UNION — Union High School baseball was becoming just an afterthought as far as the Union County Tournament was concerned.
The Farmers went out in the first round the last three years, including the last two by shutout.
As the 14th seed this time, not much was expected from them. Union was put up at third-seeded Scotch Plains–Fanwood High School in a first-round matchup. Union previously opened with a 9-3 loss at Scotch Plains–Fanwood in a Union County Conference-crossover clash on Saturday, March 28.
This time Union trailed host Scotch Plains–Fanwood twice before rallying with the tying and winning runs in the top of the seventh. The Farmers, who scored in the final four innings, managed to hold the Raiders scoreless in the bottom of the seventh en route to producing a 6-5, come-from-behind UCT first-round triumph on Saturday, May 9.
Union won its first UCT game in four years and, on Wednesday, May 13, at sixth-seeded Westfield High School, was seeking to advance to the semifinals for the first time in five.
“I’m so proud of these guys,” said third-year Union head coach Lou Clemente, who guided the Farmers to a UCT victory for the first time in his young tenure there.
Union lost at Elizabeth High School, 10-0, in the first round last year; at Cranford High School, 7-0, in the first round two years ago; and at home to David Brearley High School, 9-3, in the first round three years ago.
For Union, it was its first UCT victory since winning at Scotch Plains–Fanwood, 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 High School, 6-2, at home in the quarterfinals; the Farmers lost to Governor Livingston High School, 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 led Union to 641 wins in a 33-season tenure from 1959 to 1991, died in July 2027 at the age of 92.
All four UCT quarterfinal games were scheduled to be played Wednesday, May 13. The other three pitted top-seeded Governor Livingston hosting ninth-seeded Summit, fifth-seeded Cranford playing at fourth-seeded Arthur L. Johnson and second-seeded Union Catholic hosting 10th-seeded David Brearley.
The semifinals are scheduled to be played Saturday, May 16, at a site to be determined and the final is Monday, May 18, at Kean University.
Union improved to 9-12 overall with its UCT win at Scotch Plains–Fanwood. The Farmers were 7-18 in 2024 and 5-19 in 2025 during Clemente’s first two seasons at the helm.
Union had a game scheduled at Shore on Tuesday, May 12, after press time, and then has its final regular season game scheduled at North Brunswick on Thursday, May 14. Union finished 2-8 in the UCC’s Mountain Division.
Union lost four of five following a 7-8 record as of Monday, April 27, before rallying against Scotch Plains–Fanwood on Saturday, May 9. Union first tied the game at 2-2 with its first two runs in the top of the fourth and then took a 3-2 lead with a single run in the fifth before Scotch Plains–Fanwood took back the lead at 5-3 by scoring three times in the bottom of the fifth. Union closed to within 5-4 with a single run in the sixth before scoring the game’s final two runs in the seventh.
“”We have been in these situations all year,” Clemente said. “Some have gone our way and some have not. That put us in a situation we were familiar with and we were able to scrape and claw our way back and execute when we needed to in the end.”
Standout senior Johnny Velez drove in four of Union’s runs with a 2-for-3 performance at the plate that included two home runs, one of them the game-winning hit. Velez reached base three times, including a walk.
“Johnny had two, big, clutch home runs, one of them in the seventh inning, and we closed it out from there,” Clemente said. “It was a complete team win and I couldn’t be more proud of this team.”
Junior hurler Michael Heaton earned the mound victory in relief, tossing two scoreless innings. Heaton allowed just two hits, while striking out one and walking none.
Starting the game on the mound for the Farmers was sophomore Ramon Contreras, who yielded five earned runs on eight hits through the first five innings, while striking out none, walking five and hitting one batter. Contreras did not really get into trouble until the fifth inning and gave Union a chance to win.
At the plate, Contreras was also one of two other Union batters who banged out two hits. Contreras was 2-for-2 with two singles, a run and an RBI, while fellow sophomore Mark Womack was 2-for-4 with two singles and two runs.
Also hitting safely for Union were senior Ethan Beaumont with a single for 1-for-3 and senior Jaydon Walton with a single for 1-for-4.
Union baseball in the UCT since 2021
2026: 14-Union at 6-Westfield
2026: Union 6, Scotch Plains–Fanwood 5 – at Scotch Plains–Fanwood
2025: Elizabeth 10, Union 0 – at Elizabeth
2024: Cranford 7, Union 0 – at Cranford
2023: David Brearley 9, Union 3 – at Union
2022: Union 7, Scotch Plains–Fanwood 5 – at Scotch Plains–Fanwood
2022: New Providence 12, Union 1 – at New Providence
2021: Union 14, Roselle Catholic 0 – at Union
2021: Union 6, Arthur L. Johnson 2 – at Union
2021: Governor Livingston 11, Union 4 – at Elizabeth
Photo by JR Parachini
