Baseball: Union Upsets Scotch Plains-Fanwood, 6-5, in Union County Tournament

UNION, NJ — After some dire times the last few years, Union High School is back on the Union County baseball map.Johnny Velez put the Farmers there on Saturday.The senior shortstop hit two two-run home runs, the second one a game-winning shot in the top of the seventh inning, to give 14th-seeded Union a 6-5 upset victory over third-seeded Scotch Plains-Fanwood on Saturday afternoon in the first round of the Union County Tournament.Union (9-12) will play at sixth-seeded Westfield in the quarterfinal round on Wednesday.Velez is one of several four-year varsity players in Union's starting lineup. Both of his home runs yesterday came when Union was trailing. In the top of the fourth inning, he crushed a tape-measure blast over the high fence in dead center field at SPF to tie the game, 2-2."I was sitting dead-red fastball, and I got it," said Velez, who has nine career home runs. "Right down the middle. I swung and I got it, and it happened to go out.""That first home run was absolutely crushed," said Union's third-year head coach Lou Clemente.From there, Union scored a run in the top of the fifth to take a 3-2 lead, but then Scotch Plains-Fanwood (11-8) scored three runs in the home half of the fifth to go ahead, 5-3. Aiden Luccarelli hit an RBI triple, then starting pitcher Davis Murphy clubbed a two-run home run of his own to left to put the Raiders back in front.Murphy started the game with no-hit stuff on the mound, but Union got better swings against SPF's tall righty his second time through the order. Murphy was relieved with one out in the top of the sixth, and Union got a run to draw back to within 5-4 on Ramon Contreras' flyball RBI single to right field with one out before SPF reliever Alex Bolton escaped further trouble with a strikeout and a lineout on which Raider third baseman Ronnie Germinder made a great leaping catch.Contreras, a sophomore right-hander, gave up two runs in the bottom of the first inning, but then settled in, induced a lot of flyballs and got the game to the fifth inning, giving the Farmers a chance to win."We have just been mixing and matching all year based on what we can do in the bullpen, what we can do with starters," Clemente said of his decision to start Contreras. "I liked the way Ramon threw on Monday (in a loss to Dayton). We figured, let's see how it goes, and we have a guy in the bullpen that we're confident with, as well. Michael Heaton came in and just shut it down for us. (This win) was built off the pitching, not giving up, and being in games like this in our division."Junior right-hander Heaton came on to relieve Contreras in the sixth inning, and it was like a full-circle moment. Heaton was the starter on opening day on this same field, when Scotch Plains-Fanwood beat Union, 9-3, in 35-degree conditions six Saturdays ago. In this game, Heaton retired the Raiders in order in the sixth, keeping Union's deficit at one run entering the top of the seventh.Leadoff batter Mark Womack, who was 2-for-4, hit a groundball and reached on an error, bringing up Velez. On a 2-1 pitch, Velez turned on a slider and hit a high fly over the left-field fence for his second home run of the game — his seventh of the season, and third in the last two days — to give Union a 6-5 lead."I was in a hitter's count, (and) I saw that (the pitcher) had a little twitch in his arm," Velez said of his game-winning home run. "He dropped the arm when he threw the slider, and I smashed it. I just wanted to put it in play and hit it hard somewhere."Scotch Plains-Fanwood mounted a serious threat in the bottom of the seventh. Murphy reached on an infield single with one out, Sam Galante lined a single to right field, and the next batter hit a comebacker on which Heaton turned and fired to second to get the forceout there, giving the Farmers their second out but advancing the potential tying run, Murphy, to third.The next batter, Sam Schinestuhl, was the No. 9 man in the SPF order, but someone who'd already had three good at-bats on Saturday: a bunt single, a flyout to deep center and a double off the wall in left field. In his fourth at-bat, Schinestuhl nearly reached the fence again, but his deep fly was gathered in by left fielder Womack in front of the wall for the final out.Heaton, who got the loss at SPF on opening day, got the win in relief with two scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out one.Union got superb defense up the middle from Velez at shortstop, Jorge Martinez at second and Maddox Faramin in center field, as well as by veteran first baseman Ethan Beaumont, another four-year starter who, at the plate, was 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored on Saturday.Scotch Plains-Fanwood senior right fielder Joe LaRosa, one of the county's best outfielders, had a sterling game in the field, as well. "Defensively, we were very clean. We may have had one or two mistakes where maybe that hurt us in a couple of situations, but all in all, pretty clean," said Clemente, whose first two teams were 7-18 and then, last year, 5-19. "I'm just proud of my guys. They kept fighting, they kept scraping, kept clawing. Obviously, the two home runs were gigantic. Really a team effort today. Really a big team victory. I couldn't be prouder."Velez, who was a starter at Union as a freshman the year before Clemente arrived, Beaumont, Jayden Walton and Nick Bertolotti all played for Union as ninth-graders in 2023, when the team went 8-17."There's more team camaraderie and everything combined," Velez said about this year's team. “We all grew up playing baseball together, and we're balling out now. We've definitely been through some hardships, but I feel like this season we're really showing that we can be up with these Watchung Division teams.” UNION (9-12) 000 211 2 -- 6 8 0SCOTCH PLAINS-FANWOOD (11-8) 200 030 0 -- 5 10 1WP-HeatonLP-A. BoltonHR-Union: Velez 2. SPF: Murphy.