Livingston shuts down Hopatcong in Game 1

Jacob deGrom and Ryan Pressly combined to limit Hopatcong to 4 hits, lifting No. 5 Livingston to a 5-1 win at No. 4 Hopatcong in Game 1 of their 1st round series.

deGrom (1-0) scattered 3 hits over 6 shutout innings, with 7 strikeouts and 1 walk; 62 of his 104 pitches for strikes (.596). Pressley went the rest of the way, striking out 6. His only blemish over 3 innings was against his first batter: a solo shot by Cavan Biggio.

Mitch Garver got Livingston on the board with a solo homer in the 1st. Livingston added another run in the 2nd when Tim Anderson's sac fly brought home Carlos Correa, who led off the inning with a walk and advanced on a wild pitch.

The Lords of Swing tacked on another run in the 6th. Garver doubled after a leadoff walk to Mookie Betts, who came home on a groundout by Juan Soto to extend the lead to 3-0.

Hopatcong couldn't get their offense going, scrapping together 2 singles in the 2nd and another in the 5th but never advancing past 2nd before Biggio's solo shot in the 7th.

Carlos Santana topped off the scoring with a homer in the 9th after Correa reached on an error by SS Jon Berti to make it a 5-1 final.

Hopatcong starter Stephen Strasburg was decent over 6 innings. He yielded 3 runs while striking out 7 and walking 4. Of his 101 pitches, 54 went for strikes (.534). Yimi Garcia went the final 3 innings, giving up 2 runs (1 earned) on 2 hits with 3 strikeouts.

Both teams left 4 men on base. Livingston was efficient, plating 5 runs on 5 hits. Hopatcong scored 1 run on 4 hits.