Playoff baseball is upon us. Starting today, Tuesday, May 27th the 2025 New Jersey state playoffs kick-off with the round of 16. Plenty of interesting matchups will take place this week, all of which are must win games for everybody. Today, we will be taking a dive in to the Group 1 brackets, highlighting teams, players, and out staff will be picking winners for each bracket as well as picking a dark horse team to watch in each bracket. Stay tuned as we will be releasing our non-public school preview this afternoon

NORTH 1 BRACKET

Pequannock gets the top seed after going 15-7 through Sunday and 6-2 in the NJAC-Liberty league, with bigs wins over Randolph and Madison throughout the year.

+ The Pick - Pequannock
The Panthers are winners of six of their last eight games, including that last three in a row. The offense is led by seniors Thomas Koren (.339, 4 2B, 2 HR) and Donovan Cassel (3 HR, 20 RBI) while seniors Nick Werner and Michael Gertler lead the pitching staff. Wener has logged 41.1 IP and struck out 54 thus far.

+ Dark Horse - Indian Hills
The Braves had gone through a gauntlet regular season in the Big North - Patriot league, in which it had losses to some of the state’s top teams in DePaul and Passaic Tech, and perennial powers Ramsey and Ridgewood. LJ Renshaw is hitting at a .507 clip with 34 hits on the season while junior Ben Piotrowski leads the team in RBI with 16. Renshaw, sophomore Jack Birrer and Senior Kenny Defeo have all logged 30+ innings on the mound, with Birrer leading the team with 45.1IP. The Braves are used to playing some of the bigger schools in North Jersey which makes them battle tested and ready to take on the state tournament bracket.

NORTH 2 BRACKET

Cedar Grove is the top seed in this bracket with a regular season record of 17-6 and 8-2 in the SEC - Colonial league.

+ The Pick - Cedar Grove
Cedar Grove has won nine of their last 11 games with one of those losses to Pequannock in a nail biter, 3-2. The pitching staff has been stellar all year, pitching to the tune of a 2.12 ERA collectively. Senior Matthew Norman has logged 49.2 IP and has a 1.13 ERA while junior Xavier Andujar has thrown 47.1 IP and 64 K. At the plate, senior Nick Russo is hitting .444 with eight doubles and four homers and leads the team with 28 RBI.

+ Dark Horse - Bearley
Bearley’s win/loss record is modest at 11-9, but this time of year, all the focus is on pitching and defense - and Bearley has one of the state’s top arms in senior Boston College commit Sean Budis. Budis has punched out 71 in 43.2 IP and has walked just nine all season. If Bearley can roll Budis out there, they have a shot against anyone.

CENTRAL BRACKET

Middlesex takes the top seed with a regular season record of 17-5 and an 8-4 record in the GMC-White division.

+ The Pick - Middlesex
The Blue Jays are rolling. They’ve lost just once since April 24th - which includes impressive wins over state ranked Delbarton, four-loss Colonia, and Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex tournament champion North Hunterdon. Sophomore Dominic Long leads the offense at .375 with five doubles while junior Chris Kozak leads the team in RBI with 16. The pitching staff leans heavily on Kozak and Long, who have logged 54 and 55 innings, respectively. Both are at a sub-2 ERA with nearly a strikeout per inning pitched.

+ Dark Horse - Metuchen
Can a 3-seed truly be a dark horse? Sure, why not? Metuchen has gotten strong performances this season from juniors Lucas Malamug and Matthew Jelleme at the plate, with 14 extra base hits between the two of them, while freshman sensation James Fenton has been fantastic on the mound, throwing 32.1 IP allowing just 18 hits and striking out 63.

SOUTH BRACKET

Audubon gets the top seed after going 17-7 in the regular season with a 5-3 record in the Colonial-Liberty division. Rutgers commit Tyler Wiltsey has been an animal yet again, with a .452 average, nine doubles, two triples, two homers, 24 RBI, and 29 runs scored - he’s also among the state leaders in stolen bases with 29.

+ The Pick - Schalick
Second seeded Schalick finished up the regular season at 18-2, going undefeated in the Tri-County Diamond league. Senior Luke Pokrovsky is the straw that stirs the drink. At the plate, Pokrovsky is hitting .463 with eight doubles, two triples, and nine homers. On the mound, he’s thrown 39 IP scattered 19 hits, and strick out 79 with an ERA of 0.90. Sophomore Ricky Watt has stepped up in a big way, too, with a .387 average and three homers. I have a feeling that this bracket will get down to one versus two in the final, but we're predicting the Pokrovsky-powered Schalick team to come out on top.

+ Dark Horse - Pennsville
Led by McDaniel commit Luke Wood on the mound and Cohen Petrutz at the plate, expect Pennsville to compete deep into this bracket.

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