Baseball Off to 6-1 Start After Beating Union Catholic

Pitching and defense wins games. So far the Cranford varsity baseball has followed that mantra to the tune of six wins in their first seven games.

Yesterday, it was more of the same as the Cougars defeated visiting Union Catholic 5-3 at Memorial Field.

"We're happy," said head coach Dennis McCaffery. "We've been able to pitch and play defense pretty consistently, and when you do that you have a chance. Our pitchers have been throwing strikes, and have given us an opportunity to be in the ball game. We've been able to play fundamentally sound defense. So far, that's been the ingredient."

Starter Vinnie Colaneri struck out five and walked just one in five innings of work, giving up eight hits and three earned runs in the win.

"I thought Vinny Colaneri threw the ball well." said McCaffery. "He pounded the zone and threw strikes. I was hoping that we'd have a better offensive approach, better at bats. I was wishing that we would adjust later in the game to what their pitcher was doing and I thought unfortunately for us, we got ourselves out a couple of times today."

"I could have done better in the first inning throwing," said the sophomore Colaneri, who improved to 2-0.  "I need to pitch my heart out, work hard at practice every day, and do everything I can for the team. We haven't seen our best yet. Definitely, we can work off of this, do better this year and finish off the season with a high percentage of wins."

Junior Mark Osofsky led the offensive attack with a hit and a pair of RBI's for Cranford. Senior Nick Pace had a hit and two runs scored. Junior Eric Walano was 1-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI, while Greg Matlosz went 1-for-1 with a run scored and an RBI to help the cause.

"It was a good win," said Matlosz. "I feel like we could have worked a little harder though. We work very hard, but we really didn't show it that much today. The other team did good, they gave it their all, but we pulled through."

"We've had a long stretch," said McCaffery. "We've had five games in the last eight days and our kids have been throwing strikes, and when you throw strikes, you definitely give yourself a better chance to win and that's what's been happening so far."

Cranford currently holds the No. 2 ranking in the county and are No. 8 in Group 3. Scotch Plains-Fanwood holds the top spot in the county. After Cranford, it's Governor Livingston, Westfield and Johnson rounding out the county top 5.

The Cougars will face Roselle on Thursday, before they face Wayne Hills (No. 7 in Group 3) on Saturday and Jackson on Sunday.