Cougar Baseball Team Steps Up to the Plate For Spring Season

It is a mark of just how loaded the 2010 Cranford Cougars were that they lost four top players and still have the nucleus of an outstanding team returning this spring.

Gone from last year’s Group 3 state champions is nearly 45 percent of their run production as well as their leading hitter (Nick Pace, .410) and leading home run hitter (Nick Cook, 4). Second baseman Rob Ghiretti also graduated, taking his 27 runs, 18 RBI and .337 average with him.

And two pitchers accounting for more than 33 percent of Cranford’s 26 wins have also graduated, including Cook with his 5-1 mark, three saves and 1.80 ERA.

“It’s always a concern to lose a group of talented seniors,” said head coach Dennis McCaffery. “We definitely had a successful season and played well at the end of last year. But last year’s over.”

Yes, there is a lot to replace. But what remains in place should help keep the Cougars from experiencing too steep a decline this spring. Back are the Cougars top two RBI producers, their biggest run producer and their leading slugging percentage batter. Also returning are three top pitchers who accounted for 14 victories and three of the four lowest ERAs on last year’s staff.

Senior Eric Walano, who returns behind the plate after a year away from that position, led the Cougars with 38 runs last spring and tied Pace for top average at .410. He drove in 22 more to account for 60 runs.

First baseman/designated hitter Greg Matlosz is also back after leading the team with 36 RBI and a slugging percentage of .628. He also scored 28 runs and belted nine doubles, three triples and a home run.

“Eric is just a hard-working kid,” McCaffery said. “And Greg can really hit the ball hard. We try to get the kids to have productive at bats, to put the ball in play.”

Senior Mark Osofsky will be back in left field. Osofsky was second on the team with 30 RBI and batted .382 with a .517 slugging percentage. Another key component from last season’s title team is shortstop Sean Trotter, who hit .360 and had an on-base percentage of .468, an invaluable total for a leadoff hitter.

Those four account for the top of the batting order and it will be a matter of filling in the gaps down the rest of the lineup. So far, sophomore Ryan Williamson, who had an outstanding freshman season on the mound, has capably filled in in the two-hole, going 4 for 8 with a double, a stolen base, three runs and an RBI through Cranford’s first two games – both wins.

Andrew DiFrancesco is another newcomer who is already producing, picking up 4 hits in 6 at-bats with two runs and two RBI. Others who have cracked the early starting lineup are Sean Feeney, Eric Garguilo (2 of 5, 2 runs, 2 RBI) and Chris Nicastro.

Kurt Rutmayer will lead a trio of experienced top pitchers this season. Rutmayer posted a 7-1 mark with a miniscule 1.21 ERA to lead the team. Williamson, the freshman, posted a 4-2 mark with two saves and an ERA of 3.78.

“Ryan (Williamson) came in and really made a nice transition as a freshman,” McCaffery said. “We have a lot of varsity experience but we really don’t have what I would call an ace.”

Senior Justin Van Ostenbridge went 3-0 last year with an ERA of just 2.00. All have outstanding strikeout-to-walk ratios: Rutmayer (46 strikeouts, 18 walks); Williamson (39-15); and Ostenbridge (22-5).

“We try to tell kids to throw strikes, make them put the ball in play,” McCaffery said. “At any level, you just can’t walk people.”

Rounding out the staff are Kyle Frank, Brian Gamorski, Chris Folinusz and Sean Feeney.

“You can’t have enough pitching,” McCaffery said.

Though the Cougars posted a 9-2 victory in their season opener against Union and followed that with a comeback 9-8 victory over Scotch Plain on Tuesday, McCaffery isn’t altogether thrilled with his team so far.

“We have lots of concerns,” he said. “We haven’t played sound fundamentally. We need to improve our defense, pitching, hitting and base running. Those are things we’re going to work on.”

The Cougars have 18 runs and 21 hits in the first two contests. Williamson struck out seven to pick up the win over Union while Rutmayer struggled over four innings against Scotch Plains, allowing 12 hits, though no earned runs.

As far as expectations coming off last year’s 26-9 state championship season, McCaffery said only that his team was looking forward, not backward. Maybe it’s that focus that has led to two state, six county, seven sectional and 11 conference championships over his 15 years. Cranford had last won the state championship in 1997 when McCaffery was an assistant.

“We try to tell the kids that we have a program here and expectations of how you play the game,” he said. “Our goal is to compete for championships every year. But we have a really difficult schedule this year and we know it’s going to be tough. We’re not worrying about defending anything. We just go year by year, game by game.”