Baseball rankings: Area Skyland Conference, UCC Top 10 after Week 3

The pennant races are starting to heat up in the Skyland Conference and the Union County Conference with many area teams in the mix. Here's our Top 10 round up after Week 3.

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1. Bridgewater-Raritan (9-1) – last week No. 1 – Panthers lost to West Morris 11-7 Friday –their first loss after an 8-0 start. Less than 24 hours later, B-R used a seven-run fourth inning on the way to a 10-3 win over Egg Harbor. Sophomore Kellen Komline and senior Cory Rible combined to shut out No. 6 Hunterdon Central 7-0 Tuesday with Komline going six for the win. Three pitchers – Michael Taylor (win), Jack Lanum and Rible held No.7 North Hunterdon in check Thursday in a 2-1 win in Clinton. Road Delaware Division games at Somerville (Tuesday) and No. 10 Hillsborough (Thursday) highlight the week.

2. Governor Livingston (9-1) – last week No. 2 - Highlanders recovered from their first loss of the season – an 11-10 Union County Conference Watchung setback to Summit (7-2-1) –with routs of Elizabeth (6-2) and Middlesex (3-7). GL opened the week with a 9-1 division victory at No. 5 Scotch Plains-Fanwood (7-4). Three interesting road games are ahead. It begins with non-conference Caldwell Monday followed with division games against Cranford (7-3) Tuesday and No. 4 Westfield (8-0) Friday.

3. Immaculata (9-0) – last week No. 4 – Spartans move up a spot on the strength of tight Skyland Raritan wins over Pingry and Rutgers Prep and a 6-4 inter-division triumph at No. 6 Hunterdon Central. Josh Thompson and Owen Schilling drove in two runs apiece and junior Rob Sikorski (3-0) threw 5 1/3 innings for the win. Spartans will be out to complete season sweeps of No. 10 Watchung Hills (road) Tuesday and Montgomery (home) Thursday. The Spartans end the week with Saturday’s inter-division game against Phillipsburg.

4. Westfield (8-0) –last week No. 6 –Blue Devils warmed up for this week’s challenging slate with a 5-4 win over No. 5 Scotch Plains-Fanwood (7-4) Tuesday and a Wednesday 14-4 mercy rule inter-division win at Union (2-7). Up next are division games at Summit (Tuesday) and home contests against Cranford (Wednesday) and No. 2 Governor Livingston (Friday).

5. Scotch Plains-Fanwood (7-4) – last week No. 5 – Raiders started the week with UCC Watchung Division losses to No. 2 Governor Livingston and No. 4 Westfield. But three straight wins vs Dayton-Springfield, Roselle Catholic and North Brunswick keep them at No. 5. Home division games vs New Providence (Tuesday) and A.L. Johnson (Wednesday) highlight the week.

6. Hunterdon Central (7-4)– last week No. 3 – Red Devils went 0-3 at home. They were blanked by Delaware Division rivals Bridgewater-Raritan (7-0) and Ridge (6-0) Tuesday and Thursday. They fell short 6-4 Saturday against No. 3 Immaculata in an inter-division game. The Red Devils have division games at No. 10 Hillsborough Tuesday and at No. 7 North Hunterdon Thursday and a nonconference game at Notre Dame Saturday. Central lost to Hillsborough 2-1 in the April 4 season opener at Diamond Nation and beat No. 7 North 5-4 April 9 at home.

7. North Hunterdon (5-4) – last week No. 7 –Lions went 3-1 beginning with Monday’s 4-3 non-conference home win over St. Joseph (Metuchen), a Skyland Delaware win over Somerville Tuesday, followed by a 2-1 Thursday home loss to No. 1 Bridgewater-Raritan. Junior lefty Zach Fronio threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings in a 4-0 Saturday win over Voorhees. Very busy week ahead. They go for the season sweep at No. 9 Ridge Tuesday, play at No. 8 Watchung Hills Wednesday before a Thursday home game against No. 6 Hunterdon Central. The Lions will play a non-conference game Friday against Middlesex at Patriots Stadium before a Saturday morning game at Ferris.

8. Watchung Hills (5-4-1) – last week unranked - The Warriors are out to find consistency after Saturday’s wild, triple-play fueled 4-2 inter-division win over Hillsborough. Senior third baseman Benjamin Verbel had three RBIs in Thursday’s 14-1 Raritan Division game at Montgomery. The four games this week include home division tests with Immaculata (home Tuesday) and at Rutgers Prep (Thursday). The Warriors lost to both teams in their first meetings.

9. Ridge (4-4) – last week unranked – A 3-0-week courtesy of complete-game four-hitters by junior Aiden Stieglitz and senior Ben Larner move the Red Devils into the Top 10. Stieglitz had eight strikeouts in Tuesday’s 3-1 Delaware Division win at Hillsborough and Larner didn’t allow a walk in the 6-0 division win at Hunterdon Central Thursday. Ridge was scheduled to play DePaul Sunday night in Weehawken. Up ahead are division games against North Hunterdon (Tuesday) and at Somerville (Thursday) with nonconference road games at Randolph (Wednesday) and New Providence Saturday at Patriots Stadium.

10. Hillsborough (4-6)–last week No. 8 –Coach Matt Mosko is confident his team is close to getting untracked. Since a 6-0 April 9 loss at No. 1 Bridgewater-Raritan they have followed three wins with three losses. They split four games last week, winning a non-conference game against Morristown Monday, losing 3-1 to Ridge Tuesday before beating Somerville 9-1 Thursday. They dropped a wild 4-2 inter-division game Saturday to No. 8 Watchung Hills. Raiders have an inter-division game Tuesday at Montgomery before returning home for division games with Hunterdon Central (Tuesday) and Bridgewater-Raritan (Thursday).

Others receiving consideration:Bernards (3-3-1), Delaware Valley (5-2), Phillipsburg (5-3)

Dropped out: New Providence (3-5), Union Catholic (5-4)

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Baseball: Area Skyland Conference, UCC Top 10 after Week 3