St. Joseph survives last-inning rally to secure 12th Bergen County baseball title

DEMAREST — Jeff Germosen pitched in six Bergen County baseball tournament games throughout his St. Joseph career.

Yet one inning for which he was not on the mound created the most excitement for the senior right-hander.

Germosen turned a solid, six-inning start in Saturday’s 65th Bergen County final, exiting with a two-run lead. The Green Knights’ bullpen then survived a Westwood uprising to nail down a 5-4 win, giving the Montvale school its 12th county championship all-time.

“This is great,” Germosen said. “I’ve been wanting this for three years.”

No. 4 seed St. Joseph (21-5) trailed, 3-2, entering the top of the sixth. Myles Gomez led off with a single, went to second on an errant pickoff throw and scored on a two-run homer by Brady Shust.

Down 5-3, No. 3 Westwood (22-6) loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh, prompting a second St. Joe’s pitching change. Senior Gabe Alvarez then registered a swinging strikeout, a bases-loaded walk and a strikeout looking to earn the save.

“We’ve been best friends since we were 4 years old,” said Germosen, who grew up with Alvarez in Haverstraw, N.Y. “The whole dugout kind of had butterflies… but honestly, 3-2 [count], bases loaded, I had so much faith in him.”

What it means

St. Joseph improved to 12-8 in Bergen finals, and its 20 appearances are a record. Its last title had been in 2021, and Saturday’s triumph broke a string of six different champions in as many tournaments.

Westwood, which had advanced to its first final since 2010, fell to 1-4 all-time. The Cardinals won their lone title in 1980. Sophomore Mardi Ekmekjian helped them take their 3-2 lead with a fifth-inning single – after which pinch runner David Ismolli scored – and tallied the final run after being hit by a pitch in the seventh.

MVP performance

Shust, a 6-foot-6 sophomore slugger from Sparta, earned the Lt. Thomas Evans Most Valuable Player award. In four tournament games, he batted .500 (5-for-10) with three walks, two home runs and three runs batted in.

The player who wears jersey No. 13 became the Green Knights’ 13th MVP all-time (including Mike Cohan in a 1999 runner-up effort).

“To have that happen was crazy,” Shust said of his go-ahead homer. “It got the guys going, gave us that last little boost of energy to get the W.”

MVP performance, part 2

Germosen (6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 K) garnered the Larry Ennis Most Valuable Pitcher award, going 3-0 in the tournament with a 0.35 earned-run average and 19 strikeouts in 20 innings.

“He’s such a competitor,” St. Joseph coach Mark Cieslak said. “He lost on one pitch last year [in the semifinals vs. Don Bosco], so this was a long time coming for him.

“He paid his dues, and he came up big here, which was awesome.”

For his career, Germosen went 3-2 with a save in Bergen tournament games, posting a 1.04 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 27 innings.

By the numbers

10: Batters who were called out on strikes, six from St. Joseph and four from Westwood.

6: Combined errors, with four by the Cardinals leading to two unearned runs.

3-2: Cieslak’s record in Bergen finals. Ironically, he had been 0-2 against public schools prior to Saturday.

In memoriam

St. Joseph wore patches on its right uniform sleeves with the initials “RR”, a tribute to Rocco Rodden. The offensive lineman for the Green Knights’ football team was killed in an incident in New York City the day before Thanksgiving.

“Rocco was one of my boys, and every time we come out here, we play for him,” Shust said. “Football season hasn’t come around yet, but we always go the extra mile just for Rocco.”

They said it

“[Demarest] is like our home field, we say. We want to come here and play good games… at the beginning of the year, this is the one we gear up for, to be honest.” —Cieslak

Box score

ST. JOSEPH 5, WESTWOOD 4

2B: (SJ) Aiden Ogando 1.

HR: (SJ) Brady Shust 1.

RBI: (SJ) Brady Shust 2, Myles Gomez 1, Devin Buntzen 1, Aiden Ogando 1; (W) Joe Cerritelli 1, Mike Carcich 1.

WP: Jeff Germosen (5-0); LP: Andrew Dillingham (6-2); Save: Gabe Alvarez (1).

Records: St. Joseph 21-5, Westwood 22-6.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ naseball: St. Joseph survives late rally, wins Bergen County crown