Cranford Defeats Johnson 3-1 to Improve to 14-3

Every team wants a leadoff hitter who not only has a good eye at the plate, but can find ways to get on base. After all, that's his job.

The way junior Sean Trotter is performing, he should get a raise. The top leadoff man in the county entered yesterday's game batting .383, and promptly went 2-for-2 in yesterday's 3-1 victory over Johnson at Memorial Field in Cranford.

Trotter's RBI double in the second inning followed a Marc Linger RBI single which gave the Cougars the early 2-0 lead. Trotter hammered home the insurance run in the third inning with a two-out RBI single that drove home senior Rob Ghiretti to give Cranford a 3-0 lead on their way to their 14th win of the season.

"I was being confident at the plate," said Trotter. "I've been hitting decent recently. When I saw a strike, I hit it. I'm being a lot more aggressive than I used to be. When I see a fastball, I'm gonna hit it." 

Cranford managed eight hits in the contest. Eric Walano, Greg Matlosz, Mark Osofsky and Sean Feeney added base hits against Johnson starter Rich Mullin, who struck out one in six innings.

"They played well," Trotter said of the Crusaders. "We're just putting runs on and playing great defense, pitching great. We're playing all three phases of the game and getting wins. "

"It's just been hard work every day, pitching strikes, getting outs," said senior Nick Cook. "The hitting's clicking now. We did a good job fielding today. Every game's big. We want to beat every team, especially the close ones around us, Westfield, Scotch Plains, Clark. We just want to get those wins."

Meanwhile, it was another impressive performance by sophomore righthander Kurt Rutmayer, who improved to 4-1 on the season for the Cougars. He gave up just one run on four hits, while striking out three and walking two.

"Through the first four innings, I was doing really good," said Rutmayer. "In the fifth, I lost my composure, couldn't throw strikes and I really owe a lot of thanks to Ryan Williamson for getting out of that inning."

Williamson, the freshman southpaw, proved he could handle the pressure when he was summoned to pitch out of a bases-loaded jam. He not only shut the door, but struck out four batters in the final two frames.

"I thought Kurt did an outstanding job," said McCaffery. "He kept them off balance, he threw strikes. He did a real nice job, got us into the fifth and we were able to hand the ball over to Ryan, who really was outstanding today on the mound as well as Kurt. We know what Ryan's capable of, and we think he has a very bright future ahead of him. We were comfortable that he could go in that situation and perform, and he did."

Along with McCaffery, Rutmayer credits assistant coaches Kevin Feeley and Brian Chapman for his success at the varsity level.

"I really didn't think I'd get this amount of starts and be this successful as a starting pitcher" Rutmayer said. "But I'm glad to be here and I'll do whatever it takes for us to be number one. I'm very happy with where I'm at."

The win gives the Cougars the season sweep over their neighbors from Clark, who fell to 15-4 on the year. Cranford defeated Johnson 9-4 back on April 9th.

The Cougars will next play host to Roselle Catholic in the second round of the Union County Tournament today at 4 p.m, sending Pat Gilstrap to the mound. Although the Cougars own a win over the Lions this season, the road to the UCT semi's won't be easy.

"We know they'll be very well coached," said McCaffery. "They're a very disciplined team and we're going to have our hands full. They have three quality pitchers. It's going to be a very difficult game for us."

"They're a good team," Trotter said. "We beat them once this year. We have to come out to play, get some hits and play defense."

"It's going to be a very tough game," said Cook. "We have to play our game. We have to hit, pitch and field, all together. We can't leave anything out. We don't want to get too overconfident here. We want to take every game seriously. One game at a time."

"We gotta keep going with the hitting, the pitching and the defense," Rutmayer said. "All three categories are important. You can't win without one of them. I hope to go to the county finals and win that, keep going to the states and win that, just go as far as we can."