Union Catholic Baseball Puts Up Strong Fight in Game Against Cranford

Give plenty of credit to the Union Catholic High varsity baseball team. They pushed Cranford the entire game before losing by a final of 5-3 at Memorial Field in Cranford Tuesday afternoon.

Cranford, ranked 2^nd in the county, was a formidable foe for a young Union Catholic squad. But the Vikings are improving every day, and games like yesterday's are proof positive that things are clicking.

Junior rightfielder Sean Silburn went 2-for-4 with an RBI and Vin LaRocca was 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI.

"It was a big game, we were coming off a big win," said Silburn. "Our momentum was rolling into this game. We played well, we stepped up a lot. We played great as a team. We hit well, but we just couldn't get the final hits at the end."

Junior Rich Birch was on the mound for UC, giving up five runs in four innings, four of them earned. He walked three, struck out one and gave up five hits.

"I was pretty pleased, I guess," said Birch. "Cranford's a really good team so I knew they were going to score runs, but I wanted to keep my walks down, just come out and keep the team in the game."

The Vikings were coming off a huge 13-3 victory over Rahway, which was first win of the season. Silburn went 3-for-4 in that game with 3 RBI.

"It's definitely a very young team," said Silburn. "It's like a learning year for us. We're really trying hard to step up. We're playing great. We're playing higher than our potential. We're doing unbelievable."

"We're definitely young, we only have one senior," added Birch. "But we play good defense, and if our pitching can come around, we're going to hit too, so we're definitely going to be there. Our coach says it's all about the process, so we're definitely going to be there at the end of the year."

Dave Schanz smacked a triple, and Rey Lopez added a double for UC.  Robert Pons, Evan Dickerson and Mike D'Antico all had hits, as the Vikings outhit Cranford 10-5 for the game. That kind of balanced offensive attack bodes well for the future.

"We're pretty confident," said Birch. "We were kind of low because we've been in a few close games. We realize we could have won those games. We're pretty positive now. Everybody's good all around."

The close losses included a 9-6 setback to Holmdel and a 4-3 loss to Mendham. The Vikings are now 3-4 on the season and will next travel to Berkeley Heights Thursday to play Governor Livingston at 4 p.m.