over #8 Belvidere
#15 Butler over #3 Wallington

North II, Group I
#4 Lyndhurst over #1 Whippany Park
#11 Jonathan Dayton over #2 High Tech

Central, Group I
#5 South River over #1 Robbinsville
#3 Florence over #7 Henry Hudson

South, Group I
#4 New Egypt over #8 Riverside
#7 Gloucester City over #3 Pitman

North I, Group II
#5 Dumont over #1 North Warren
#7 Ramsey over #11 Lenape Valley

North II, Group II
#1 Hackettstown over #4 County Prep
#2 West Essex over #3 Mountain Lakes

Central, Group II
#4 Governor Livingston over #8 Summit
#11 Spotswood over #15 Manasquan

South, Group II
#4 Buena over #8 Woodstown
#2 Haddon Township over #3 Audubon

North I, Group III
#12 Wayne Valley over #16 Northern Highlands
#2 Pascack Valley over #11 Lakeland

North II, Group III
#1 South Plainfield over #5 Morristown
#2 Scotch Plains-Fanwood over #3 Cranford

Central, Group III
#4 Hopewell Valley over #8 Monmouth Regional
#7 Red Bank Reg over #6 W Windsor North

South, Group III
#4 Central Regional over #1 Highland Regional
#3 Ocean City over #2 Hammonton

North I, Group IV
#1 Randolph over #4 Montclair
#2 Livingston over #3 Ridgewood

North II, Group IV
#8 Woodbridge over #13 Edison
#3 Westfield over #2 Bridgewater-Raritan

Central, Group IV
#1 Monroe over #5 Jackson Memorial
#15 Toms River North over #6 Manalapan

South, Group IV
#13 Washington Township over #8 Cherokee
#15 Clearview Regional over #3 Lenape

Non-Public North A
#1 Immaculata over #9 Roselle Catholic
#4 Delbarton over #5 Pope John XXIII
#6 Seton Hall Prep over #3 St. Joe's Montvale
#2 Don Bosco over #10 Bergen Catholic

Non-Public South A
#1 St. Joe's Metuchen over #9 CBA
#12 Camden Catholic over #4 Notre Dame
#6 Bishop Ahr over #3 Red Bank Catholic
#2 Bishop Eustace over #7 St. John Vianney

Non-Public North B
#1 Morristown-Beard over #9 Eastern Christian
#4 St. Mary's Jersey City over #12 Newark Academy
#6 Dwight-Englewood over #3 Gill St. Bernard's
#2 St. Mary's Rutherford over #7 Marist

Non-Public South B
#8 Wildwood Catholic over #1 Holy Cross
#4 St. Rose over #5 Timothy Christian
#3 Gloucester Catholic over #6 Mater Dei
#2 Sacred Heart over #7 Moorestown Friends

I'll be back on Friday to give my sectional championship picks as well as my sectional semifinal picks in the Non-Public Brackets. Should be a great next two weeks of baseball so definitely check out a couple.