After Strong Game, Union Catholic Loses to Governor Livingston in Baseball

Visiting Union Catholic and host Governor Livingston had different agendas Thursday for their Union County Conference-Mountain Division baseball clash.

The Vikings of Scotch Plains sought to back up a respectable effort they put forth at Cranford Tuesday in a 5-3 setback to the team that won the Mountain Valley Conference-Mountain Division title the last three years.

The Highlanders of Berkeley Heights – on the other hand – wanted to bounce back from a sub-par effort they delivered in Wednesday's 6-4 home setback to a struggling 2-4 Elizabeth squad that had lost four straight.

While Thursday's final score may not reflect it, Union Catholic hit the ball hard against one of the top senior right handers in the county, banged out 10 hits in all and made several outstanding plays in the field.

Governor Livingston – despite hitting into double plays in four straight innings, with the first three being inning-ending - scored in five of its six at-bats, slugged 19 hits and did not commit an error.

GL scored two runs in the bottom of the first to take the lead for good en route to a commanding 12-3 triumph.

It appeared at times that the Highlanders might win by the 10-run mercy rule, but the Vikings hung in there right until the very end, did not let that happen, and as a result fans of both teams were treated to a seven-inning contest.

After having a six-game winning streak snapped by Elizabeth, GL improved to 7-2 overall and 4-1 in the UCC's Mountain Division. In conference play, the Highlanders have lost at Cranford and have won at Summit, at home against Roselle Catholic, at Roselle and at home against Union Catholic.

Owners of an overall record of 3-5, Union Catholic slipped to 2-3 in the Mountain Division. In conference play, the Vikings have won at Roselle, defeated Hillside at home, lost at home to Summit, lost at Cranford and lost at GL.

There were many outstanding performances in a game that included 15 runs and 29 hits total. Three that stand out were provided by Union Catholic senior third baseman Rey Lopez, GL senior third baseman Jake Skinner and Highlander leadoff batter Billy Worswick.

Lopez had a solid game at the plate, going 3-for-4 from the No. 3 spot in the batting order. He singled twice and doubled.

However, a play he made in the field overshadowed what he accomplished at the plate.

In the bottom of the fourth with one out and GL already ahead by a comfortable margin of 7-1, a ground ball went underneath the glove of Lopez at third for an error. After a stolen base and walk, the Highlanders had runners on first and second with one out and were threatening again.

Lopez, who started at shortstop last year and is now playing third because of a hamstring injury he suffered when practice began, made sure that GL was not going to score in one of its at-bats for the first time.

Highlander senior left fielder Kevin Stumpf, on a 2-1 hitters' pitch, lined a shot that by all means should have gone past Lopez and into left field for at least an RBI-single.

However, Lopez dove – full body – and came up with the smash in his glove. He quickly got up, stepped on third for the force there and practically in the same motion fired to second for the force out there.

The 5-4 inning-ending double play was a highlight reel kind of effort – a Brooks Robinson or Graig Nettles masterpiece if you will.

"I'm not really a third baseman, I'm a shortstop," said Lopez, who will continue playing at Division 2 Saint Leo University in Saint Leo, Fla. "All I saw was the ball to the right side, so my instincts told me to dive. I was on the base already. My arm is not as strong as it used to be, so I went straight to second and made a good throw."

Lopez said that he pulled his hamstring back in early March when pre-season practice commenced.

"I played, I think, in our last two scrimmages and started playing a little bit at second," said Lopez, who is a North Plainfield resident. "Then I moved on to third, with Dave Schanz, who is younger, playing short."

Schanz started on the varsity last year as a freshman, playing a solid third base and batting .350. He is now at shortstop, with Lopez the third baseman this season.

Schanz, batting leadoff, went 3-for-4 against GL, with three singles.

"He and I discussed some things and he's only a sophomore and he's going to be a great player," Lopez said. "I don't like playing third base as much as shortstop, but I can get used to it. I never made a play like that at third base."

The double play started by Lopez was the third of four in four consecutive innings by the Vikings. Union Catholic ended the second with a 6-4 double play on a line drive to Schanz at short and concluded the third on a 6-4-3 double play started by Schanz.

The fourth and final double play, which produced the first two outs of fifth, was a 4-6-3 double play started by junior second baseman Matt Nowicki.

Lopez also threw a runner out at the plate on a 5-2 fielder's choice in the second. He fielded a ground ball and made a nice throw to home, with freshman catcher Mike D'Antico applying the tag.

Skinner was 2-for-4, with one run, three RBI, his first home run of the season, a single and was hit by a pitch to reach base three times in five trips.

A Star-Ledger First Team All-County selection a year ago, Skinner also made a nice play at third on a ball that was hit foul at first. Then the ball skipped into fair territory, hitting the third base bag.

Skinner picked up the ball off third base and then threw out the runner at first for the first of his two assists at third.

His two-run homer in the first gave GL the lead for good at 2-0 and was blasted over the center field fence, some 365 feet from home plate.

"Yesterday was definitely a tough loss and we needed to come out and play well," Skinner said. "This was almost like a bit of a statement game today."

Skinner slugged six home runs last year. He knows his team has played well at times this year, but there's still a lot more to prove.

"Numbers-wise, 7-2 is a good start, but we still haven't beaten any top-level teams," he said. "The best teams we've played we've played were Elizabeth and Cranford and we fell just short. This record doesn't really mean anything until we can beat teams of that caliber."

After Wednesday's loss to Elizabeth, GL seventh-year head coach Chris Roof thought it was time to shake things up a bit with his lineup.

"We moved some people around to try to get our offense going to where it's capable of going," Roof said.

One move was putting sophomore Billy Worswick at the top of the order after he previously batted second.

In his first game as GL's leadoff batter this year, Worswick went 4-for-5, banged out three singles and a triple, scored two runs, drove in two runs and also reached on a 5-2 fielder's choice. His on-base percentage was a perfect 5-for-5.

Worswick batted .377 as a freshman last year as GL's primary No. 6 batter. He did bat leadoff a couple of times.

After Thursday's outstanding performance, he may bat leadoff again.

"He's a confident, young player who has tremendous speed and is a good hitter," Roof said.

Tyler Martis, another standout sophomore, previously batted leadoff this year. He batted in the No. 9 slot against Union Catholic and went 2-for-3, with an RBI-double, a two-run single, a sacrifice fly RBI and scored two runs.

Designated hitter Chris Trimmer also had a fine day at the plate for GL, going 3-for-3, with three singles and three runs. He then came in to pitch the seventh in relief of starter Mike Rielly, who went the first six.

Rielly improved to 2-0 in three starts, allowing three earned runs on nine hits, while striking out two and walking two.

Union Catholic, despite scoring just three runs, hit the ball hard off Rielly and he acknowledged that.

"Yeah, they did," Rielly said. "I really didn't have my stuff today and my curveball wasn't moving like it normally does and I lost control of my fastball at points, but I was able to gut through it and my teammates picked me up in the field and by, definitely, swinging the bats."

Roof liked the way Rielly battled.

"He didn't have his best stuff, but that's what senior leaders do," Roof said. "They find a way to get it done and that's what Michael did, he gave us six strong. We hit the ball hard today, a lot of line drives, and we hit into four double plays. We've been playing some really good defense and that is definitely one of our strengths this year."

Sophomore right hander Evan Dickerson started on the mound for Union Catholic and gave up nine runs – eight of them earned – on 13 hits.

Junior righty Andrew Wood pitched the final two innings, giving up three runs on six hits, while striking out one, walking one and hitting one batter.

NOTES: These two conference foes are scheduled to meet in league play again on May 7 at 4 p.m. at Union Catholic's new field turf field at its high school in Scotch Plains.

The last time Union Catholic played at GL was in the first round of last year's Union County Tournament. The game came after GL downed UC 11-4 at home in conference play and before the Highlanders bested the Vikings 8-1 on the road in conference play.

While UC lost to GL twice in two tries in conference play, the Vikings managed to beat the Highlanders in the UCT, winning 4-2 in eight innings. Lopez produced the game-winning hit, which was a two-out, two-run single in the top of the eighth. He went 2-for-4 in that game with those two RBI.

GL finished 20-8 last year and UC 7-11.

UNION COUNTY CONFERENCE-MOUNTAIN DIVISION GAME

UNION CATHOLIC (3-5)                   0   0   1      0   0   2      0 -    3   11   3

GOVERNOR LIVINGSTON (7-2)   2   2   3      0   2   3      x - 12   19  0

PITCHERS OF RECORD:

Union Catholic – Evan Dickerson, sophomore right hander, (1-1)

Gov. Livingston – Mike Rielly, senior right hander, (2-0)

DOUBLES:

Union Catholic – Mike D'Antico, Rey Lopez.

Gov. Livingston – Tyler Martis, John Jennings.

TRIPLES:

Union Catholic – None.

Gov. Livingston – Billy Worswick.

HOME RUNS:

Union Catholic – Brandon Suarez.

Gov. Livingston – Jake Skinner, John Jennings.

UNION CATHOLIC VIKINGS (3-5)

April 1 (A) Union Catholic 10, Roselle 0

April 3 (H) Mendham 4, Union Catholic 3

April 6 (H) Union Catholic 11, Hillside 1

April 8 (H) Holmdel 9, Union Catholic 6

April 9 (H) Summit 13, Union Catholic 4

April 10 (H) Union Catholic 13, Rahway 3

April 13 (A) Cranford 5, Union Catholic 3

April 15 (A) Gov. Livingston 12, Union Catholic 3

Overall: 3-5

UCC-Mountain Division: 2-3

This weekend- weather permitting:

Saturday – vs. J.P. Stevens at Roselle Park, 1 p.m. – Dads Club Invitational