Baseball rankings: Area Skyland Conference, UCC Top 10 after Week 2

It was an eventful two weeks to open the season on area diamonds. Three of our Preseason Top 10 teams dropped out and three more earned their spot in the ranking. Hey, that’s why they play the games.

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(Records through Sat., April 13)

1. Bridgewater-Raritan (6-0) – preseason No. 1: The Panthers are living up to their pre-season No. 1 rank. The early season highlights have featured back-to-back Skyland Conference Delaware Division wins over Ridge and No. 7 North Hunterdon. Junior Owen Crimmins (3-0) threw five one-hit innings, and seniors Matt Fattore and Devin Goldberg drove in three and two runs, respectively, in Saturday’s 7-1 win over North. The Panthers will see North again Thursday afternoon in Clinton after a Tuesday trip to No. 3 Hunterdon Central. They also have non-conference home games against West Morris (Friday) and Egg Harbor (noon on Saturday).

2. Governor Livingston (5-0) – preseason No. 5: A season ago the Highlanders were considered a young club, but now look like a seasoned, formidable group. GL has outscored opponents 51-4 and is 2-0 in Union County Conference Watchung Division play. Sophomore SS Zach Geertsma is hitting .556 with two home runs. Highlanders play host to Scotch Plains-Fanwood Monday and Summit Tuesday in division games before Wednesday’s inter-division home game with Elizabeth.

3. Hunterdon Central (5-1) – preseason No. 4: The Red Devils have won five straight since a season-opening 2-1 home loss to Skyland Delaware rival Hillsborough. Division tests highlight the week ahead. Central plays host to No. 1 Bridgewater-Raritan Tuesday and Ridge Thursday before an inter-division home game Saturday morning against No. 4 Immaculata. Central is 3-1 in the Delaware, including a 7-2 Wednesday win at Ridge.

4. Immaculata (6-0) – preseason not ranked: The Spartans are off to their best start since 2010 when they won their first 10 games on the way to a Non-Public A state title. One of the objectives is turning around last season’s 9-15 mark. Skyland Raritan Division home games with Pingry and Rutgers Prep will be followed by an inter-division Saturday morning game at No. 3 Hunterdon Central.

5. Scotch Plains-Fanwood (4-2) – preseason not ranked: The Raiders have recovered from an 0-2 start with four-straight wins. The biggest was Wednesday’s 4-1 UCC-Watchung Division victory at defending Union County Tournament champ Cranford. SP-F plays at No. 4 Gov. Livingston (6-0) Monday and at No. 6 Westfield (6-0) Tuesday.

6. Westfield (6-0) – preseason No. 8: UCC-Watchung Division wins over New Providence and A.L. Johnson started the week before a 5-3 Saturday afternoon non-conference home win over High Point. The Blue Devils have a division home game vs No. 5 Scotch Plains-Fanwood Tuesday, an intra-division game with Union Wednesday and a non-conference Saturday morning game at Christian Brothers Academy.

7. North Hunterdon (2-3) – preseason No. 2: Big week ahead for Lions who’ve lost three straight Skyland Delaware Division games to No. 3 Hunterdon Central, unranked Hillsborough and No. 1 Bridgewater-Raritan. North plays host to St. Joseph-Metuchen Monday followed by division home games against Somerville (Tuesday) and a rematch with B-R (Thursday). The week ends with an 11 a.m. Saturday inter-division home game with Voorhees.

8. Hillsborough (2-4) – preseason No. 10: The Raiders have impressive wins against No. 3 Hunterdon Central and No. 7 North Hunterdon, but their offense needs improving if they are to move up. A non-conference game vs Morristown opens the week Monday with Skyland Delaware games at Ridge and Somerville (home) Tuesday and Thursday. An inter-division game at unranked Watchung Hills Saturday afternoon wraps up the week.

9. Union Catholic (2-3) – preseason not ranked: The Vikings face five games in six days with Tuesday’s game at Oratory the only UCC-Mountain contest. Inter-division games with New Providence Wednesday (away) and A.L. Johnson (Friday) should give the Vikes a good idea of where they stand. UC also plays St. Joseph-Metuchen at 7 p.m. Sunday night in the Autism Awareness showcase at Community Park in North Brunswick.

10. New Providence (0-3) – preseason No. 9: The Pioneers drew quite the opening two weeks of the season. They lost a 7-5 season-opening game at defending Union County Tournament champ Cranford, then lost to No. 2 Governor Livingston and 5-2 vs Westfield in UCC-Watchung games. The Pioneers have an inter-division game with Roselle Catholic Monday, return to division play vs A.L. Johnson Tuesday followed by inter-division home games vs Union Catholic Wednesday and Brearley Thursday. They end the week Saturday with a non-conference home tilt against Phillipsburg.

Dropped out: No. 3 Ridge, No. 6 Rutgers Prep, No. 7 Bernards

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Baseball: Area Skyland Conference, UCC Top 10 after Week 2