Senior right fielder Joe Curcio has been a major factor during Wayne Hills' eight-game winning streak. The LIU-Brooklyn recruit has helped the Patriots earn the No. 1 seed in the Passaic County tournament for the first time in seven years. (RECORD FILE PHOTO)

Senior right fielder Joe Curcio has been a major factor during Wayne Hills’ eight-game winning streak. The LIU-Brooklyn recruit has helped the Patriots earn the No. 1 seed in the Passaic County tournament for the first time in seven years. (RECORD FILE PHOTO)

Some of the Passaic County baseball tournament was difficult for coaches to seed.

One decision was pretty easy, though, for Passaic County’s coaches during their annual seeding meeting tonight at Passaic Tech. Wayne Hills has been Passaic County’s top team through the first 3½ weeks of this season and they seeded the Patriots appropriately.

Wayne Hills received the top seed for the first time since 2009, also the last time the Patriots won the Passaic County tournament. Wayne Hills (10-2), ranked No. 8 in The Record Top 25, has won eight straight games since losing, 4-3, to ninth-ranked Ramapo on April 13.

“With this group of guys that we have, they don’t rest their hat on being the one seed,” Wayne Hills coach Brian Gelalia said. “Last year we were the two seed and laid a complete egg in the tournament. You want to be at the top and give yourself the best chance to win this thing. But we’ve got a lot of things still to figure out and get better with, and hopefully we’ll hit our stride at the right time.”

Both of the Patriots’ losses this season were one-run games. They’ll get a chance to avenge their first defeat – a 7-6 home loss to West Milford on April 5 – in a Big North Independence Division game today in West Milford.

Eastside (8-4) received the second seed, one spot ahead of Passaic Tech (7-5), which Eastside defeated, 2-1, on Monday in Wayne. Eastside was seeded No. 13 last season, so earning the No. 2 spot this season was a sure sign of progress for second-year head coach Jose Rojas’ program.

Hawthorne (8-3) was seeded fourth. Each of the top four seeds will receive two byes and won’t play until hosting quarterfinals.

Hawthorne Christian and Manchester declined to enter what could’ve been a 17-team tournament, which eliminated the need for a play-in game.

Dates and times for preliminary round games are expected to be announced Wednesday.

Preliminary-round and opening-round games, and quarterfinals will be played at the home fields of higher-seeded teams.

The semifinals are scheduled for May 14 at Passaic Tech, at 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. The final is set for May 17 at 5 p.m., also at Passaic Tech.