West Essex’s Anthony Genchi - as much as any coach preparing for the annual odyssey that is the NJSIAA baseball state tournament – knows full well how precarious a high seed can be in the annual New Jersey high school diamond event which begins on Wednesday (May 27) for public school teams.
After all, as a co-coach at Montclair in 2022, he was joined by fellow head man Ron Gavazzi and their top-seeded Mounties in seeing their state tourney dreams dashed on Day 1 as 16th-seeded Hackensack came into the Woodman diamond and shocked those who followed the North 1, Group 4 bracket by earning a stunning 2-1 victory.
“I remember that game very well; how could you forget it?” said the Knights’ first-year head coach, who has guided the North Caldwell regional high school to a superb 2026 season and a No. 2 seed in the upcoming North 2, Group 2 tourney field. “All I know is the fact of life for all of us going into the state tourney, that any team – regardless of their seed - can have a well-pitched game that day and knock you off.
“For sure, you can never look past anyone you play in the states and your team has to be prepared for the challenge of trying to win that game which is in front of you without even thinking about the fact it takes four wins in a row to win a sectional title.”
The NJSIAA tourney commences Tuesday for non-public teams slated to play a first-round game and then goes full tilt the next day with the publics getting underway with a large number of games around the state.
The state tourney for public schools continues with the sectional quarterfinals on Friday, May 29, followed by semifinals on Wednesday, June 3, and the sectional finals on Friday, June 5, all at the higher-seeded team’s home diamond.
Public school group semifinals are slated for Monday, June 8, with the state finals scheduled for Rutgers University on Sunday, June 14.
The Non-Public state finals are set for Wednesday, June 10, also at Rutgers.
West Essex (19-6) is positioned just below its neighboring rival, top-seeded Caldwell, in what could be a very difficult N2G2 field, as there are plenty of potential sectional finalists among the teams ready to go to battle in that state section, including third-seeded West Morris (17-7), fourth-seeded Madison (14-9-1) and a dangerous seventh-seeded Mendham (13-10-1).
Caldwell will host 16- Hillside, while West Essex entertains 15-Parsippany in Wednesday’s opening round action.
A West Essex-Caldwell sectional final would certainly create plenty of interest for local fans of the two strong baseball programs. The Knights own a regular season win over the Chiefs, 9-3, back on May 7, at Yogi Berra Stadium in Little Falls.
Both teams absorbed 1-run defeats to seventh-seeded Nutley in the 93rd Greater Newark Tournament as the Maroon Raiders defeated the second-seeded Chiefs, 4-2, in the quarterfinals before edging third-seeded West Essex, 2-1 in the semis.
Now, each has the opportunity to make deep runs in the N2G2 state section, although there are no guarantees past Wednesday's firat round.
“Our section is very tough with a lot of good teams,” added Genchi. “We like how our team is playing, but everything starts over once the state tourney gets underway.”
Both West Essex and Caldwell have at least three reliable pitchers they can turn to in the states. The Knights have their senior ace in right-hander Jackson Lodgek (6-1, 2.44 ERA, 56 K’s in 43 IP)
Then there is depth as the Knights can turn to a pair of quick-ascending juniors in hard-throwing Daniel Gorab (4-3, 2.58, 59 K’s in 43 1/3 IP) and Nick Street (3-0, 1.42) who all receive strong direction from their pitching coach Corey Feigenbaum, who came over from Livingston this season to be Genchi’s right-hand man after a coaching change with the Lancers, who had won a pair of state sectional titles and were GNT runners-up on two different occasions during his time there on Mickey Ennis’ staff.
