MONTVALE—St. Joseph Regional High School’s Green Knights defeated the Westwood Regional Cardinals, 5-4, at the Bergen County Baseball Tournament Final, played Saturday, May 25 at Northern Valley Regional High School Demarest.
The game went back and forth. No. 3 seed Westwood had a good chance of at least tying the game with the bases loaded in the final inning and a 3-2 count, but the No. 4 seed St. Joe’s relief pitcher had other ideas and struck out the batter, looking.
When Westwood’s starting pitcher, sophomore Jack Walsh, left the game, the Cardinals led 3-2. He pitched five innings, allowing two runs—all earned—on five hits, with seven strikeouts and two walks.
The top of the sixth was the turning point of the game. St. Joe’s junior Myles Gomez led off with a single. Then, sophomore, Brady Shust smashed a two-run HR to left-center field which sparked a wild celebration at home plate. The Green Knights now led, 4-3.
Shust said, “My HR really got our team going!”
St. Joe’s added an insurance run in the top of the seventh, when junior Devin Buntzen was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. The Green Knights led, 5-3.
Their starter, senior Jeff Germosen, came out of the game with a two-run lead, after throwing 106 pitches in six innings. He allowed three runs (all unearned) on two hits with seven strikeouts and three walks.
The Cardinals loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh. St. Joe’s made a second pitching change, bringing in senior Gabe Alvarez with one out. He struck out his first batter and walked the next to cut their lead to 5-4. With the bases still loaded, he got the count to 3-2 on the third batter he faced, striking him out looking.
There was bedlam on the field as the Green Knights mobbed Alvarez and sprayed him with water. Head coach Mark Cieslak tells us, “It was a lot of pressure for these kids. But, we like this field. It’s like our home field.”
This was the Knights’ 12th Bergen County Final win in 20 championship game appearances. They enjoy an overall tournament record of 92–30. They won their last 10 games of this season and powered into states as top seed in the North Jersey Non-Public A bracket.
This was Westwood’s fifth appearance in the final, with their sole win, thus far, coming in 1980. The Cardinals also are bound for states, as the No. 4 seed in the North Jersey Section 1, Group 2 bracket.
Game Notes
- St. Joseph Regional pitchers Jeff Germosen and Gabe Alvarez have known each other since they were 4, growing up together in Haverstraw, N.Y.
- The Green Knights were presented with the Carcich/Butler Bergen County Tournament Championship Team plaque, named for long-time former Emerson Jr/Sr H.S. baseball head coach Bob Carcich and former Don Bosco and Northern Valley– Demarest baseball head coach Greg Butler. Carcich was there to present the plaque.
- Germosen won the Coach Larry Ennis Memorial Trophy as pitching MVP of the Bergen County Baseball Tournament. He was 3-0 in 20 innings without allowing an earned run and striking out 19. He said, “I’ve been wanting this award for the last three years.”
- Larry Ennis was a baseball and football coach at Emerson Jr/Sr High School and later scouted for the New York Giants.
- Brady Shust won the Lt. Thomas Evans Memorial Trophy as the MVP of the Bergen County Tournament. He had five hits in 10 ABs with two HRs and three RBIs in four games. Shust said, “It’s amazing winning this award, only being a sophomore!” Lt. Thomas Evans was co-captain of his Ramsey High baseball and basketball teams in 1970. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1974. He died, age 25, in a training mission in 1977.
- St. Joe’s wear a RR patch on the their right sleeve honoring Rocco Rodden, a St. Joe’s offensive lineman who was stabbed to death outside a live ax throwing bar in New York City on Nov. 23, 2023. Shust was instrumental in getting the team to wear the patch: “Rocco was one of my boys, every time we come out here, we play for him. Football season hasn’t come yet, but we always go the extra mile just for Rocco.”
- Cardinals DH Mardi Ekmekjian was their leading hitter for the game. He had one hit in two ABs, was hit by a pitch, and scored two runs.