Playoff baseball is upon us. Starting next Tuesday, May 27th the 2025 New Jersey state playoffs kick-off with the round of 16. Plenty of interesting matchups will take place next week, all of which are must win games for everybody. Today, we will be taking a dive in to the Group 4 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 Group 3 preview this weekend. 

NORTH 1 BRACKET

Livingston gets the top spot after going 17-7 in the regular season and will face Bergen Tech in the first round. Second seeded Passaic Tech will certainly give Livingston a run for its money, after capturing the Passaic County Tournament title last week. Junior Rutgers commit, Mickey Gilligan has been a force at the plate with eight homers so far this season. The left handed power hitter is ranked the No. 8 prospect in NJ’s 2026 class in the most recent update. 

+ The Pick - Passaic Tech
The Bulldogs are strong up the middle and possess too much juice in the order. We think they pull it off.

+ Dark Horse - Ridgewood
The Maroons are always a threat in this tournament and have a three headed monster in their rotation with seniors Reilly Bridges (Stony Brook), Luke Norman, and Garrett Greaney (Utica).

NORTH 2 BRACKET

 

Ridge gets the top slot in the bracket after going 16-5 in the regular season and amounting the top power points as of the Wednesday cut off. Senior Aiden Stieglitz has been fantastic all season long, tallying a team leading 49 IP with 80K to the tune of a 1.00 ERA. Pacing the offense has been uncommitted junior Jake Dolan, who has eight doubles and three homers along with 20 stolen bases

+ The Pick - Ridge
Ridge has emerged as a top team in the state in the last few weeks, making it all the way to the Somerset county championship. They’ve played Seton Hall Prep tough this season, losing a close 1-0 battle earlier in May, with Stieglitz going the distance and punching out seven against one of the state’s top offenses. Ridge has the momentum.

+ Dark Horse - Elizabeth
The Minutemen have been playing great as of late, even with a tough 1-0 loss to top ranked Governor Livingston last week, 1-0. Uncommitted junior Albert Maldonado Jr., a high riser and dark horse draft candidate for 2026 has been electric. Through 22 IP he’s allowed just 11 hits and punched out 21. At the plate he’s hitting .444 with four homers and 17 RBI. Senior Eliezer Cepeda has been on a tear, too. He’s hitting at a .464 clip with a team leading 30 RBI, five homers, and six doubles.

SOUTH BRACKET

 

Cherokee’s outstanding regular season, where they went undefeated for all of April and into early May, garners them the top slot in this bracket.

+ The Pick - Cherokee
Again, pitching is so key this time of year and the Chiefs have a three headed monster in seniors Brett Gable (Harvard), (40.2 IP, 24 H, 60 K) and Henry Radbill (Rutgers), (36 IP, 23 H, 66 K), and sophomore Parker New (19 IP, 12 H, 19 K). All three are left-handed and possess late life to their fastballs and can spin a breaker for a strike in any count. No. 3 ranked sophomore Cooper Burti has a live arm and senior Josh Litsky (La Salle), (15 IP, 26 K) have provided some extra depth to an already stacked pitching staff. Brett Jackson, Alex Odud, and Mason Kelleher (Frostburg State) pace the offense with 26 extra base hits between the three of them while senior Brett Chiesa (Rowan) is second on the team with 20 RBI.

+ Dark Horse - Kingsway
Well coached and led by seniors, Kingsway has shown it can compete with the big names in South Jersey. Seniors, Killian McCaffrey and Dylan Potero (Wilmington (DE)) along with sophomore Kevin Magsam have all notched big innings throughout the year, with Magsam walking just seven in a team leading 35 innings pitched. 

CENTRAL BRACKET

Hunterdon Central grabs the top slot in this bracket after going 15-6 during the regular season, but suffering a tough defeat to the hands of North Hunterdon in the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex tournament final.

+ The Pick - Hunterdon Central
The Red Devils possess a solid balance of pitching and hitting, led by senior Ryan Lundari on the mound and senior Soren Gregor (Binghamton) and junior Danny Contiliano at the plate. The pitching staff is has a 2.14 ERA with 157 K in 144 IP. Contiliano is hitting .365 with 10 stolen bases, while Gregor is hitting .526 with six doubles and leads the team in hits with 30.

+ Dark Horse - Monroe
At this time of year, a stable pitching staff reigns true and Monroe has talented sophomores Ben Faigin and Ryan Desmond to lead them down the stretch. Faigin has tallied 33.2 IP and fanned 50 while allowing just 16 hits with Desmond doing much of the same, 34.1 IP and punching out 40.

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