Baseball: A preseason primer on the GMC's Blue, Gold and Silver divisions

Teams from the Red and White Divisions tend to garner the baseball headlines in the Greater Middlesex Conference. In fairness, they’re mostly the larger enrollment schools and traditional powers such as Middlesex and St. Joseph.

However, the GMC’s three other divisions – the Blue, Gold and Silver – also feature plenty of stars and quality depth with nail-biting pennant races.

Here is a primer on each of those three divisions, which should keep fans entertained all season.

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Blue Division

Teams: J.F. Kennedy, Metuchen, North Plainfield, Piscataway, Spotswood, South River, St. Thomas Aquinas

The Skinny: Yeah, it’s probably a misnomer to say that the Blue teams go under the radar. The division features NCAA Division 1 commits in Spotswood’s Carter Cumiskey (Seton Hall), South River’s Julius Rosado (Rutgers) and St. Thomas Aquinas’ Gavin Sansone (Long Island University). Remember last season’s GMCT when the division earned a pair of wins over White Division squads – 11th-seeded Spotswood upset sixth-seeded Woodbridge and No. 16 South River beat No. 17 Colonia.

So, there’s talent and crisp games. Spotswood pulled away last spring with a 10-2 record to claim the pennant (with three one-run wins).

The Chargers are once again among the favorites but should get challenged as they fill in holes.  For one, teams feature top pitchers. When they’re on, they’re on.

J.F. Kennedy sports ace RJ Coleman (Stockton commit, 2.26 ERA, 62 K in 49 2/3 IP) and Grant Lorentzen (2.40 ERA, 35 IP). St. Thomas Aquinas can roll out Sansone (2.15 ERA, 32 K’s in 26 IP), Zachary Diaz (2.66 ERA, 39 IP) and Jon Misura (1.15 ERA, 44 Ks in 30 1/3 IP).

Piscataway may be a sleeper with two seniors toeing the hill after missing last season on the mound because of injuries. Bobby Bressler and Kenny Barksdale will join Jaden Peace, who had a breakout 2023. South River has Rosado (2.42 ERA, 68 Ks) and underclassmen Brendan Lell (2.42 ERA) and James Zsorey (3.07 ERA).

Spotswood, though, has its own aces in Cumiskey (1.91 ERA, 72 K in 44 IP) and senior Breckyn DeAngelis (2.92 ERA in 12 IP), expected to play a larger role as the Chargers look to defend their title.

Gold Division

Teams: Carteret, East Brunswick Magnet, New Brunswick, Somerset Tech, South Amboy, Timothy Christian

The Skinny: Can anybody catch Carteret?

That’s the key early question. The defending division champions again look loaded and ready. The Ramblers did graduate two of their key players in Jhoalvin Ledesma (.355 BA, 14 RBI and 1.81 ERA, 19 1/3 IP) and Justin Ortiz (16 RBIs).

Then you go down the list and look at the returning stats. James Rodriguez (19-of-53, team-high 29 RBIs, 27 BBs) and Julian Santana (team-high 29 hits) each hit .358 last season and both are heading to Georgian Court University next season.

What might separate the Ramblers in the division is pitching depth with Nick Kee (1.30 ERA, 76 Ks), Santana (3.53 ERA, 66 Ks) and Eric Thompson (3.20 ERA, 48 Ks) as front-line hurlers. That gives Carteret the edge in the two-game series against divisional opponents.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t other stars in the grouping. Returning All-Gold players from the other squads include South Amboy’s Ben Hernandez (.492 BA, 32-of-65, 18 RBIs), East Brunswick Magnet’s Jack Clements (.359 BA, 20 RBI, 18 runs) and the Timothy Christian duo of Josh Thiero (.500 BA, 26-of-52, 28 RBI and 3.39 ERA, 42 Ks) and Dylan Spivey (.434 BA, 23-of-53, 18 RBIs).

Silver Division

Teams: Dunellen, Highland Park, Perth Amboy Magnet, Piscataway Magnet, Wardlaw-Hartridge

The Skinny: The coaches will be handing umpires nearly similar lineup cards as last season with the bulk of the rosters returning for all five teams. Dunellen and Piscataway Magnet duked it out for the pennant, splitting games and ultimately sharing the crown with the one loss apiece.

Take two?

That’s the way it seems early on. Interestingly, both have new head coaches as Connor Lindsay takes over at Dunellen and Greg Sampson is the skipper at Piscataway Magnet.

Dunellen must replace the graduated Corbin Evans (.424 BA, 29 Runs, 43 SBs and 2.19 ERA, 34 K’s). No worries, the Destroyers’ headliner is junior Ryan Hutchins, who hit .466 with a team-high 21 RBI and 29 runs. He’s also the top returning pitcher (3.59 ERA, 38 K’s).

While Dunellen has other hot bats, a key might be the development of the arms to complement Hutchins. Pitchers like Jake Manna, Danny Watts and Mark Stein are ready.

Piscataway Magnet also loses a star in Nomar Carreras but brings back two ace-level arms in Matt Baez (1.2 ERA, 58 Ks and .325 BA) and Jacob Lyerly (3.20 ERA, 37 K’s). Lyerly also hit a mere .553 (26-of-47) with a team-high 28 RBI. Leadoff hitter Jurodh Carballo will once again set the table.

The other teams’ jostling for positioning to finish in the top half of the division can be just as much fun to follow. Highland Park has star power in catcher Seamus MacKinnon, who hit .469 last season (23-of-49) with 29 SBs and Owen Roth-Zappo had a team-high 14 RBIs.

Perth Amboy Magnet, meanwhile, looks to pick up division wins behind ace Nelson Concepcion (58 Ks in 36 IP) and Wardlaw-Hartridge’s Luke Tan is back after hitting .371.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Baseball: A look at the GMC's Blue, Gold and Silver divisions