For the first time in nine years the baseball Union County Tournament semifinals will not take place at Elizabeth’s Williams Field.
Union County Interscholastic Athletic Conference (UCIAC) Executive Director Tom Lewis disclosed Thursday afternoon that the semifinals will take place at KeanUniversity’s Jim Hynes ’63 Baseball Stadium in Union for the first time.
Saturday’s scheduled semifinals at Kean have starting times of 1:45 p.m. and 4:15 p.m., with the first game most likely starting closer to 2 p.m. since Saturday is an SAT day.
Two years ago only one of the two semifinals was able to take place at Williams Field on the scheduled Saturday because of SATs. The teams playing in the second semifinal – Dayton and Westfield – had to come back to play their semifinal the next day at Williams Field.
To avoid that scenario last year, the semifinals were played on a Sunday at Williams Field, the day after the Saturday SAT day.
Hopefully both games will go off Saturday at Kean without a hitch.
The semifinals were held at Williams Field the last eight seasons. The last year they were held at Rahway’s Veterans Field was 2005.
It was also decided earlier Thursday that the four quarterfinal games that were rained out Wednesday would be played on Friday.
The championship game, still scheduled for May 10 at Kean, now has a starting time of 1 p.m. The junior varsity title contest will take place at Kean right before at 10:30 a.m.
Here are the quarterfinal matchups once again, including updated team records:
TOP SIDE OF THE BRACKET:
13-Oratory Prep (3-7) at 5-Dayton (12-1)
8-Elizabeth (8-7) at 1-Gov. Livingston (14-1)
BOTTOM SIDE OF THE BRACKET:
11-Roselle Park (8-4) at 3-Westfield (9-3)
7-Union Catholic (13-3) at 2-Cranford (9-4)
Scotch Plains, upset at home by Oratory Prep in the initial first round game, failed to reach the semifinals for a seventh straight season. Neighborhood arch rival Westfield is a win away from achieving that feat.
The last year both Scotch Plains and Westfield were not in the semifinals was 2007.
Governor Livingston, Westfield and Dayton are the hottest teams in the county, have the longest present winning streaks and also possess the best overall records.
GL, which leads the Union County Conference’s Watchung Division, is 14-1 and has won nine straight.
Dayton, the defending Mountain Division champion and atop the standings in that league once again is 12-1 and has won four in a row.
Westfield is 9-3 and has won six straight, including a 5-4 Watchung Division home game over Cranford Tuesday.
Union Catholic is 13-3 and last year almost knocked off eventual champion and top-seeded Cranford in the quarterfinals before falling 6-5 in 11 innings at Memorial Field.
The Vikings will get another shot at the defending champion Cougars in another quarterfinal round setting in Cranford on Friday.
RosellePark, which won at sixth-seeded Union in the first round last Saturday, is coming off a 4-3Mountain Division home win Tuesday over Union Catholic.
Oratory Prep, the 13th seed, only has three wins, but its third was its 7-5 win at fourth-seeded Scotch Plains in first round play. The Rams have also defeated Watchung Division squad Linden and Valley Division foe Roselle Catholic.
GL defeated Elizabeth 15-1 at home back on April 3 behind junior left-hander Ethan Frohman (4-0). The teams were supposed to play their Watchung Division at Elizabeth on Friday, but now that game will have to be played at a later date.
It’s a possibility that Elizabeth, which last reached the semifinals in 2009 and last won the UCT in 2008, might have to face Frohman again on Friday. GL is seeking to reach the semifinals for the first time since 2011.
61ST ANNUALBASEBALLUNIONCOUNTY 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 Roselle Catholic
FIRST ROUND:
Friday, April 25
Oratory Prep 7, Scotch Plains 5 – at Scotch Plains
Saturday, April 26
Elizabeth 6, Summit 2 – at Elizabeth
Gov. Livingston 11, Linden 3 – at Gov. Livingston
Union Catholic 4, New Providence 1 – at Union Catholic
Cranford 14, Rahway 1 – at Cranford
RosellePark 6, Union 3 – at Union
Monday, April 28
Dayton 7, Johnson 5 – at Dayton
Westfield 10, Plainfield 0 – at Westfield
QUARTERFINALS:
Friday, May 2
TOP SIDE OF THE BRACKET:
13-Oratory Prep at 5-Dayton
8-Elizabeth at 1-Gov. Livingston
BOTTOM SIDE OF THE BRACKET:
11-Roselle Park at 3-Westfield
7-Union Catholic at 2-Cranford
SEMIFINALS:
Saturday, May 3
At KeanUniversity
1:45 p.m. and 4:15 p.m.
FINALS:
Saturday, May 10
At KeanUniversity
JV:10:30 a.m.
Varsity:1 p.m.