Livingston Duels With West Orange

Senior pitcher Alex Gouin of West Orange and junior Sam White of Livingston dueled into extra innings Monday afternoon at Livingston High School where the Mountaineers finally beat the Lancers 2-1.

 Both pitchers threw eight innings, giving up one run each before yielding to their respective bullpens.  Gouin threw eight innings of one run ball giving up four hits and five walks (three intentional) while striking out eight.

"He was our workhorse today that really carried us to victory," West Orange head coach Stephan Zichella said. "He pitched eight innings and he was humming. In the last inning we had him clocked at 86 miles per hour on his last pitch of the game so we are just really proud of what he has developed into."

West Orange won the nine-inning game on a Thomas Attamente RBI single in the top of the last inning.

"To beat them [Livingston] once in a year is a great thing, twice is something we are really proud about," Zichella said. "They are well-coached, they have some outstanding players [and] their pitcher today threw exceptionally well."

The Mountaineers batted first but were unable to score a run despite getting leadoff hitter AJ Flores to third base. Livingston opened the scoring in their half of the second inning with a two-out rally. Right fielder John Beaubien walked and scored on a triple by Lancers' third baseman Greg Gamba.

The Lancers lead was short lived as West Orange answered in the top of the third inning, scoring on a wild pitch by White.

The Lancers seemed poised to take the lead when senior catcher Frank Schwindel led off the fourth inning with a triple, but they could not get him across the plate. Gouin struck out Brian Drapeau, Matt Rehm and Beaubien, leaving the Lancer's slugger at third base.

"We have, in the past, kind of found ways to lose when he has started so I think Alex was like, 'well I guess I've got to bear down and strike out a couple' and he did, he ended up striking out the next three batters," Zichella said.

The Lancers had another chance to end the game in their half of the eighth inning. Pinch hitter Brady McLaughlin reached on an infield single and advanced to second base when the West Orange second baseman overthrew first base. Another pinch hitter, senior Mike Mansfield, sacrifice bunted McLaughlin to third base, making the first out of the inning.

West Orange responded by intentionally walking Lancers' lead off hitter Nick Kozlowsky to set up a double play with Jimmy Napolitano up. Kozlowsky stole second base, removing the double play threat and West Orange then intentionally walked Napolitano to load the bases with one out for Schwindel.

Gouin got Schwindel to pop-up to third base, not allowing any runners to advance. Gouin ended the inning by striking out Drapeau, the Lancers' next batter.

After surviving the Lancers' threat, the Mountaineers came to bat in the top of the ninth inning against Lancer's reliever Nick Grande. Senior Mike Romano singled and was sacrificed over before Attamanted singled to bring him home.

Romano then came out to the mound to close out the game in the bottom of the ninth. Romano got Rehm to fly to left field but then hit Beaubien with a pitch. Beaubien advanced to second on a wild pitch but Romano struck out Gamba and John Sorrentino to seal the game for West Orange.

"It was nice to have Mike come in and pitch the final inning of the game," Zichella said. "He is a senior and he has been a three year varsity player for us. He is actually 6-1 but it was nice for him to close out the game with the save."

The Lancers will attempt to find a new result when the face Ridgewood Tuesday afternoon in the state playoffs.