LINDEN - The Livingston Junior American Legion baseball team got to the point where they have wanted to be when the season started in June, a game away from making the state finals tournament this weekend.
Post 201, though, did it the hard way after losing the first game to Mt. Olive on Saturday in the District 2 Junior American Legion tournament. On Tuesday, Livingston held off Mt. Morris, 9-8, to advance.
"We didn't want to stop playing baseball and just kept going," said Livingston third baseman/pitcher Jake Dock, who picked up the save on the mound in relief.
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Post 201 faces the loser Haddon Heights-Mt. Olive with the winner receiving a ticket to the Junior American Legion state finals tournament this weekend. Livingston lost 10-6 to Mt. Olive in the opening game of the District 2 tournament.
Livingston jumped out to a 9-0 lead and were on the verge of taking the contest based on the 10-run rule, but Mt. Morris would not let Post 201 have it that way and scored eight unanswered runs.
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"It's hard to get your head back into the game after getting a lead," said Dock, wondering what would have happened if Mt. Morris had the sent the game into extra innings.
The Livingston Juniors put up six runs in the first inning and then a run in the second, third and fourth innings, but then Post 201's bats went silence. While Livingston could not hit in the later innings, Mt. Morris started chipping away with the three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. The Mt. Morris comeback trimmed Post 201's lead to 9-7.
While Brady O'Connor started on the mound for Livingston, Jordan Farber came in relief in the bottom of the fifth inning and was shaky as Mt. Morris scored four runs. But Farber came back in the bottom of the sixth inning, and with the bases loaded and two outs, the Livingston reliever struck out Mt. Morris's Cameron Hanie to stop the rally.
Farber, though, did not have the luck in the top of the seventh inning and he gave up an RBI base hit to trim the Livingston lead to 9-8.
Livingston Manager Bob Thiemer gave Dock the ball and he proceeded to have the next three hitters ground out. "He said, 'Here's the ball'," said Dock about what his manager told him while on the mound. "I was trying to hit my spots and getting them to ground out."
With two outs and the tying run at third base, Dock got Mt. Morris lead-off hitter Connor Smolensky to ground out to third base, Dock's usual position, and Connor Kimmel, who replaced him, momentarily bobbled the ball, but he kept it in front of him and threw to first baseman Andrew Egner, who made the great catch to stop Mt. Morris's comeback attempt.
"Connor can play any infield position except for first," said Dock, who admitted there was a little apprehension when he bobbled the ball. "He did get us a little nervous."
While getting the save on the mound, Dock also had a big game with the bat going 3-for-5 with a pair of RBIs and three runs scored. Outfielder Michael Botti was the other Post 201 player to have three hits, also going 3-for-5 with two runs scored and a triple.
Livingston outfielder Botti opened the game with a triple to centerfield. Botti scored on a wild pitch by Mt. Morris starting pitcher Tyler Amandos, who didn't last the first inning on the mound. Three Post 201 batters Evan Miles, Kimmel and Justin Tepper coaxed walks in consecutive at-bats.
Dock then ripped a double into right field and scored both Miles and Kimmel for a 3-0 lead. Egner brought home Tepper on a sacrifice fly to right field for a 4-0 lead. Both catcher, Alex Haberman, and centerfielder, Taylor Parsons, stroked RBI singles that scored Dock and Haberman.
In the first three innings, Livingston starting pitcher Brady O'Connor was sailing along through the Mt. Morris line-up as he faced only one extra batter than the minimum nine. In return, Post 201 added what appeared to be insurance runs in the second, third and fourth innings. In the second Dock scored on an error on Mt. Morris shortstop Michael Feula on a hit ball by Haberman. In the third inning, Dock smashed a double into centerfield that scored Botti from second base and Dock scored in the fourth inning.
