Story by Will Harrigan of NJ.com
An already legendary baseball season that is unfolding in Berkeley Heights added a laurel to show for it on Tuesday night, and in special fashion.
In what way for Governor Livingston? Pitching. Superb pitching.
A combined no-hitter from Keith Mann and Anthony Denora for top-seeded Governor Livingston – the top-ranked team in the NJ.com Top 20 and rapidly climbing the Baseball America national rankings too – clinched a second consecutive county title for the Highlanders with a 5-0 victory over third-seeded Union Catholic in the Union County Tournament final in front of a great crowd at Kean University.
The title is the fifth for Chris Roof’s 22-0 Highlanders, and the first time Governor Livingston retained the trophy in consecutive years. Union Catholic – appearing in its first final since 1984 – fell to 16-8.
“You don’t get to (22-0) without pitching, there’s just no way you can,” said Roof. “We’re fortunate to have a number of arms we can go to this year, and if we can score early, it really puts us in a good spot.”
The run support came early but often.
Governor Livingston catcher Michael Basile, a junior who is already to play Division I baseball at Lehigh, belted a double to deep center field to plate Geertsma and Novotny to make it 2-0.
Denora, D2 Caldwell-bound and another piece of what essentially is a college baseball team playing on the high school circuit right now, followed that with a double to make it 3-0.
Coming on in relief for the final four outs, Denora did not allow a baserunner to seal the title.
“It feels so great to win this. Taking counties is one of our big goals before the season,” said Denora. “Hitting, pitching, defense. We really don’t have any weaknesses in any of those different parts of the game. It’s just all coming together this year and it’s crazy to be a part of it.”
Matty Diskin and Dominic Labisi each were struck by pitches with the bases loaded to force in runs to cap off a five-run first for the champions.
It turned out to be the only scoring frame of the game, but that was all Mann needed.
In 5 ⅔ innings of work, Mann only walked one batter to go along with a hit batsman and an error to account for Union Catholic’s only baserunners.
After a rocky start in the first, Vikings ace Nick Anderson settled in well, pitching five scoreless innings and only surrendering one hit in that span.
“Obviously it’s a tough climb back when you give up five in the first, but our guys battled,” said Union Catholic coach Anthony Coletti, Jr. “(Governor Livingston) is a great team without many weaknesses. We haven’t gotten here in a while, and now we know what the standard is and we need to meet the challenge going forward.”
Meanwhile, Baseball America – long considered the gold standard of national baseball ratings – had the Highlanders at No. 33 last week, and should be even higher when the latest update is published this week.
Normally the goal of a state title is what Governor Livingston pursues, but national recognition is now a factor for the program as well with the year they’re having.
“It’s a great question, but we really do look at it game by game. It’s a cliche, but it is the truth,” said Roof. “There are possibilities of getting to a level that we haven’t yet, nationally, but you are always one ace pitcher away from that all ending. And it can and has happened in the state tournament, so our focus won’t stop until the last out of our season is played.”