Juniors Almost Stun Denville

LINDEN - The Livingston Junior American Legion team showed that they deserved to be at the state finals that started on Saturday.

Post 201 received a bid to the state finals despite finishing third in District 2, with the top two teams from each district receiving bids to the state finals starting this weekend in Linden.

Mt. Olive, the team that received the second bid from District 2, told the American Legion organizers that they could not promise the minimum of 12 players for each game in the state finals.  Livingston was then given the option to come to the state finals.

Post 201 did not let down the organizers in their decision as they came very close to stunning Denville, the defending state champions. Livingston took Denville to the bottom of the seventh before the defending champs finally took care of Post 201, with Livingston falling 5-4. In the double elimination tournament, Livingston will have to defeat either Haddon Heights or Cherry Hill on Sunday to stay alive in the state finals.

After a difficult first inning, Livingston pitcher Alex Haberman showed his stuff and he was able to keep Post 201 in the game.  The Livingston offense came back to tie it at four in the fifth inning.

The seventh inning, though, was something that Post 201 would like to take back. 

In the bottom of the seventh it was apparent that Haberman was wearing down near the end of the inning, but Livingston Manager Bob Thiemer decided to keep him in because he deserved it after the last five quality innings.

But Denville's Jackson Baird took a Haberman pitch and smacked it down the third base line with Livingston third baseman Jake Dock diving unable to knock the hit down. Denville's Steve Rosen came home from second base as Post 201 left fielder Justin Tepper was trying to dig it out of the corner.

"I had Jake hug the line, but there was no way he was going to get that," said Thiemer.

Before the at-bat with Baird, Haberman had hit James Aliotta in the back, then struck out Jimmy Oliveri and walked Rosen. "It was his ball game and for his to lose," said Thiemer about possibly taking him out, although he added, "I was tempted of intentionally walking him (Baird) to load the bases."

In the top of the seventh inning, Livingston had their chances with a couple of hits, but an Andrew Egner bunt fell short as Denville pitcher Christian Shuey threw to third to get Tepper at third base for the force.  Then on a Brady O'Connor ground ball to second base, Egner was forced at second and they caught Dock off third base and got him in a run down before tagging him out for the double play.

Despite the loss, Thiemer could not been happy with Haberman's performance and the team's performance."It was his first pitched strikes," said Thiemer about Haberman, who struck out six batters and only allowed four hits after the first inning. "He had an excellent curveball and an excellent fastball."

Thiemer said that in a recent game Haberman had thrown first ball strikes to 19 of the 21 batters that he got out in the game.

After being down 3-0 after the first inning, Livingston came right back in the top of the second inning to score two runs as Egner and O'Connor scored.

Connor Kimmel had a big day gong 2-for-4 with an RBI double in the fifth inning that was part of a rally that tied the game at four. Kimmel smacked a hit into left field that bounced over the fence, but scored Evan Miles. After Tepper walked, Kimmel scored from third on a Dock sacrifice to third base.

Miles went go 3-for-4 in the game with an RBI and a run scored. "Evan had an exceptional game and I am going to find somewhere to play him tomorrow," said Thiemer about Miles, who was the designated hitter against Denville.
   

*Editor's note: Due to technical difficulties, the photos are from the archive from an earlier game this season.