Son's team played in the Boston Open last year. This was a well run tournament with teams mostly from New England and the Mid-Atlantic, but also with teams from as far away as Florida. The New England Baseball Complex was the anchor site with multiple games held there simultaneously, and these games were well attended by Northeast schools. Pool play was also held at several local colleges and these were more sparsely attendees by college recruiters. Like every other tournament, college coaches will go to games at the satellite locations if they are interested in specific players. Teams that advance from pool play have playoffs that were all held at the New England Baseball complex. There wasn't a published list of schools that were in attendance so I'm not sure exactly what schools were there, however one of my son's teammates will be playing at Tufts this fall (Tufts was one of the tourney satellite locations) and another received an offer from Maine, both directly as a result of being seen at this tournament.
Is the Garden State Invitational at Diamond Nation in Flemington, NJ? Son has played in tournaments there several times and the U16/U17 tournaments are well attended by local area schools. They post a list of schools in attendance and it's common for 30 D1-D3 schools to be there from all over the Northeast, many of them high academic. As is true for any tournament, the best approach is to establish a dialogue prior to the event with coaches from schools in attendance so that they will come watch your son play, however there are many schools there on the look out for talent. Son received interest and ultimately offers from coaches that just happened upon him at Diamond Nation tournaments. One recent observation as Diamond Nation tournaments have become very popular, is that some pool play games are held at local area high schools that are poorly attended by college coaches. A team might only have one game at the Diamond Nation complex if that team doesn't advance beyond pool play. That significantly limits exposure and if at all possible it would be worth obtaining clarity on this before committing to travel across the country. There is/was a separate "Garden State Invitational" held at Drew University. This is a small tournament that is not worth attending for recruiting purposes.
