Atlantic Physical Therapy Baseball 2026 Week 8 Top 10

Shore Sports Insider Week 6 Baseball Top 10

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On May 11, the Shore Conference Tournament seeds were released with a good deal of consensus. Despite a season of relative volatility, the seeds fell into place rather seamlessly.

One week later, the bracket was blown to smithereens and any clarity with respect to the Shore Conference rankings is almost completely reset. It was the kind of start to the SCT that not only changes the rankings, by uproots the established criteria. Division champions from the A divisions were the front-runners a little more than a week ago, followed by the other A division teams that boasted wins over them, plus a scattering of B and C division teams with high win totals.

Now, that is all upside-down. After six weeks of teams from Class A North and Class A South dominating the conference – four different A division teams accounted for the Class A North and Class A South division titles, plus the Monmouth and Ocean County Tournament titles – it is the Class B North division that is owning the Shore Conference Tournament. Rumson-Fair Haven, Colts Neck and Freehold Township were the top three teams in B North and the trio makes up 75 percent of the remaining teams in the SCT.

What to do with any of that information is anybody’s guess. When the season ends in a little under four weeks, there will be a finality to the season that will make some of these decisions easier, but any order that existed a week ago is gone, replaced by sheer madness of the best kind.

With that said, this week’s Shore Sports Insider Top 10 focuses more on tournament performance than past rankings have. When there were division standings to balance with county tournaments, the division performance tended to be the foundation for most rankings. Ultimately, however, high school teams chase tournament championships, particularly ones that come at the end of the season. The names within the Top 10 have not changed all that much, but the order within the Top 10 has. The teams that were not in the Top 10 picture in recent weeks have not necessarily broken in, but the gap between the top spot and the middle of the 11-through-15 tier has never been closer.

1. Rumson-Fair Haven (19-5, 11-1) Last Week: 6

We have reached a stage of the baseball season in which it is fair to ask of a prospective top team, “What have you won?” The only possible titles for a team to this point are a division championship and a county tournament title and Rumson won its Class B North division with an 11-1 record and reached the final four of the Monmouth County Tournament, losing to eventual champion Ranney. Now, the Bulldogs are in the semifinals of another tournament, with Rumson getting set to host Freehold Township Thursday in the Shore Conference Tournament semifinals after escaping the round of 16 with a 9-8, walk-off win over Toms River South, followed by a payback win at Ranney on Monday. There are indeed warts: a loss to Middletown North, a 12-0 loss to Jackson and a loss to a Red Bank Catholic team that is still in the running for No. 1 make this a very tenuous ranking for the Bulldogs, but one that is deserved for what has been one of the Shore’s steadiest teams.

 

2. Christian Brothers Academy (13-8, 7-3) Last Week: 5

To this point, CBA has not won anything. They fell a game short of a Class A North division title, were bounced from the Monmouth County Tournament in the quarterfinals with a third loss to Ranney and its two SCT wins are over the No. 22 and No. 14 seeds. Where CBA scores well compared to the rest of the field is the worst part of its résumé is that it is 0-3 vs. an opponent. Outside of those three losses to Ranney, the Colts have split with Red Bank Catholic, swept both Howell and Manalapan, and dominated non-conference games vs. St. Peter’s Prep and Ocean City – all without suffering a loss to a team seeded beyond No. 4 in the SCT. The most compelling case for CBA to be No. 1 is the Colts are scoring at a breakneck pace over the last eight games, during which CBA is 7-1. There is not much in-between for CBA: either the Colts win the SCT and land at No. 1, or they get picked off and drop back below Red Bank Catholic, Ranney and, perhaps, the top Ocean County teams as well.

 

3. Point Pleasant Beach (14-6, 7-3) Last Week: 2

The Garnet Gulls found out first-hand that Colts Neck was better than a No. 15 seed, although the Cougars might have deserved the ranking based on the results on the field. Colts Neck jumped on Point Beach early, added on in the later innings and dealt the Garnet Gulls another early tournament exit after they lost to Southern in the Ocean County Tournament quarterfinals as the No. 3 seed. Point Beach snapped a two-game skid by beating Red Bank Catholic Tuesday, which is another impressive result during a stretch that includes wins over Wall, Ranney, Bayonne and Point Boro just prior to the two losses to Toms River North and Colts Neck. It remains a stellar résumé for a team that won Class A South and is in line for a favorable draw in the NJSIAA Group I Tournament.

 

4. Red Bank Catholic (17-6, 8-2) Last Week: 1

On full body of work, Red Bank Catholic could still be the No. 1 team. The Caseys own a 10-4 record against the top 10 seed in the conference tournament and have beaten seven of the other nine. Throw in an outright Class A North division championship and RBC still has a body-of-work advantage over everyone. So, why are the Caseys down to No. 3? It’s the tournament losses and the recent pitching trends. The first tournament loss one was a 10-1 loss to Howell in the Monmouth County Tournament and the most recent was a 13-10 loss to a Freehold Township team that did not have its best weapon – ace Jackson Redmond – available for the game. The early exit from the SCT combined with a staff ERA of 5.32 since clinching the Class A North title on April 27 has to carry some weight and it indeed does. At the end of the year, RBC will likely still have the best body of work, but the Caseys could use a deep NJSIAA Tournament run to hammer home their case.

 

5. Ranney (12-11, 5-5) Last Week: 4

The Panthers were a win over Rumson on Monday from likely climbing to the No. 1 spot in the rankings despite hovering near .500 all season and sporting a run-differential that is in the negative (127 scored to 130 allowed after Tuesday’s 13-3 win over John Jay of N.Y.). Ranney’s three wins over CBA are still one of the more impressive résumé nuggets of any team in the Shore Conference and even after the 7-4 loss to Rumson on Monday, the Panthers are still 5-1 in tournament play this season. On the more concerning side, the walk issue that plagued Ranney during its 2-6 start to the season returned in the form of 10 walks issued vs. Rumson, so Ranney will have to work around that looking ahead to a tough road in the South Jersey Non-Public B playoff bracket topped by Gloucester Catholic.

 

6. Brick Memorial (17-7, 5-5) Last Week: 3

The Mustangs are the last team in this week’s Top 10 that falls into the category of “team that has won something this year.” The Mustangs had a disappointing 5-5 record and fourth-place finish in the Class A South regular season after winning the division last year and a disappointing, round-of-16 exit at the hands of Point Pleasant Boro after winning the SCT last year as well. The good news for the Mustangs is there are two titles they missed out on last year: one of them they already won (the Ocean County Tournament) and the other is coming up next (the Central Jersey Group III Playoffs). On top of the OCT title, Brick Memorial also still holds the best out-of-conference win of any Shore team with its win over DePaul and now the Mustangs will turn their attention to taking down defending champion and No. 1 seed Northern Burlington in the CJ III section.

7. Colts Neck (18-7, 10-2) Last Week: Not ranked

Two losses to Rumson, an early loss in the Monmouth County Tournament to Marlboro and losses to some of the better teams on its non-division schedule kept Colts Neck out of the Top 10 over the last couple weeks, but the Cougars surge back in thanks to their own play, as well as that of their Class B North brethren in the Shore Conference Tournament. Freehold Township and Rumson-Fair Haven are both in the SCT semifinals, giving Class B North three of the four semifinalists. Colts Neck got there with its two best wins of the season, by far. The Cougars jumped on Point Beach and held on for a 7-3 win over the Class A South champs and No. 2 seed in the tournament, then erased a 5-2 deficit with two two-run homers in the top of the seventh inning, blew the lead in the bottom of the inning, then beat Howell, 7-6, in an extra-inning classic. Ryan Spencer has been brilliant on the mound, pitching in each of Colts Neck’s last four games and recording either a win or a save in all four. He will not be eligible to pitch on Thursday at CBA, so the Cougars are to reach their first SCT final since winning it in 2007, they will need to lean on junior Ryan Rude and senior Jack Dugo on the mound, plus a senior-loaded lineup.

 

8. Howell (12-11, 4-6) Last Week: 7

There have been quite a number of heart-breaking losses teams have had to endure during the Shore Conference Tournament and Howell’s loss to Colts Neck is near the top. The Rebels made it all the way to the Monmouth County Tournament championship game and were one strike away from advancing to a semifinal shot at CBA in the Shore Conference Tournament before Colts Neck completed their stunning rally. The Rebels have showcased a balanced team that will be as battle-tested as a team can be heading into the NJSIAA Tournament, so if they can shake off the sting of Monday’s loss to Colts Neck, there could still be big things around the corner for Howell.

 

9. Toms River East (13-9, 6-4) Last Week: 8

Baseball can be a cruel game and Toms River East was on both sides of it in successive rounds of the Shore Conference Tournament. Two dropped pop-ups led to all three of the Raiders runs in a 3-2 win over Wall in the round of 16. Two days later, Freehold Township hung seven runs on Toms River East’s hottest pitcher in the first inning, then junior Dominic Roma pitched scoreless baseball for six innings in a 7-0 loss to the Patriots. All told, Toms River East has beaten quality opponents – Point Beach (twice), Brick Memorial, Wall (twice), Colts Neck, Toms River South – throughout the season so the Raiders remain in the Top 10 as they prepare to defend their South Jersey Group III championship in the upcoming NJSIAA Tournament.

 

10. Manalapan (13-12, 5-5) Last Week: 9

It was difficult to separate Manalapan and Wall when seeding the Shore Conference Tournament and it remains difficult after both teams had similar stays in the Tournament: 4-1 first-round wins over teams seeded in the 20’s, followed by a road loss to a division opponent after a 1-1 regular-season series between the teams. Wall beat Barnegat before a gutting loss to Toms River East and Manalapan beat Red Bank before dropping a rubber-match loss to Howell. Manalapan’s best wins on the season are a 17-2 rout of RBC and a 3-0 win at Ranney and a 1-0 win over Howell, while Wall has wins over Brick Memorial and Toms River East. Advantage: Manalapan.

 

 

Dropped Out

Wall (16-7, 6-4) Last Week: 10 – Colts Neck’s resurgence knocks Wall out of the Top 10 for now, but the Crimson Knights will have an opportunity to climb back as the No. 4 seed in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group II section. That lines them up for a potential semifinal game at No. 1 Rumson-Fair Haven should both teams survive the first week of the tournament.

 

 

The Next 10

Toms River South (15-9, 9-3) – Toms River South went from the jubilation of scoring five runs in the top of the seventh at Rumson to failing to secure the final out as the winning runs scored in the bottom of the inning. The loss at Rumson in the SCT round-of-16 not only stalled their conference tournament run; it prevented the Indians from hosting the first round of the South Jersey Group III Tournament.

Point Pleasant Boro (15-9, 8-4) – Three losses in three games to Toms River South complicates Point Boro’s résumé, which includes a tournament win over Brick Memorial and a regular-season win over Colts Neck, but also s loss to Donovan Catholic in what was a crucial division game. The Panthers have a core of players hungry at another shot at Governor Livingston in the Central Group II playoffs and if they can survive Manasquan in the first round of the tournament, they are likely to get their shot at the reigning Group II champions.

Freehold Township (13-10, 6-6) – Prior to Saturday, Freehold Township was barely on the top 20 radar, let alone the top 10 radar. All that has changed after consecutive SCT wins over Southern, Red Bank Catholic and Toms River East. The Patriots’ first SCT semifinal trip in 20 years has them on the brink of joining the Top 10, but a little more convincing is necessary after regular-season losses to Monmouth Regional and Manchester.

Shore (17-7, 10-2) – A trip to Ranney ended Shore’s hopes of a deep SCT run and now, the Blue Devils got a rough draw as the No. 5 seed in the Central Jersey Group I Tournament. It’s a good thing for Shore that its roster is capable of beating anybody in the bracket, because the Blue Devils could very well have to beat all three of its fellow co-contenders in the section: Metuchen, Middlesex and Point Beach.

Jackson (9-15, 4-6) – If the Shore Conference Tournament cutoff were a week later, Jackson would have stormed into the field thanks to wins over Toms River South and Rumson-Fair Haven, the latter of which the Jaguars beat 12-0 in Rumson. While those wins did not count toward the SCT, they did help the Jaguars bump up to the No. 7 seed in the Central Group IV section, which could be winnable for a Jackson team that has played an exceedingly difficult schedule.

St. John Vianney (13-9, 9-3) – Outside of a seven-game winning streak early in the year, the Lancers have flown under the radar while posting some noteworthy wins, including over Freehold Township with Jackson Redmond on the mound and St. Rose with Peter Nolan on the rubber. That should give the Lancers some confidence going into a very difficult South Jersey Non-Public A section.

Southern (9-13-1, 2-8) – A third trip to the Ocean County Tournament semifinals in four years, plus regular-season wins over Brick Memorial and Toms River East give the Rams a blueprint to take into the NJSIAA Tournament. The overall schedule is not as good as the one Jackson played, but it’s the same principle: take your lumps early and pay it back in the postseason.

Manasquan (12-9, 9-3) – The Warriors entered the year expecting their pitching to carry them and while Chase Kaplan has been one of the Shore’s best aces, the offense has actually done its part while the pitching depth has been challenged. Manasquan battled its way to a piece of the Class B South championship and beating Toms River South twice on the way to winning the banner is the Warriors’ best on-field feat this season.

Toms River North (10-12, 5-7) – The Mariners were overmatched in early-season series vs. Toms River South and Point Boro, but have since been competitive in every game, save for a 10-0 loss to Red Bank Catholic. That stretch includes wins over Toms River East and Point Beach, while the highlight of April was a sweep of division co-champion Manasquan.

Middletown North (12-10, 5-7) – The Lions own a win over newly-minted No. 1 Rumson, so they deserve a shoutout in the rankings for that alone. Class B North’s prowess in the SCT raises the profile of all its teams to some degree and Middletown North is the one that managed to beat the division champion while also scoring a win over St. John Vianney.