West Orange Rallies with Two Big Innings to Beat Columbia

West Orange High School's baseball team is playing better than even their coach could have expected before the season started.

The Mountaineers, now 8-2 on the season, rallied from a 2-1 deficit with two big innings Monday and afternoon to beat Columbia 9-2 in a Super Essex Conference American Division game in Maplewood.

That sets up the Mountaineers for a very high seed in the upcoming Essex County  Tournament, which begins this weekend.

"We're certainly deserving,"  said coach Steve Zichella, adding that the team could be seeded as high as third. The tournament will be seeded Tuesday night.

"I never thought we'd be this good," said Zichella, whose team graduated several  big hitters last June.

The Mountaineers rallied with three runs in the sixth and five more in the seventh, chasing Cougar ace Jim Murphy.

"Their ace is very, very good," Zichella said. "He brings heat and has a great  curveball. I think he's one of the better pitchers in our county."

Joe Boettinger's homer down the left field line with one out in the sixth was a key to the comeback. Giovanni Loreto and Thomas Attamante then hit long back-to-back triples and a Mike Scalora hit chased Murphy.

"We were really working good at bats against a very, very good pitcher who can dial it up," Zichella said. "I was very happy with it. It was like one of those days where nothing seems to be going your way and then we blew it open. Boettinger's homer was the shot we needed." 

Senior righty Corey Feigenbaum once again delivered a strong effort on the mound. He threw a complete game seven-hitter, allowing two earned runs. He walked just one in raising his record to 3-2.

"Corey pitched a great game, we haven't received a bad outing from any of our pitchers and they (Columbia) beat Livingston 10-9," Zichella said.