Gov. Livingston Baseball Team Moves on to State Sectional Final

There's something to be said for those days when a baseball team  is firing on all cylinders and comes into tournament play with an expectation of winning.

This can be said of the Governor Livingston Highlanders boys' varsity baseball team on Tuesday afternoon as they overcame the Raritan Rockets 7-3 at Governor Livingston High School in Berkeley Heights.

"Last year when we played Raritan we lost 10-0; this year we thought we were going to come out good and win," said Highlander Mike Cranston. "They are a tough team and a tough bunch of kids."

The win allowed Governor Livingston to secure a spot in the state sectional final Friday. The Highlanders will host Middlesex at 4:00pm for the Central Jersey Group 2 sectional championship.

The Highlanders got on the board first, picking up two runs in the third inning on an RBI out by Tyler Martis and a single by Keith Skinner. But it wasn't until the sixth inning that the Highlanders were able to break the game open when Martis, Mike Cranston and Keith Skinner completed a four-run rally  

Scoring runs late has become familiar territory for the Highlanders.

"It's been us all year," Cranston said."Sometimes it takes a while but we had to start hitting if we are going to win against Middelsex."

Coach Chris Roof said the schedule has helped the team face some tough challenges that have prepared the team especially for tournament play.

"Playing all those Group 4's and Group 3's like Cranford, Scotch Plains and Westfield (really helped). And then there's the good pitching from Cranston and Joey Graziano."

This is the third consecutive year that the Highlanders have made the final. The team won in 2006 but lost in 2009 and 2010. Governor Livingston  will face Middlesex, the No.4 seed, which upset No.1 seed Voorhees 6-1 on Tuesday.

Roof said the team will be reviewing scouting reports prior to Friday to improve his teams chances but only to a point.

"You can get all the scouting reports in the world but you have to be able to execute," Roof said.   

The Highlanders improve to 23-6 on the season.