UNION COUNTY — The 72nd annual baseball Union County Tournament will continue with the semifinals scheduled for Saturday, May 16, and the championship game to follow on Monday, May 18, at Kean University.
As of press time, a site for the semifinals had not yet been determined.
The quarterfinals, barring inclement weather, were scheduled to be played at the higher seeds Wednesday, May 13.
The seeds were disclosed Tuesday, May 5, with two-time defending champion Governor Livingston High School awarded the top seed. Union Catholic High School, which last year reached the final for the first time since the only year the Vikings won the tournament in 1984, was seeded second.
Scotch Plains–Fanwood High School received the third seed and Arthur L. Johnson High School the fourth seed. Arthur L. Johnson snapped Governor Livingston’s state-record 40-game winning streak with a 2-1, nine-inning home win against the Highlanders on Saturday, April 11.
The quarterfinal matchups on Wednesday, May 13, pitted, on the top side of the bracket, ninth-seeded Summit High School at top-seeded Governor Livingston and fifth-seeded Cranford High School at fourth-seeded Arthur L. Johnson, while on the bottom side of the bracket, second-seeded Union Catholic hosted 10th-seeded David Brearley High School and sixth-seeded Westfield played at home against 14th-seeded Union High School.
The home teams went 5-3 on Saturday, May 9, in first-round play, with Governor Livingston, Cranford, Westfield, Arthur L. Johnson and Union Catholic high schools winning at home and lower-seeded Union, Summit and David Brearley coming out on top on the road.
The 14th-seeded Union Farmers won at third-seeded Scotch Plains–Fanwood, 6-5, to improve to 9-12. Union opened its season with a 9-3 loss at Scotch Plains–Fanwood in a Union County Conference-crossover clash in Scotch Plains.
For Union it was its first UCT victory since winning at Scotch Plains, 7-5, in the first round in 2022. Union then lost at New Providence High School, 12-1, in the quarterfinals.
Union last reached the final four of the tournament the year before in 2021 when, after beating Roselle Catholic High School, 14-0, at home in the first round and then Arthur L. Johnson, 6-2, at home in the quarterfinals, the Farmers lost to Governor Livingston, 11-4, in a semifinal round game played at Elizabeth.
Union last won the UCT way back in 1993, guided by 1967 UHS grad Chet Czaplinski, who was in his second year at the helm. Third with the most UCT titles with eight, Union’s previous title before 1993 was 51 years ago in 1975, the seventh and final time legendary head coach Gordon LeMatty guided the Farmers to the crown. LeMatty, who guided Union to 641 wins in a 33-season tenure from 1959 to 1991, died in July 2025 at the age of 92.
If Governor Livingston and Arthur L. Johnson won on Wednesday, May 13, then they will face each other again in the semifinals on Saturday, May 16. Governor Livingston has won the UCT five times and Arthur L. Johnson just once in 1980.
Westfield has won the most UCT championships with 15, while Cranford is second with 11 and Elizabeth fourth with six.
Cranford (2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2022, 2023), Governor Livingston (2016, 2018, 2021, 2024, 2025), Westfield (2012, 2014, 2017) and Scotch Plains–Fanwood (2009, 2019) have combined to win all the UCTs since 2009. Elizabeth was the last school outside of that group to win the title in 2008.
72nd Annual Baseball Union County Tournament
Seeds: 1-Governor Livingston. 2-Union Catholic. 3-Scotch Plains–Fanwood. 4-Arthur L. Johnson. 5-Cranford. 6-Westfield 7-Oratory Prep. 8-New Providence. 9-Summit. 10-David Brearley. 11-Elizabeth. 12-Roselle Park. 13-Jonathan Dayton. 14-Union. 15-Plainfield. 16-Linden. 17-Rahway.
Preliminary Round
Thursday, May 7
Linden 10, Rahway 1 – at Linden
First Round
Saturday, May 9
Governor Livingston 21, Linden 0 – at Governor Livingston
Summit 5, New Providence 4 – at New Providence
Arthur L. Johnson 10, Jonathan Dayton 0 – at Arthur L. Johnson
Cranford 13, Roselle Park 0 – at Cranford
Union Catholic 15, Plainfield 2 – at Union Catholic
David Brearley 8, Oratory Prep 1 – at Oratory Prep
Union 6, Scotch Plains–Fanwood 5 – at Scotch Plains–Fanwood
Westfield 8, Elizabeth 1 – at Westfield
The home team went 5-3.
Quarterfinals
Wednesday, May 13
Top side of the bracket
9-Summit at 1-Governor Livingston
5-Cranford at 4-Arthur L. Johnson
Bottom side of the bracket
10-David Brearley at 2-Union Catholic
14-Union at 6-Westfield
Semifinals
Saturday, May 16
Quarterfinal winners at a site to be determined.
Approximate start times: noon and 3 p.m.
Final
Monday, May 18
Semifinal winners
At Kean University, 6 p.m.
Photo by JR Parachini
