HOME OF THE CHARGERS

Boys Baseball Top 20 5/10/05 1-Seton Hall (18-1) Last week: 2 The team is batting .389 behind a dominant pitching staff anchored by Nick Christiani (5-0, 0.82 ERA), who came within one out of pitching a nohitter against Millburn in the Greater Newark Tournament quarterfinals. 2-St. Joseph (Mont.) (16-1) Last: 3 Ended a good week by beating New Milford and All-State hurler P.J. Saporito, 8-2. Standout shortstop Brent Weiss had three hits, including a double and a triple, against Saporito. 3-Christian Brothers (17-1) Last: 1 Joe Durso went 5 for 5 and the Lincroft school pounded out 14 hits, but it squandered a 6-0 lead Saturday and bowed for the first time to No. 17 Hillsborough, 8-6, in eight innings. 4-Holy Cross (16-0) Last: 4 John Meadus (4-0) threw a two-hitter and junior catcher Rob DeVeney raised his average to .550 during a 3-0 week. 5-West Deptford (14-0) Last: 7 A major threat in the NJSIAA Group 2 tournament, it defeated Haddonfield, Deptford and Paulsboro as junior righthander Justin Hilt improved to 7-0. 6-St. Peter’s Prep (18-1) Last: 9 Pitchers Chuck Comprelli (6-0) and Ryan O’Grady (4-0) each earned a decision while junior first baseman Chris Bligh hit .625 with six RBI in the team’s last two victories. 7-Rutherford (15-1) Last: 10 Its winning streak reached 13 as All- Stater Vin Mazzaro continued his outstanding season with a no-hitter against River Dell. 8-Memorial (W.N.Y.) (18-2) Last: 5 Junior right-hander Jesus Castano helped ease the sting of a 4-2 loss to St. Peter’s Prep by pitching a no-hitter with 13 strikeouts and two walks in a 2-0 decision over Ferris. 9-Gloucester C (16-2) Last: 16 John McMullin hit his first two home runs of the season and drove home seven runs as the team coasted to victories over Cumberland, Williamstown and Kingsway. 10-Watchung Hills (14-2) Last: NR Debuts in The Top 20 after winning 10 straight, including victories over No. 12 Immaculata and No. 17 Hillsborough, behind pitchers Adam Rivera (5-1) and ace Matt Giannini (5-0). 11-St. Augustine (17-0) Last: NR Righties Owen Black (6-0) and Rich Ryan (5-0) have accounted for much of the Richland school’s success as it prepares for Eastern (14-1) in South Jersey’s Diamond Classic this weekend. 12-Immaculata (10-3-1) Last: 15 Nick Panzarella continues to shine on the mound and at the plate for the Somerville school, which snapped a two-game losing skid with a 13-3 victory over Franklin on Thursday. 13-Toms River East (11-3) Last: NR Junior shortstop Ryker Toscano had a memorable first varsity homer, a towering three-run blast in the eighth inning that gave junior righty Casey Gaynor his sixth victory without a loss in a 4-1 triumph over Toms River North. 14-Toms River North (11-3) Last: 6 Second baseman Mike Casale belted his first home run of the year and catcher Chad Sloboda had two hits and three RBI when Toms River North blanked Jackson, 11-0. 15-Westwood (15-2) Last: 8 Fourth-year starter Danny Colucci improved to 6-0 with a 1.79 ERA after a 1-0 victory over Ridgefield Park. Randy Scott hit a three-run home run in a 10-7 victory over Dumont. 16-Wallkill Valley (15-2) Last: NR Right-hander Bobby Gagg is headed to Coastal Carolina on scholarship, but first he’s concerned with helping his team win the inaugural Sussex County Tournament this weekend. 17-Hillsborough (11-3) Last: 17 Snapped a 1-3 skid with impressive triumphs over Montgomery and then- No. 1 Christian Brothers, 8-6, in the Shore Challenge behind an eighthinning homer by junior Tim Fedroff. 18-Bergen Catholic (14-2) Last: NR Knocked off rival Don Bosco Prep with a 2-0 victory, the team’s ninth straight. Matt Jordan fired a one-hitter for his third victory of the season and Jadd Schmeltzer delivered both RBI. 19-Kearny (14-2) Last: 12 Although a loss to Cranford halted a 10-game winning streak, it responded with a pair of victories behind the hitting of Mike Cardoso and Mike Silvestre and strong pitching from Alberto Castro and Rafael Azcona. 20-Gov. Livingston (18-2) Last: NR Its winning streak reached 14 after a 4-3 victory over Union in the quarterfinals of the Union County Tournament. Joe Pijanowski (5-0), Andrew Trivella (5-1), Phil Vitale (4-1) and Andrew Yasinski (4-0) lead the pitching staff. Group, Area Leaders Tuesday, May 10, 2005 FOR THE STAR-LEDGER GROUP 4 1-Memorial (18-2) 2-Watchung Hills (14-2) 3-Toms River East (11-3) 4-Toms River North (11-3) 5-Hillsborough (11-3) 6-Kearny (14-2) 7-Morristown (16-4) 8-Eastern (14-1) 9-Hunterdon C (14-4) 10-Wash. Twp. (12-4) GROUP 3 1-Old Tappan (14-3) 2-Lakewood (12-2) 3-Red Bank (11-3) 4-Monmouth R. (13-4) 5-Demarest (13-3) 6-Nutley (14-4) 7-Ramapo (12-5) 8-Ocean Township (13-5) 9-Montgomery (11-5) 10-Colonia (13-6) GROUP 2 1-West Deptford (14-0) 2-Rutherford (15-1) 3-Westwood (15-2) 4-Wallkill Valley (15-2) 5-Gov. Livingston (18-2) 6-Seneca (17-1) 7-Pequannock (14-4) 8-Sterling (15-2) 9-Spotswood (15-3) 10-Cranford (14-4) GROUP 1 1-Pennsville (12-2) 2-New Milford (15-3) 3-Florence (12-1) 4-Dayton (12-2) 5-Verona (16-4) 6-Boonton (12-4) 7-Kinnelon (13-3) 8-Whippany Park (13-5) 9-Cedar Grove (13-5) 10-Bloomfield Tech (14-3) NON-PUBLIC 1-Seton Hall Prep (18-1) 2-St. Joseph (Mont.) (16-1) 3-CBA (17-1) 4-Holy Cross (16-0) 5-St. Peter’s Prep (18-1) 6-Gloucester C (16-2) 7-St. Augustine (17-0) 8-Immaculata (10-3-1) 9-Bergen Catholic (14-2) 10-Don Bosco Prep (15-3) PREP 1-Peddie (12-2) 2-Blair (12-3) 3-Hun (13-4) 4-Pennington (9-7) 5-Rutgers Prep (10-4) 6-Lawrenceville (7-13-1) 7-Princeton Day (6-7) 8-St. Benedict’s (4-13) 9-Wardlaw-Hartridge (5-6) 10-Ranney (3-6) BERGEN 1-St. Joseph (Mont.) (16-1) 2-Rutherford (15-1) 3-Westwood (15-2) 4-Bergen Catholic (14-2) 5-Don Bosco (15-3) 6-Old Tappan (14-3) 7-Demarest (13-3) 8-New Milford (15-3) 9-Ramapo (12-5) 10-Paramus (12-6) ESSEX 1-Seton Hall Prep (18-1) 2-Nutley (14-4) 3-Verona (16-4) 4-Belleville (13-8) 5-Millburn (13-7) 6-West Essex (11-5-1) 7-MKA (10-5) 8-Cedar Grove (13-5) 9-Bloomfield Tech (14-3) 10-Glen Ridge (10-9) HUDSON 1-St. Peter’s Prep (18-1) 2-Memorial (18-2) 3-Kearny (14-2) 4-Emerson (13-5) 5-Hudson Catholic (15-4) 6-Hudson Prep (16-0) 7-Bayonne (16-6) 8-North Bergen (13-7) 9-Hoboken (13-6) 10-St. Mary’s (13-7) MIDDLESEX 1-St. Joe’s(Met.) (17-5) 2-East Brunswick (10-6) 3-Colonia (13-6) 4-South Plainfield (13-5) 5-South Brunswick (11-5) 6-Spotswood (15-3) 7-Sayreville (10-7) 8-Edison (11-8) 9-Old Bridge (9-6) 10-Bishop Ahr (9-5) MONMOUTH 1-CBA (17-1) 2-Red Bank (11-3) 3-Monmouth R. (13-4) 4-Wall (13-4) 5-Ocean Twp. (13-5) 6-Raritan (10-4) 7-Red Bank Catholic (9-6) 8-St. Rose (15-3) 9-Matawan (9-7) 10-Manasquan (9-8) MORRIS 1-Pequannock (14-4) 2-Morristown (16-4) 3-Delbarton (14-5) 4-Morris Knolls (12-7) 5-Randolph (10-7) 6-Mendham (13-7) 7-Roxbury (11-11) 8-Hanover Park (13-5) 9-Boonton (12-4) 10-Kinnelon (13-3) OCEAN 1-Toms River East (11-3) 2-Toms River North (11-3) 3-Lakewood (12-2) 4-Brick Memorial (8-7) 5-TRS (11-5) 6-Jackson (7-9) 7-Brick (6-7) 8-Manchester Twp.(8-8) 9-New Egypt (8-8) 10-Point Beach (9-10) PASSAIC 1-Wayne Valley (14-6) 2-West Milford (12-5-1) 3-Hawthorne (12-4) 4-Paterson Catholic (11-3) 5-Passaic Tech (11-6) 6-DePaul (12-7) 7-Lakeland (12-6-1) 8-Clifton (9-7) 9-Pompton Lakes (10-4) 10-Wayne Hills (7-10) SOMERSET 1-Watchung Hills (14-2) 2-Immaculata (10-3-1) 3-Hillsborough (11-3) 4-Montgomery (11-5) 5-Franklin (7-12) 6-Ridge (6-11-1) 7-Bridge.-R. (6-11) 8-Somerville (11-7) 9-Bernards (7-9) 10-Manville (9-3) UNION 1-Gov. Livingston (18-2) 2-Westfield (13-6) 3-Dayton (12-2) 4-Cranford (14-4) 5-Roselle Catholic (11-6) 6-Elizabeth (13-8) 7-Union (12-7) 8-Johnson (7-7) 9-Scotch Plains (9-8) 10-Linden (8-7) SOUTH JERSEY 1-Holy Cross (16-0) 2-West Deptford (14-0) 3-Gloucester C (16-2) 4-St. Augustine (17-0) 5-Eastern (14-1) 6-Seneca (17-1) 7-Bishop Eustace (15-4) 8-Washington Twp. (12-4) 9-Cherokee (12-4-1) 10-Pennsville (12-2) WEST JERSEY 1-Wallkill Valley (15-2) 2-Hunterdon C (14-4) 3-Lenape Valley (14-6) 4-Pope John (13-6) 5-North Hunterdon (10-6) 6-Warren Hills (10-7) 7-North Warren (12-7) 8-Vernon (12-6) 9-Delaware Valley (10-6) 10-Hackettstown (12-4)