UNION — How does the Governor Livingston High School baseball team sidestep the state-ranking, the undefeated record and constantly being a heavy favorite?
“One game, one inning, one pitch at a time,” standout junior catcher Michael Basile said.
On the 13th pitch thrown by Union Catholic High School senior right-hander Nick Anderson, Basile smoked a two-run double that reached the 400-foot center field fence on one bounce, scoring Zach Geertsma and Michael Novotny, who began the bottom of the first for the Highlanders with back-to-back singles, ahead of him.
Speaking of back-to-back, Basile came through with Governor Livingston’s game-winning hit for the second straight game to help lead the Highlanders to consecutive county championships for the first time.
Governor Livingston scored the game’s only five runs in the bottom of the first, while junior starter Keith Mann and senior reliever Anthony DeNora combined on a no-hitter to lead the top-seeded Highlanders past the third-seeded Union Catholic Vikings, 5-0, in the 71st annual baseball Union County Tournament championship game contested at Kean University’s Jim Hynes Class of 1963 Field on Tuesday night, May 20.
After losing in its first five trips to the UCT final, Governor Livingston finally won the event for the first time in 2016. Now the Highlanders have captured back-to-back titles for the very first time. Governor Livingston has won five of the last nine UCTs.
“We just let the game come to us,” said Basile, who, in Governor Livingston’s 1-0 semifinal win against fourth-seeded Elizabeth High School on Saturday, May 17, at Arthur L. Johnson High School, drove in the game’s only run in the bottom of the sixth with a one-out single.
Against Union Catholic, Basile, who went 2-for-4 with two RBI, was the game’s only player to produce two hits. Governor Livingston banged out seven, all of them coming in the first two innings: four in the first and three in the second.
For the third time in the last three UCT championship games, Governor Livingston did not allow a run through the game’s first six innings. Cranford High School beat Governor Livingston, 1-0, in the 2023 final, scoring the game’s only run in the bottom of the seventh, and then Governor Livingston held on to down Westfield High School, 10-8, in the 2024 title game, with Governor Livingston ahead 10-0 going into the bottom of the seventh, when Westfield scored all eight of its runs.
“It’s unbelievable,” Basile said. “Now, we have more numbers to put up on our banners. We still have a lot more work to be done.”
Governor Livingston, ranked No. 1 in New Jersey and the defending Central Jersey, Group 2 and Group 2 champion, improved to 22-0 and won its 28th straight game dating back to last year. The Highlanders won by shutout for the fifth straight game and produced their 13th win by shutout. The Highlanders have allowed only 31 runs in 22 games.
Governor Livingston also shut out Union Catholic for the third time, including 10-0 at home and 5-0 on the road in regular season Union County Conference–Watchung Division clashes. Governor Livingston won the Watchung Division outright at 11-0 and Union Catholic finished in second at 7-4.
Governor Livingston also won the UCT for the first time undefeated and for the first time without allowing a run, outscoring four foes by an impressive 49-0 margin. Governor Livingston blanked Linden High School, 33-0, at home; shut out Arthur L. Johnson, 10-0, at Snyder Field in Berkeley Heights; whitewashed Elizabeth, 1-0, at Arthur L. Johnson; and then held Union Catholic to a scoreless 5-0 at Kean.
Union Catholic, having a fine season with head coach Anthony Colletti Jr., had a three-game winning streak snapped and slipped to 16-8. This was only the second time and the first time in 41 years that the Vikings reached the UCT final. They were seeking their second crown.
Governor Livingston has now won the UCT five times and is 5-6 in the final, 5-5 with present head coach Chris Roof, at the helm of the Highlanders since 2004.
Mann was given the ball to start against Union Catholic and had a total of 80 eligible pitches with which to work. In a five and two-thirds innings performance, Mann was almost perfect.
Mann allowed just three baserunners, the only ones who reached base for Union Catholic, while giving up no runs on no hits. Mann struck out five, walked one and hit one batter.
The only three Union Catholic batters to reach base were junior Gregory Viloria, when he walked on a 3-2 count in the first inning; junior Michael Pellegrino, who reached on an infield error in the second; and, after Mann retired 13 in a row, senior leadoff batter Josiah Sharpe on a hit by pitch with two outs in the sixth.
DeNora followed Mann by retiring all four batters he faced to close out a second straight UCT final. DeNora also closed out the Elizabeth game by getting the final two outs after a superb 109-pitch effort produced by senior righty Matty Diskin, who was the winning pitcher in last year’s UCT final.
“It feels good that, in big situations, the coaches trust me,” DeNora said.
Mann felt comfortable his entire time on the mound and just went for it against a team Governor Livingston already had a great deal of success against.
“My mentality was to go after the hitters with anything that I wanted to throw,” said Mann, who hurled 1-2-3 innings in the third, fourth and fifth. “My two-seam worked. I felt that I could throw it on any count. I also pounded them with my slider and reached out of my back pocket for a changeup.”
In the bottom of the first, not only did Governor Livingston take a quick 5-0 lead, but did so with still nobody out. At that point, it seemed as if Anderson might not be able to retire a single batter.
Geertsma singled to center, lefty-swinging Novotny went the other way for a single to left and then Basile drilled his run-producing hit. DeNora followed with an RBI-double to the same spot in center that Basile’s hit found. Following a walk and a fielder’s choice that resulted in a throwing error to third loaded the bases, Diskin and Dominic Labisi drove in runs with the bases full, after being hit with pitches.
Ahead now 5-0 and still with the bases loaded and nobody out, Governor Livingston’s No. 9 batter, Reid Bazydlo, hit a shot too short that appeared to have hit the ground before nestling in the glove of Union Catholic shortstop Viloria. Selling the hit as if he caught it, Viloria threw to third for a double play to get the Governor Livingston runner off base.
Roof, to no avail, argued that the ball hit the ground and was not caught on a fly. Governor Livingston’s next batter flew out and the inning was over.
Anderson rebounded to go the distance, tossing a seven-hitter. Anderson struck out two, walked one and hit two batters.
Anderson did not allow a hit after the second inning and, at one point, retired 10 in a row before walking a Governor Livingston batter with two outs in the sixth. That was Governor Livingston’s first baserunner since the third inning, after Anderson retired the Highlanders in order in the fourth and fifth.
It was a gutsy performance by Anderson, who pitched in the first division game earlier in the year against Governor Livingston. Anderson was able to get Governor Livingston out by getting the Highlanders to hit the ball right at his fielders.
“After we went ahead 5-0, I think the big field played to Union Catholic’s advantage,” Basile said. “They played us well and that’s a credit to them.”
As for Mann’s performance on the mound, Basile said, “Keith was unbelievable. With a little tighter zone, he battled. He pitched to contact and missed a lot of barrels. He did a fantastic job.”
Notes: Governor Livingston reached the UCT final for the third year in a row for the second time in program history. The first time was in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Of the four UCT titles Governor Livingston has won at Kean – the Highlanders won their 2021 crown at Elizabeth – all of them came from the first base dugout.
This has probably never happened before: Governor Livingston won the UCT by giving up no runs, with an undefeated record and won the title game with a no-hitter.
Governor Livingston will next attempt to repeat as Central Jersey, Group 2 champions as the states began Tuesday, May 27.
2025 Baseball Union County Tournament Championship Game at Kean
3-Union Catholic (16-8) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 0 2
1-Gov. Livingston (22-0) 5 0 0 0 0 0 x – 5 7 1
WP: Keith Mann. LP: Nick Anderson.
Singles: Governor Livingston – Zach Geertsma, Michael Novotny, Michael Basile, Ryan Pappas (infield), Alex Adornato (infield).
Doubles: Governor Livingston – Michael Basile, Anthony DeNora.
Photos by JR Parachini