Sports Wrap: LHS Baseball Back on Track

The Livingston baseball team got back to its winning ways on Saturday, earning a 6-2 decision over Montclair Kimberley in Livingston.

The victory improved Livingston’s record to 7-5. Prior to Saturday, the Lancers had won just once in their last four games.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” said head coach Scott Schroeder. “We’ve been limited with practices (because of the weather). Hopefully we can improve.”

Schroeder was impressed with his starting pitcher on Saturday as Brady McLaughlin went the distance to earn his first victory of the spring.

McLaughlin, a senior left-hander, hurled a five-hitter, with 12 strikeouts and just two walks. McLaughlin (1-1) had no decisions in two of his previous three starts.

“Brady has pitched really well for us,” said Schroeder. “Unfortunately he had two games where we didn’t score enough. I was very happy to see him finish and pitch the full game.”

McLaughlin helped himself with a two-RBI day at the plate, including an RBI triple in the fifth inning that gave Livingston a 5-2 lead.

Matt Rehm added two RBI, Brandon Levy singled in a run and scored twice and John Sorrentino was 2-for-3 with a triple and two runs to pace the nine-hit attack against Montclair Kimberley.

Livingston already owns a huge victory over , 6-2, on April 9, but Schroeder is not letting his team live off that win.

“That was a nice win, but beating Seton Hall Prep wasn’t our main goal this year,” said Schroeder. “We have a lot of other good teams to play.”

After dropping a 4-1 decision to Millburn on Monday, Livingston will try to rebound during a big week coming up. It begins with a game at Verona on Wednesday and continues against Nutley in a Greater Newark Tournament Round of 16 game on Thursday at 4 p.m.

Livingston is the seventh seed for the 79^th annual GNT with Nutley being the tenth seed.

“We used to play in the Iron Hills Conference, which I thought was the toughest conference in the state,” said Schroeder. “We’re in the SEC (Super Essex Conference) now, and it’s a nice surprise to see how good the competition is.”

Tennis

The Lancer tennis team (18-0) will try for its fourth title of the season at the Newark Academy Invitational this weekend. The event, which has a field of eight of the top teams from across the state, will start on Saturday at 2 p.m. with the quarterfinals. The semifinals will be Sunday at 10:30 a.m. and the final will follow.

Livingston has already finished first at the Lancer Tennis Showdown, Bryan Bennett Memorial Tournament and .

Meanwhile, the match between LHS first-singles player Thomas Caputo and Golda Och’s Ari Smolyar for the Essex County Tournament singles title has not yet been scheduled. The site hasn’t been confirmed but the two will likely play at Millburn high school. Caputo and Smolyar met in the final last season with Caputo taking the crown after Smolyar retired with cramps during the third set.