Experienced Young Coach
Ready To Lead Livingston

LIVINGSTON- Sean Cruz knows he’s a fortunate man as he gets ready to start his first assignment as a high school head baseball coach, and in spite of his considerable experience in the sport - including serving as a varsity assistant the last two seasons at his alma mater, Somerville - the 35-year-old Livingston High School business teacher realizes he can turn in a few different directions to bounce ideas off of about the diamond sport which has been a big part of the athletic landscape at the Essex County school for more than half a century.

Cruz is certainly comfortable in his surroundings having taught in Livingston since 2021, and also having coached the Lancers freshmen baseball team in 2022, a young squad that was destined for greatness having comprised last spring’s stellar senior class which helped capture a North 1, Group 4 state sectional title as juniors in 2024 and appeared in the last two Greater Newark Tournament finals.

The former standout Somerville player and assistant coach has stayed involved for a number of years in teaching the game he loves on the club circuit with the locally-based North Jersey Giants and also at Zone Baseball Academy in Bridgewater.

Still, Cruz knows that he is stepping into a somewhat challenging role in looking ahead at the 2026 spring season at Livingston where he will have a young and inexperienced team while replacing a very successful predecessor in baseball lifer Mickey Ennis who retired last spring after an extensive 43-year coaching career that included the last nine seasons with the Lancers.

The Ennis-led Lancers won a GNT title in 2018 and captured two N1G4 state sectional titles in 2022 and 2024. Last spring’s squad finished 20-8 overall while falling to Ridgewood, 10-7, in the N1G4 state sectional semifinals.

“Naturally there is a bit of pressure after the type of run they had, plus the fact that 14 seniors graduated,” said the new Lancers head diamond mentor. “Yet I also look at this as a great privilege to now be heading this terrific baseball program, one which a lot of people care a lot about, and one which has had so many terrific players and coaches through the years.

“Mickey is still in the building (as head of Livingston’s CIT program) and is someone I know that I can bounce ideas off of, plus we’ll return his varsity assistant coaches who will continue to be important members of our staff.

“Dave McLaughlin is a Livingston sports legend and will continue to work with our hitters, Corey Feigenbaum, who is a terrific pitching coach, is also back along with young Ben Hauser, who was part of the 2022 state sectional championship team, and will continue to work with our outfielders.

“Also, with Buddy Wolfe retiring as JV coach another former great Lancer player Scott Parsons will now coach that team next spring.”

Livingston Athletic Director Dave Cohen is excited to have a head coach with an extensive baseball background who is already in the school building ready to take charge of the school’s storied diamond program.

“Sean is certainly already quite familiar with our baseball program, is very knowledgeable, and can be an energizing presence as we move forward with a young and inexperienced team next spring,” said the Lancers’ AD. “Mickey and his staff did a tremendous job the past several years, and we’re confident that Sean can help carry on a great tradition in the sport here at Livingston.” 

While the Lancers’ varsity squad did have to bid adieu to a memorable group of seniors, there is a veteran pitching mainstay set to return in senior right-hander Adam Goldberg, who is coming off a superb junior season and just recently on National Signing Day finalized his commitment to play Division I baseball at George Mason University.

Two other senior varsity holdovers in Nick Mullin and pitcher Jack Silberman will also return next spring.

Goldberg posted a miniscule 1.34 ERA in 2025 while working 57 2/3 innings, allowing 54 hits, walking 22 and striking out 83 while allowing just 11 earned runs.

“Adam is the only one with some extensive varsity experience and I know he’ll try to share some of the great culture that he was part of the past few years while also challenging the guys at the same time,” said Cruz. “We will look to take control of our destiny from Day 1, and I’m confident about the young talent in this program which is ready to step up and help us to continue to have success in what we know is a very competitive baseball conference (Super Essex-American Division).”

NOTES- Cruz is a 2008 graduate of Somerville High School where he was a standout middle infielder for two of coach Rick Sabol’s Somerset County Tournament semifinalist teams, and a state sectional final runner-up to Spotswood in 2007…Somerville has had recent success highlighted by the Pioneers winning the overall Group 3 state championship in 2018 with a victory over Allentown in the final. It marked the Pioneers baseball program’s first state title in 114 years…Cruz earned All-Region honors for two of his four seasons with the nationally-ranked University of Delaware club baseball team…Cruz resides in Metuchen with wife Taylor and their 1-year-old daughter Alyssa. Taylor is a former volleyball player from Long Island, N.Y....Livington's rich baseball history includes winning overall Group 4 state titles in both 1976 and 1980 when the Lancers were awarded The Star-Ledger trophy as the No. 1 team in the state, along with three GNT championships (1974, '76 and '77) in a 4-year period during the superb coaching reign of Bill Lampeter...Among present Livingston coaches, Scott Parsons was a top pitcher on the 1980 Lancers, while Dave McLaughlin was a member of both the 1976 and '77 GNT championship squads.