Westfield Blue Devils Baseball Upends Cranford, 2-1

Two days after being soundly beaten by Cranford for the Union County Championship, the Westfield Blue Devil baseballers took to the diamond at Bob Brewster Sr. Field in Westfield Tuesday looking for revenge against the state’s #2 ranked Cougars. And thanks to a strong 6 inning performance by junior pitcher Mike Androconis and a timely RBI triple by senior Eric Demers, Westfield prevailed 2-1, stopping Cranford’s undefeated season after 17 straight wins.

Cranford jumped ahead in the first on an RBI single by senior catcher Chris Folinusz (2 hits) but Westfield knotted things up in the bottom of the third, stringing together base hits from juniors Matt Storcks and Chris Arena and a sacrifice fly by junior Mike Ionta to even the score.

For the next three innings, both Cranford hurler Matt Ravitier and Westfield’s Androconis pounded the strike zone and let their defense shine, as both teams made sparkling plays to keep the score tied at 1.

However in the bottom of the 6th, Westfield senior Liam Devin opened the inning by reaching on an error and after two were out, Demers blasted a shot to the fence in deep left that gave Westfield a slim 2-1 lead. Senior Quinn Dursee closed things on the mound in the 7^th, while Tyler Bowman, Brad DeMartino & Anthony Perconte all notched base hits for Westfield (12-10). Cranford’s Sean Feeney, Ryan Williamson & Andrew DiFrancesco all had doubles and Jake Forrestal also notched a hit for the 17-1 Cougars.