andy mendlowitz, mycentraljersey.com
·4 min read
TABERNACLE – As a pitcher, Keith Mann has a great weapon in his arsenal – the Governor Livingston offense behind him. The Highlanders just keep hitting from one to nine, playing small ball, blasting homers, and scoring in bunches.
Now that’s as good as a 99-mile-per-hour fastball or a dancing curve.
The sophom*ore righthander said it means, “Just having more confidence on the mound.”
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“Defense has been good all year, too,” Mann continued. “So I feel like I can just pitch wherever I want. Offense always picks me up when I’m not doing as good.”
Wednesday, Mann battled despite admittedly not having his best stuff and Governor Livingston defeated Seneca 10-2 in the NJSIAA Group 2 semifinal. The Highlanders advance to Saturday’s Group 2 final against Pascack Valley, which beat Caldwell, 6-2, in the other semifinal. First pitch is slated at 1 p.m. at Veterans Park in Hamilton.
Governor Livingston (27-5), the Central Group 2 champions, fell behind 1-0 after the first inning against Seneca (18-11), the South sectional winners.
GL then came on strong with three in the top of the second and five more over the next two frames to open an 8-1 lead.
Mann allowed two runs (1 ER) in five innings, scattering three hits and three walks with three strikeouts and Michael Liloia threw two scoreless frames and allowed just a hit.
Michael Basile went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and slugged a solo home run to left field leading off the fourth to make it 6-1. Matt Shaffer was also 3-for-4 (3 runs) and Zach Geertsma (2 RBIs) and Anthony DeNora (run) had two hits apiece.
Matty Diskin scored twice and drove in a run and Matt Kosuda singled and scored. Additionally, Dom Labisi came through from the No. 7 hole with a single and a pair of RBIs.
“I think it’s just a ton of confidence in our lineup,” said Basile, who as the catcher threw out a runner trying to steal and picked off a runner at second. “We know we got nine guys that will pick each other up and it doesn’t matter who’s having an off-day.
“We got one of the deepest lineups in the state, so it’s a ton of confidence in our pitching and our lineup. We know we’re never out of a game. We started down 1-0 – who cares? We came back and we put up a big spot."
The Highlanders, which start just three seniors, have had a gutsy run to the state title game with a pair of one-run wins and a 2-0 victory in the sectional tournament. Now, they’ve outscored their last two opponents 19-5. GL topped Delran 9-3 in the Central Group 2 final Monday.
Governor Livingston also has a deep pitching staff highlighted by Diskin, the Stetson-bound junior who will get the ball Saturday. Mann, though, has emerged as a pitch-to-count star in his sophom*ore season. He improved to 9-1 with the win and has a 0.75 ERA in 55 2/3 innings.
Mann said Wednesday he didn’t have his best off-speed stuff but succeeded with his fastball. The Highlanders’ hot bats did the rest.
“I think it relaxes all our pitchers,” GL coach Chris Roof said, “and I think because we can attack in so many different ways … pitchers feel like they can probably make a couple mistakes and if it goes in the gap and they score a run that we’ll get it back.”
Another plus for Governor Livingston – they certainly bring enthusiasm to the game. Players in the dugout were loud and chanted at times. Mann soaked up that lightning.
“I tired to keep it as normal as possible but it’s hard especially on the mound so I had to control my emotions a little bit,” Mann said, “but the energy on the field was like electric. It was really good. It’s been that way all season and it translated for our hitting and for our pitching, too. Just all the energy flowed on the field and we didn’t stop from there.”
Basile added, “There’s a ton of energy in the dugout. Ton of energy from our fans, from our parents. We do feed off that.”
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Baseball: Governor Livingston wins Group 2 semifinal
