Immaculata’s 15th SCT championship came after four seasons of hard work by Cust and his program to bring home another trophy

Kevin Cust, the Immaculata baseball team’s head coach, has won Somerset County titles as both a player for the Spartans and as their head coach, but this one had to be extra special.

‘Lata won the county in 2018 and 2019, then COVID hit, and baseball went away for a season. The next few years were a bit of up and down. They went just 8-13 in 2021, the first year back, but went to the Non-Public South B semifinals in the state playoffs, with no SCT that year due to the short season.

The next year, 2022, was a 14-13 campaign, but brought a North B sectional championship, a miraculous come-from-behind win over Gill St. Bernard’s, though they would fall to upstart Ranney in the Group B final, 10-1, down in Hamilton.

In 2023, they went 9-15, and last year made it to the semifinals and lost to Ridge at TD Bank Park, finishing a stronger 17-9. And Cust felt good about this season, especially with the addition of a stud pitcher who transferred in from Del Val, Ryan Auten.

From the get go, Immaculata was winning close games. They shared the Skyland Conference Delaware Division title with Ridge, both going 7-3 in the division, but the Red Devils got the top seed.

Wednesday night, at TD Bank Park, Immaculata decided it on the field, winning its record 15th SCT trophy with a 3-0 win behind a solid start from Jackson Trego, with help from a key Ridge error that led to three unearned runs, and got to the final on a 1-0 no-hit win over Franklin Monday in the semis thrown by Ryan Auten.

So really, this was a culmination of all those years of hard work, for a group of seniors like Jayson Labrador, Colin Kassai, Aiden English and Jayden Capindica, and also younger players, like Auten and Jackson Trego, juniors who got wins in the semis and finals, respectively. Plus many other players who played key roles throughout the year, no matter how large or small.

Here’s what Immaculata head coach Kevin Cust had to say about the Spartans’ championship after the game, with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko: