CESTERO SOLO HR, EDWARDS BRINGS HOME WINNERS
Find a way to get ahead! Both teams found ways to get ahead when the top-seeded Westfield High School baseball team matched skills with the fourth-seeded Cranford Cougars for nine grueling innings in the semifinal round of the Union County Tournament (UCT) at AL Johnson High School in Clark on May 11. After witnessing their early lead disintegrate in the sixth inning, the Blue Devils found themselves on the brink of elimination twice but found a way to pull out an 8-7 victory.
Throughout the season, the 16-3 Blue Devils have had various players step up offensively and provide the decisive hits. This time, the decisive hit was a one-out 30-foot dinker inside the third baseline by Kellen Edwards. The Blue Devils trailed 7-5 in the bottom of the ninth. Tomas Cestero beat out and infield single off Cougar reliever Dylan Falk and Jake Alfano was hit by a pitch. Braedan Trajkovski drilled an RBI double down the leftfield line. After Mike Zalinkansas relieved Falk, he struck out Randy Davis. Edwards stepped to the plate and hit his dinker as Alfano scored the tying run. Edwards beat the throw that then sailed off course, which allowed the winning run.
Cougar starting pitcher Joe Paccione was on the mound for five innings and allowed three runs on three hits, three walks and two hit batters, while striking out two. Falk stepped on the mound in the sixth and allowed seven hits, while hitting a batter.
Jack Chavez started for the Blue Devils and rolled along well for five innings until he walked three straight batters in the sixth and was relieved by Logan Revock (2 innings, 3 hits, walk, hit batter, 4 strikeouts). Kevin Dowling pitched the final two innings, allowing a run, a single and a hit batter, while striking out two.
Chavez (5 hits, 4 walks, hit batter, 7 strikeouts) did receive great defensive assistance in each of the first three innings beginning with Falk (2for-4, run, 3 stolen bases), who singled, stole second, dashed to third on a fly out but got caught in the rundown between third and home.
The Cougar second had Sean Riley (2-for-4) on second with one out. Brendan Berry lined out to right fielder Dowling, who fired to third in time to double up Riley. Chavez escaped the third inning when catcher Liam Sullivan gunned down Josh Ketschke attempting to steal third.
In the meantime, Paccione did run into some control problems in the second inning. Edwards tagged him for a double down the third base line. Aaron Ives (1-for-3, 2 stolen bases) and Dowling walked to load the bases then Paccione hit both Sullivan and Cestaro for a 2-0 Westfield lead.
In the bottom of the fifth, Cestero (2for-4, 2 RBI, 2 runs) blasted a solo home run over the leftfield fence. But the top of the sixth spelled doom for the Blue Devils. Chavez walked Brayden Fry, Dennis McCaffery and Riley. Ed Toy (2-for-4) poked an RBI single. Revock relieved Chavez and walked Mike Tripodi with the bases loaded then Ryan Carracino tied the score, 3-3, with a single to center. Pat Bendert put the Cougars on top, 5-3, with a hard double down the leftfield line.
Blue Devil Nic Labin singled in the sixth but got picked off at first then Fry launched a leadoff triple in the seventh but failed to score when first baseman Trajkovski held the runner on a groundout then Revock fanned the next two batters. Down by two, Sullivan led off the Blue Devil seventh with a double to right. Trajkovski plopped an RBI single into shallow right and Davis (2-for-5) tied the score with a double to left.
The Cranford ninth began with Falk looping an infield single and stealing second. Fry was hit by a pitch then with two outs, Toy’s dribbler resulted in a throwing error and two Cougars scoring to seize the 7-5 lead, setting the stage for the Blue Devils to reach into their bag of tricks and come up with the victory.
“First three innings we were very aware. Last two or three, we kind of put our heads down a little bit,” Blue Devil Head Coach Jay Cook explained. “That’s normally not like us but I attribute a little bit of that to the moment but we are going to rectify that certainly before Monday. We fought through that process, never giving up, really working hard. Down two twice, bottom of the seventh and bottom of the ninth here. You got to give it to those players. They worked hard in their at-bats, got on base, did what they needed to do.”
The stage was now set for a championship showdown with the secondseeded Governor Livingston Highlanders, who shut out the third-seeded Scotch Plains-Fanwood Raiders, 100. Cestero would be expected to be on the mound for the championship.
“No probably about that! He’s got the ball. He’s going to chuck for us. Hopefully he continues to do what he does and we go from there,” Coach Cook confirmed.
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