Tri-County Baseball Among Top in South Jersey
The Tri-County Conference has long had a strong baseball tradition and this year it is again among the best conferences in South Jersey.
This is the conference that produced a state champion last year when Gloucester Catholic won the state Non-Public B state championship. In addition, Delsea advanced to the SJ Group 3 final before losing to Mainland, 6-4.
This year Gloucester Catholic is the No. 1 team in the state according to NJ.com.
The strength this year is demonstrated by the brackets for the 50th annual Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic, which begins this week.
This year the Diamond has expanded from 24 to 32 teams. The top teams in South Jersey are invited and it serves as a defacto South Jersey championship.
This year eight Tri-County teams, or one-quarter of the field comes from the Tri-County Conference. Gloucester Catholic is the No. 1 seed. The other Tri-County teams in the Diamond are (2) Kingsway, (6) Delsea, (23) Pitman, (24) Pennsville, (27) Woodstown, (30) Washington Township and (32) Highland.
Woodstown, which was supposed to meet Delsea in the first round, pulled out due to its senior trip coinciding with the first round.
Still, the Tri-Co has the top two rated teams in Gloucester Catholic and Kingsway. Last year the Diamond Classic final consisted of Tri-County teams as Gloucester Catholic earned an 11-2
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win over Delsea in the final.
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win over Delsea in the final.
This year Tri-County teams should be prominent during the NJSIAA state tournament.
Delsea began the week as No. 1 in power points in Group 3 according to NJ.com, which has about a half dozen teams capable of winning the tournament.
Delsea began the week 13-1 and the lone loss was to another Tri-County team, Pennsville.
Gloucester Catholic began the week 11-0 and the top seeded team in Non-Public B.
Kingsway was the top seeded team in South Jersey Group 4.
Four of the top six teams in the South Jersey Group 1 power points are from the Tri-County. They are (1) Pennsville, (4) Woodstown, (5) Pitman and (6) Schalick.
There are so many standouts in the conference as well.
Delsea senior catcher Mike McGinley, who is a Rider commit, recently set the school career record for hits when he got his 119th .
Junior lefthander Frank Cairone, a Seton Hall commit, is emerging as one of the best pitchers in South Jersey.
Gloucester Catholic senior righthander Tate DeRias, a Miami commit, is also among the top pitchers in South Jersey and a candidate for the MLB first-year draft.
There are great players throughout the conference. What is most impressive is that there are top teams in the smaller Group size (Group 1) and the bigger Groups (Group 3 and Group 4) and a Non-Public Group, so the Trico is strong across the board and is in line for a potentially fruitful postseason.
Author: Marc Narducci
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