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Baseball: North Jersey Top 25 rankings as the regular season wraps up

greg tartaglia and greg mattura, northjersey.com
·2 min read

Certainly, upsets in the Bergen and Passaic county baseball tournaments have had an impact on the North Jersey Top 25 rankings. Ramapo and Lakeland are prime examples.

However, this is also the point of the season at which teams begin to wrap up division titles – and that is something that has thrown a proverbial monkey wrench into the rankings.

All of the Big North races have been decided, though the one that gave Top 25 voters fits was the Patriot Division. Ramsey (7-3) swept Westwood (6-4) to tie for first place… after getting swept by Indian Hills (6-4). Westwood and Indian Hills split, but the latter was swept by Pascack Hills (7-3), which split with Ramsey and shared the title.

Westwood got an extra bump as a result of reaching the Bergen County Tournament semifinals, and Ramsey’s sweep of the Cardinals plus the division co-championship was enough to overcome its two losses to Indian Hills.

Jack Walsh (7), is congratulated by his teammates after scoring the first Westwood run of the game, Wednesday, April 24, 2024.
Jack Walsh (7), is congratulated by his teammates after scoring the first Westwood run of the game, Wednesday, April 24, 2024.

The only other Big North division to produce co-champs was the Liberty, where Passaic and Passaic Tech both finished 9-1. The other winners: Ridgefield Park/Bogota (7-1 American), Ridgewood (6-2 Freedom), Wayne Hills (8-2 Independence), Pascack Valley (8-1 National) and Don Bosco (6-1 United).

The NJIC races remain undecided, though division champions in the small-school conference could climb the rankings before the season is over.

Top 25 rankings

  1. Don Bosco (19-2)

  2. St. Joseph (17-5)

  3. Glen Rock (18-2-1)

  4. Westwood (17-5)

  5. Ramapo (14-8)

  6. Ridgewood (18-4)

  7. Ramsey (15-5-1)

  8. DePaul (14-7)

  9. Indian Hills (16-6)

  10. Pompton Lakes (16-2)

  11. Pascack Valley (15-8)

  12. Lakeland (15-5)

  13. Bergen Catholic (9-9-1)

  14. Hackensack (15-8)

  15. Emerson (15-4)

  16. Old Tappan (12-8)

  17. Dwight-Englewood (12-5-1)

  18. Pascack Hills (16-7)

  19. Wayne Hills (15-5)

  20. St. Mary (14-6)

  21. Passaic Valley (12-7)

  22. Passaic (13-5)

  23. Bergenfield (11-11)

  24. Midland Park (13-5)

  25. Paramus (11-10)

Also considered: Lyndhurst (12-7), Mahwah (10-9), Northern Highlands (10-12), Paramus Catholic (10-11), Passaic Tech (11-12), Ridgefield Park/Bogota (12-9).

Records through Sunday’s games

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ baseball: Top 25 rankings as the regular season wraps up