SULLIVAN 3 HITS, TRAJKOVSKI HR, RBI; ALFANO 2 2B
Winding down toward the end of the regular season, the Westfield High School baseball team received strong pitching performances from starter Jack Chavez and reliever Kevin Dowling when they clashed with the Cranford Cougars at Memorial Field in Cranford on May 16. While the Blue Devils’ pitchers held the Cougars in check, their offense came alive, especially in the third inning, to claim a 7-2 victory.
The Blue Devils had beaten the Cougars, 7-6, earlier in the season then survived a nine-inning, 8-7, thriller just a week ago in the Union County Tournament semifinal round at AL Johnson High School in Clark. Beating the Cougars three times in a season has been a rarity for the Blue Devils, let alone any other Union County team.
This time, Chavez had much better control, except for a bit of a stumble in the third inning, but allowed just two runs on four hits, three walks and a hit batter, while striking out six Cougars in five innings. Dowling stepped to the mound in the sixth inning and permitted just one hit and two walks.
Mike Zalinkanskas started for the Cougars and yielded four earned runs on three hits, four hit batters and a walk, while striking out three Blue Devils. Christian Pereira relieved with two-outs in the third inning and allowed two hits while striking out one. Joe Paccione pitched the final three innings and allowed two runs on six hits and two walks.
Blue Devil catcher Liam Sullivan had three of the 17-4 Blue Devils’ 11 hits and knocked in a run. Braedan Trajkovski went 2-for-3 with a solo home run and an RBI sacrifice fly. Jake Alfano laced a pair of doubles and scored twice. Randy Davis went 2-for-3, was hit by a pitch and scored once. Dowling went 1-for-1, was hit, walked twice, stole a base, scored once and had an RBI.
Of the 12-10 Cougars’ five hits Sean Riley thumped and RBI triple, walked once, stole a base and scored. Braden Fry singled, walked twice and scored once. Ed Toy had an RBI single. Dennis McCaffery and Ryan Carracino each singled once.
The Blue Devils scored once in the top of the first inning. Alfano slashed a double to center and Trajkovski lofted an RBI sac fly to centerfield. The Cougars posed a threat in the bottom of the inning. Dylan Falk was hit by a pitch and stole second base. After a fly out to center, Riley walked and swiped second putting runners on second and third. Chavez buckled down and struck out the next two batters.
The Westfield third inning began with Zalinkanskas getting the first two batters out. Trajkovski stepped to the plate and launched his solo home run over the leftfield fence. Davis followed with a single to center and Kellen Edwards was hit by a pitch. Zalinkanskas hit Nic Labin to load the bases then hit Dowling, allowing Davis to skip across the plate. Pereira relieved. Grant Como tapped a grounder to short that resulted in a bad throw to first and Labin scoring. Sullivan yanked an RBI single to give the Blue Devils a 5-0 lead.
The Cougars responded with a pair of runs when Fry walked and scored on Riley’s triple down the right field line and Toy rapped an RBI single to center.Afantastic sliding grab in rightcenterfield by McCaffery played a major role in keeping the Blue Devils scoreless in the fourth inning.
Dowling drew a one-out walk in the fifth inning. Como tagged an RBI double to leftfield, overran the bag and attempted to crawl back but Falk relayed to shortstop Fry, who flicked to Berry at second for the out. The lead jumped to 7-2 in the sixth.Alfano hooked a leadoff double to left, Trajkovski rapped a single to center and Edwards grounded out to short as Alfano scored.
In the Westfield seventh, Dowling hopped a leadoff single up the middle. On a hit-and-run play, Como ripped a sharp liner to Falk, who threw to first to double up Dowling, who had already rounded second. Sullivan tapped a squibbling infield single and Tomas Cestero walked but Alfano lined out to right for the third out.
The Cougars tried to get it going with one out in the seventh. Fry drew a free pass. Davis at third base, made a great diving smother of Riley’s grounder and fired to first in time to get the second out. McCaffery ricocheted an infield single off the base umpire but centerfielder Como hauled in Toy’s fly ball for the third out.
Westfield 104 011 0 7 Cranford 002 000 0 2
