Varsity Baseball | 5/19/2025 10:02:00 AM
The Union Catholic baseball team produced one of the biggest comeback victories in one of the biggest games in school history when the Vikings scored four runs in the seventh inning on Saturday afternoon to stun Westfield and advance to the Union County Championship game for the first time in 41 years!
Trailing 6-3 in the top of the 7th, the Vikings, the No. 3 seed, staged a huge rally to edge No. 3 Westfield, 7-6, in the semifinal round at Johnson High School in Clark.
Union Catholic, who also defeated Metuchen on Saturday night to improve to 15-7, will play top-seeded and undefeated Gov. Livingston (21-0), the defending champions and the No 1 team in the state, in the championship game on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Kean University.
This marks the first time that UC will play in the county final since 1984 when the Vikings won their only county championship before going on to win the State Non-Public A title and finishing the season as the No. 1 ranked team in New Jersey!
Luiggi Sacca and
Lenny Peguero, the No. 8 and No. 9 hitters, singled to start off the dramatic final inning. After
Josiah Sharpe was hit by a pitch to load the bases,
Greg Viloria hit a grounder to third base. The third basemen for Westfield threw wildly to home as the ball bounced off the backstop, allowing two runs to score on the error to cut the deficit to 6-5.
Chris Wilson was then intentionally walked, which loaded the bases. The next batter,
Brayden Morrison, was hit by a pitch to tie the game. Mickey Pellegrino then followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Viloria to give UC a 7-6 lead.
Sacca, a freshman, closed out the game for the Vikings on the mound, getting a pop out and strikeout to end the game with the potential tying run on third base. Sacca struck out three of the four batters he faced over his 1.1 innings.
Chris Tortorella, also a freshman, started the Vikings and did a great job getting out of some jams as he pitched a very solid 5.2 innings for UC.
Chris Wilson had a big game for the Vikings with a single, double and two runs batted in.
Brian McCabe tripled and knocked in a run with a groundout, and Peguero singled twice and scored two runs. Morrison finished the game with a single, one RBI, a run scored and one stolen base.
