Defending champion Cranford, top-seeded Governor Livingston and lower-seeded Roselle Park – sparked by standout senior Luis Amaro – advanced to the baseball Union County Tournament quarterfinals with first-round wins on Saturday.
The quarterfinals are scheduled to be played at the higher seeds Wednesday, with Thursday as the rain date.
Cranford, which has won the UCT three of the last four years, defeated 15th-seeded Rahway 14-1 at Memorial Field. The second-seeded Cougars will host seventh-seeded Union Catholic in the quarterfinals.
Union Catholic defeated 10th-seeded New Providence 4-1 in Scotch Plains.
GL, still seeking its first UCT crown, easily handled 17th-seeded Linden 11-3 in Berkeley Heights. The Highlanders will host eighth-seeded Elizabeth in the quarterfinals.
Elizabeth eliminated ninth-seeded Summit 6-2 at Williams Field.
Two first-round games still have to be played on Monday, including 14th-seeded Plainfield at third-seeded Westfield and 12th-seeded Johnson at fifth-seeded Dayton.
The biggest upset came in the tournament’s first game, with 13th-seeded Oratory Prep of Summit winning at fourth-seeded Scotch Plains 7-5 on Friday.
Behind the pitching and hitting of junior college-bound star Amaro, a four-year varsity starter for the Panthers, 11th-seeded Roselle Park won at sixth-seeded Union 6-3.
61ST ANNUAL BASEBALL UNION COUNTY TOURNAMENT
SEEDS: 1-Gov. Livingston. 2-Cranford. 3-Westfield. 4-Scotch Plains.
5-Dayton. 6-Union. 7-Union Catholic. 8-Elizabeth.
9-Summit. 10-New Providence. 11-Roselle Park. 12-Johnson.
13-Oratory Prep. 14-Plainfield 15-Rahway. 16-Roselle Catholic.
17-Linden.
PRELIMINARY ROUND
Wednesday, April 23
Linden 11, Roselle Catholic 5 – at RC
FIRST ROUND
Friday, April 25
Oratory Prep 7, Scotch Plains 5 – at SP
Saturday, April 26
Elizabeth 6, Summit 2 – at Elizabeth
Gov. Livingston 11, Linden 3 – at GL
Union Catholic 4, New Providence 1 – at UC
Cranford 14, Rahway 1 – at Cranford
Roselle Park 6, Union 3 – at Union
Monday, April 28
12-Johnson at 5-Dayton
14-Plainfield at 3-Westfield
QUARTERFINALS
Wednesday, April 30
TOP SIDE OF THE BRACKET
13-Oratory Prep at 12-Johnson/5-Dayton
8-Elizabeth at 1-Gov. Livingston
BOTTOM SIDE OF THE BRACKET
11-Roselle Park vs. 14-Plainfield/3-Westfield
7-Union Catholic at 2-Cranford
SEMIFINALS
Saturday, May 3
TBA
FINAL
Saturday, May 10
At Kean University