Gov. Livingston’s Mike Novotny had two singles, a home run and scored twice.
By Bob Behre
Mike Novotny and Matt Diskin delivered monstrously clutch hits in the middle of a four-run fifth inning rally to deliver both a second round NJSIAA tournament victory for Gov. Livingston and career victory No. 500 for their coach, Chris Roof.
An unranked but very game South River squad had just rallied for three runs in the top of the fifth inning to tie the Central Jersey, Group 2 quarterfinal at 6-6, putting Gov. Livingston (24-0), ranked No. 1 in the state by NJ.com, on its heels.
But the Highlanders, as they had in a wild come-from-behind victory over 16th-seeded Point Pleasant Boro in the first round, absorbed the punch and returned a nasty flurry that didn’t end until the section’s No. 1 seed stood tall with a 12-6 victory.
The 51 year-old Roof had entered the season at 476-184-1 in his career for a gaudy .721 winning percentage. But the 24-0 start to 2025 has not only lifted him to the elite 500-win level, it has improved his winning percentage a whole 10 points to .731. Gov. Livingston is on a 30-game winning streak that began with the state tournament last year. Ninth-seeded South River’s much-admired coach Mike Lepore, Jr., reached the 300-win plateau on May 21, 2024.
Roof faced the chore on Thursday of keeping his team focused on the more important job at hand, winning an elimination game and advancing in the state tournament, while making sure the noise of his significant milestone never crept into his players’ thoughts at game time.
Gov. Livingston knows the focus drill well having won the Group 2 championship a year ago with six of those players returning to the 2025 starting lineup.
“You have to be careful because players feed off their coach; his mood, his emotions, even his personality,” said Roof. “You have to be even-keeled. We’re not afraid. We like to go after people, but you have to stay level.”
In other words, Roof wanted his players to play baseball and put aside any anxiety about their coach’s achievements.
The beginning of that Highlander answer to the South River (16-9) fifth-inning rally began loudly with Novotny, a junior first baseman committed to UMass. The lefty-hitting Novotny, already with a single, an RBI and a run-scored, led off the bottom of the fifth with a long home run over the right field fence at Snyder Park in Berkeley Heights, putting Gov. Livingston back in front, 7-6.
“My job is to get the energy going,” said Novotny. “I’m trying to put the ball in play.” But Novotny got a 2-1 fastball from Borvsovic up and in and he didn’t miss. “That’s the money-maker,” said Novotny about the pitch’s location. “I saw two balls and I took a strike. I thought he was going to come back with a fastball.”
Michael Basile, the Highlanders No. 3 hitter, followed promptly with a long double that landed at the base of the fence in left field. Reliever Julien Borvsovic got two quick strikes on cleanup hitter Anthony DeNora, but plunked him with the next pitch. Alex Adornato then reached on an infield error to load the bases with one out.
That sent perhaps the state’s best No. 7 hitter to the plate in the form of Matt Diskin. Diskin singled in a run and scored in a three-run third inning that forged a 4-0 lead for the Highlanders. The DH worked the count to 3-1 before lacing a double down the third base line that cleared the bases and put Gov. Livingston in front, 10-6.
“I hunt fastballs,” said Diskin. “He was down 3-1 to me so I was looking for something I could do damage with. I got something middle-in.” And he drove it inside third base and all the way down the left field line to drive in all three runners.
That’s Chris Roof in front after career victory No. 500 in a state tournament win against South River.
The Stetson-bound Diskin is a good one to have on your side. Last June, the big righty tossed a three-hit shutout and hit a two-run home as Gov. Livingston defeated Pascack Valley, 3-0, in the Group 2 championship game. Diskin is done for the season as a pitcher because of an elbow issue but his bat remains lethal and one opponents have to account for in the relentless Highlanders lineup.
Gov. Livingston, which managed 17 baserunners courtesy of 10 hits, three walks, three hit-by-pitches and an error, would tack on two more runs in the bottom of the sixth to extend its lead to 12-6. Ryan Pappas doubled in one of those runs and the other scored when the double was mishandled in left. It was Novotny who started that rally, as well, with a single to right-center that capped a 3-for-4 day.
“I had other 3-for-4 days but this is the one I like the most,” said Novotny.
Reliever Aidan Feldman closed out the final two innings for Gov. Livingston. He struck out the bottom of the South River lineup in order in the sixth, restoring order to the Highlander bullpen. He then allowed a walk and a single (to Zsorey) in the seventh but concluded his two-inning outing scoreless on one hit. He struck out four and walked one.
Meanwhile, the post-game celebration for Roof, complete with signs and balloons revealed the Gov. Livingston, Berkeley Heights and Mountainside communities had him front and center in their minds, regardless of the gravity of the game. His current players and past players in attendance showed just how much their coach means to them.
“With all that he has done for all of us, this meant a lot to all of us. We were locked in,” said Novotny.
That said, Diskin revealed the team’s five captains expressed the importance of keeping focused on the job at hand and to “have nothing else in their heads at game time.”
Like the Highlanders’ rally in the last of the fifth, the South River rally was ignited off its opponent’s bullpen.
South River’s No. 9 hitter, Travis Maloney (2-for-3) kick-started the rally when he jumped on reliever Vinny Graham’s very first pitch for a double to straightaway left field. Graham, perhaps spooked, walked the next three batters, all on 3-2 pitches, to walk in a run. One of those batters was Rutgers-bound Julius Rosado, the South River shortstop, who had already launched a three-run home run off starter Anthony DeNora to trim a 4-0 deficit to 4-3 in the third inning.
The bases still loaded, cleanup hitter James Zsorey hit a bouncer to third base. Brad Cordo fielded it and fired home for a forceout. Catcher Basile wheeled and fired to first to try to double up Zsorey. But Basile’s throw sailed high and down the left field line, allowing two runners to score to tie the game at 6-6.
Rosado’s one-out home run in the third had followed back-to-back leadoff singles by No. 8 hitter Sebastian Deerson and No. 9 hitter Maloney.
Gov. Livingston got some help on the way to its 4-0 lead. South River starter Brendan Lell had two-outs and a full count on DeNora with Zach Geertsma leading off third base in the bottom of the first. Lell’s spike caught on the turf mound as he started to deliver a 2-2 pitch, causing him to stop and balk Geertsma home. He then struck out DeNora to end the inning. Geertsma, a junior shortstop committed to Virginia, led off the inning with a single, stole second on the next pitch and took third on a groundout.
Lell hit Pappas with a pitch to start the second inning, then walked Adornato before Diskin singled Pappas home. Lell then tried to pick off Diskin at second but the throw sailed into center field, allowing Adornato to score from third. Diskin kept coming all the way home from second when the ball was mishandled in center field.
The Highlanders answered Rosado’s home run promptly, scoring two runs in the bottom of the third to extend the lead to 6-3. Novotny led off with a single to center, Basile singled to left and DeNora brought Novotny home with a single to left. Adornato capped the inning with a sac fly to left that scored courtesy runner Matt Wood from third.
Gov. Livingston’s infield was terrific. DeNora started a 1-6-3 double play in the second inning. Second baseman Reid Bazydlo and third baseman Cordo made very nice plays immediately after Rosado’s homer in the third to keep that inning from getting further out of hand. Basile made a highly difficult to handle dribbler down the left side off the bat of Lell in the fourth look like a routine play.
Rosado walked twice to go with his homer in four trips. Hunter Krainski ripped a two-out double in the top of the first but was stranded. Basile had a single, double, drew a walk and scored three runs. Starter DeNora surrendered three runs on five hits, struck out three and walked none over four innings. He also hit a batter.
“I’ll say the same thing a lot of coaches say after reaching a milestone,” said Roof, “it’s the players. There are so many great kids who have been through the wars with us. We are trying to mold our players into men.
“I’m blessed to be coaching where I went to high school. When you win championships, reach milestones, those are just icing on the cake to what we are trying to do here year-in and year-out.”
MILESTONE FEVER
It’s been a banner year for baseball coaching milestones. Joining Roof at the 500-win plateau this season are Rob Christ (April 11) of Eastern, John Sheppard (May 16) of Morristown Beard and Brian Giallella (May 19) of Steinert, giving the 500-club a total of 26 members. There are another 17 coaches with 600 or more wins.
We expect to remove Dennis Barth (599 wins) of Gloucester Catholic from the 500-club, perhaps today (Friday, May 30), as Barth is expected to join the 600-club.
Two other big milestones this season saw Edison’s Vinnie Abene and Ridge’s Tom Blackwell reach the 300-club.
DJACKS AND GL
Gov. Livingston boast six Diamond Jacks out of Diamond Nation in their starting lineup. Add closer Aidan Feldman to that list for a total of seven. The six GL starters who are also Diamond Jacks are; shortstop Zach Geertsma, first baseman Mike Novotny, catcher Michael Basile, outfield/pitcher Anthony DeNora, left fielder Ryan Pappas and center fielder Dom Labisi.