Westfield Baseball Team's Run Ends in State Final

Usually a team below .500 going into the state playoffs doesn't last very long. One game, maybe two, and the season ends.

For Westfield, it took reaching yesterday's NJSIAA Group 4 championship to be dealt that final blow. The Blue Devils (19-12) ran into a wall called Eastern High School and found themselves on the short end of an 8-1 loss at Toms River High School North. 

"Us even getting here is something to be proud of," senior Eric Demers said, noting that Westfield started the season 0-3. But things began to come around and the team began to jell as the season progressed.

"It was about putting it all together," first baseman Jake Greenberg said. "We were just outplayed today."

And while they did just that for a while, on Sunday it was Eastern (29-4) that put everything together. The Vikings, the South Jersey Group IV champions, scored two runs in the second and added a third in the third inning when Tom Flacco, younger brother of Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco (who was in attendance at the game) stole second and third then reached the plate on a single.

Eastern broke the game open with four more runs in the fifth inning.

Westfield scored in the bottom of the sixth when Matt Storcks singled to center and advanced to third on a pair of wild pitches. Liam Devin then hit a grounder to second that plated Storcks.

Westfield starter Brad DeMartino struck out five in 4-1/3 innings. Reliever Kevin Galasso allowed five hits and struck out one.