Westfield Baseball Grabs Top Seed in County Tourney

The Westfield baseball team is a very deserving top seed for the 57th annual Union County Tournament, with the announcement becoming official at Monday night's seeding meeting in Clark.

After the last two tournaments ended with the top seed going on to win the title, the Blue Devils might feel a little better at earning the top seed for this year's event.

For 12 seasons from 1996-2007 the top seed failed to win the tournament.

Ironically, Westfield lost in the final to the past two champions. The Blue Devils will be seeking to win the county crown as the top seed for the first time since 1995.

"We expect to be in the final and win it," Westfield junior catcher AJ Murray said after his team held on to defeat defending champion Scotch Plains 4-3 in Scotch Plains in Union County Conference-Watchung Division play on April 16.

When Westfield last won the crown in 2006, it was Murray's older brother Mike - who was Westfield's catcher that year before going on to play at Wake Forest - that helped lead the Blue Devils to the championship. Mike hit a home run in the title game won by Westfield over defending champion Roselle Catholic 9-0 at Linden's Memorial Field.

Scotch Plains earned the second seed and is seeking to repeat for the first time.

In last year's final, Scotch Plains edged Westfield 2-1 in 10 innings. Allowing only one run in nine innings for Scotch Plains was winning pitcher Gary Binkewicz. Losing the game in relief for Westfield was Aiden Scanlon.

Both are back as solid senior right handers this season.

Scotch Plains was the top seed last year and Westfield the second seed.

This time Westfield is the top seed and Scotch Plains is the second seed.

Westfield earned the top seed with a 9-3 record. The Blue Devils are the only team in Union County which has not lost to a county opponent. Westfield has lost only to Morris County schools Morris Knolls and Morristown and to Somerset County school Bridgewater-Raritan.

Scotch Plains is 11-4, has won four in a row, and has only lost to Westfield in the county, falling 4-3 at home in Union County Conference-Watchung Division play on April 16. The other Raider losses have been to Bridgewater-Raritan, Edison and Bloomfield - all Group 4 schools from three different counties.

Westfield has won the most county titles with 12 and has reached the championship game the most times with 19 appearances for a record of 12-7 in the final.

For the first time two years ago and last year, Westfield lost back-to-back finals. In 2008, the Blue Devils were defeated by Elizabeth 4-2 in the championship game, with Elizabeth winning for the first time since 1991.

Before that, Westfield won the championship game the previous six times it was in it, including a record four straight from 1994-1997 and again in 2002 and 2006.

Before Elizabeth won as the top seed in 2008, no top-seeded team had won the tournament since Westfield in 1995.

Scotch Plains will be out to not only repeat, but prevent Westfield from becoming the third straight top seed to win the tournament after the top seed failed for a dozen consecutive seasons.

"I don't know if being the top seed is such a good thing because the top seed has not done that well in the past," said Westfield head coach Bob Brewster, who has guided the Blue Devils to the last eight of their 12 titles. Brewster also led Westfield to the title game his first year at the helm in 1983, with that being one of the seven times that the Blue Devils lost in the final.

After losing very close championship games the past two seaons, Westfield is hungry to atone for that.

"We have the kind of team that can win it, but the competition will be very, very tough," Brewster said.

Scotch Plains solidified its argument for earning the second seed by winning at 12-1 Johnson 11-1 in six innings Saturday, ending an eight-game Crusader winning streak. Cranford earned the third seed because the Cougars own a conference win over Johnson, while the Crusaders of Clark are the fourth seed.

Cranford won the last of its five county championships in 2007 and is the last team to repeat as county champion after the Cougars won their first three titles from 1999-2001. Johnson won its only county crown in 1980 and last reached the final in 2002.

The home and visiting teams for the championship game will be decided by a coin flip. The higher seeds for all of the other games will be the home team.

Five different teams have won the last five tournaments: 2009-Scotch Plains, 2008-Elizabeth, 2007-Cranford, 2006-Westfield, 2005-Roselle Catholic.  

57th ANNUAL BASEBALL UNION COUNTY TOURNAMENT

SEEDS:

1-Westfield. 2-Scotch Plains. 3-Cranford. 4-Johnson.

5-Gov. Livingston. 6-Roselle Catholic. 7-Union. 8-Elizabeth.

9-Summit. 10-Union Catholic. 11-Linden. 12-Rahway.

13-New Providence. 14-Dayton. 15-Brearley. 16-Roselle Park.

17-Oratory Prep. 18-Plainfield. 19-St. Patrick. 20-St. Mary's, Elizabeth

21-Hillside. 22-Roselle.

PRELIMINARY ROUND

Thursday, April 29, 4 p.m.

22-Roselle at 11-Linden

21-Hillside at 12-Rahway

20-St. Mary's at 13-New Providence

19-St. Patrick at 14-Dayton

18-Plainfield at 15-Brearley

17-Oratory Prep at 16-Roselle Park

FIRST ROUND

Saturday, May 1, 3 p.m.

TOP SIDE OF THE BRACKET:

Hillside/Rahway at 5-Gov. Livingston

St. Mary's/New Providence at 4-Johnson

9-Summit at 8-Elizabeth

Oratory Prep/Roselle Park at 1-Westfield

BOTTOM SIDE OF THE BRACKET:

10-Union Catholic at 7-Union

Plainfield/Brearley at 2-Scotch Plains

11-Linden at 6-Roselle Catholic

St. Patrick/Dayton at 3-Cranford

QUARTERFINALS

Wednesday, May 5, 4 p.m.

At the higher seeds.

SEMIFINALS

Saturday, May 8

At Elizabeth's Williams Field

Top side of the bracket semi, noon

Bottom side of the bracket semi, 3 p.m.

FINAL

Saturday, May 15

At Elizabeth's Williams Field, 1 p.m.  

WESTFIELD'S 12 UCT CHAMPIONSHIPS:

Including scores and pitchers of record in the finals:

2006 - Westfield 9, Roselle Catholic 0

WP: Craig Ellis. LP: Nick Nolan.

2002 - Westfield 7, Johnson 4

WP: Jay Cook. LP: Drew Thomas.

1997 - Westfield 7, Summit 1

WP: Mat Williams. LP: Jared Chellevold.

1996 - Westfield 7, Gov. Livingston 1

WP: Brian Ciemniecki. LP: Eric Brown.

1995 - Westfield 3, Elizabeth 0

WP: Kris Williams. LP: Al Hawkins.

1994 - Westfield 7, Elizabeth 5

WP: Chris Vogel. LP: Al Hawkins.

1987 - Westfield 13, Elizabeth 12

WP: Clint Factor. LP: Greg Randazza.

1986 - Westfield 9, Linden 6

WP: Clint Factor. LP: Rob Shaloub.

1978 - Westfield 3, Cranford 2

WP: K.C. Knobloch. LP: Scott Kley.

1968 - Westfield 2, Union 1

WP: Frank Tokash. LP: Sandy Weber.

1966 - Westfield 13, Roselle 1

WP: Don Anderson. LP: Terry Arendt.

1963 - Westfield 5, Springfield 4

WP: Jim Smith. LP: Bill Kretzger.

Westfield also lost in the final in 2009, 2008, 1993, 1991, 1983, 1977 and 1965.