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Sports

Cranford Ousts Raiders Baseball from UCT

Cranford wins semifinal match-up 10-7

On Friday, Scotch Plains-Fanwood drilled arch rival Westfield 12-3 in Westfield. 

Saturday, the Raiders saw their nine-game win streak snapped as they lost 10-7 to Cranford in the semifinals of the 57th annual Union County Tournament at William's Field in Elizabeth.

Earlier in the afternoon, Westfield advanced to the championship game by coming back to oust fourth-seeded Johnson 5-4 on a walk-off two-run home run off the bat of senior third baseman Rob Anderson..

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SP-F will now shift its focus to the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3 playoffs, where they could meet Cranford for a second time this year.

"I think we're the two seed and they're the three seed, so, hopefully, we'll see them again in a couple of weeks at our place and we'll battle again and see if we come out on top this time," SP-F head coach Tom Baylock said.

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SP-F, which captured UCT crowns in 1969, 1976, 2004 and 2009, was denied once again in a bid to repeat as champions.

Cranford will now take on top-seeded Westfield in next Saturday's 1:00 p.m. UCT championship game at Williams Field. 

Second-seeded SP-F falls to 16-5 on the season. Saturday was the first time in 10 games that a red-hot Raider offense was held to less than 10 runs. Scotch Plains averaged 13 runs during its winning streak.

On Saturday, Marcus Rivera gave Scotch Plains a 1-0 lead in the first on an RBI-single. A sacrifice fly by Joe D'Annunzio made it 2-0.

Three-seed Cranford tied the game at 2-2 in the fourth on an RBI-triple by Mark Osofsky, who later came in to score on a balk. They took the lead for good with four runs in the fifth. They built the 6-2 lead on a throwing error, an RBI-single by Greg Matlosz and an opposite field two-run home-run by Osofsky. 

Scotch Plains came back with two runs in the bottom of the fifth, with Mike Ridge producing an infield-RBI single and the second run scoring as the result of a Cranford infield error.

The Cougars added to their lead in the sixth, with four more runs. Rob Ghretti led off the sixth with a triple and was brought home by a Sean Feeney double to make it 7-4. At that point Rivera replaced Binkiewicz on the mound.

Binkiewicz allowed no runs and one hit in the first three innings, tossing 33 pitches and allowing only one baserunner. He also did not allow a run and only one hit in his last two starts combined, which covered 10 innings. Saturday, Binkiewicz pitched five innings and took the loss. His record is now at 3-3. 

"I don't know if he got tired," Baylock said of Binkiewicz. "He just threw a couple of bad pitches and they hit them. "They didn't miss the mistakes."

With Rivera pitching, Nick Pace drove in a run on a ground out and designated hitter Matlosz drove in two more on a ground-rule double. The Cougars led 10-4. 

Rivera drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, John Maxwell produced an RBI-double. That was all for Cranford senior right-hander Pat Gilstrap, who pitched the first 5 and 1/3 innings to earn the mound victory and improve to 4-0. Freshman lefty Ryan Williamson retired all five batters he faced in relief – striking out two – to earn the save. 

The first batter he faced was Ridge, who drove in the seventh Raider run on a sacrifice fly in the sixth to pull Scotch Plains to within three. Williamson then got D'Annunzio to foul out to first to end the inning.

Cranford did not score in the top of the seventh. Binkiewicz, while playing second base, prevented Osofsky from hitting for the cycle when he backhanded a shot off Osofsky's bat in the seventh and threw him out at first.

Had the ball gotten past Binkiewicz, Osofsky would have had the single he needed. Osofsky hit a double in the second inning, an RBI-triple in the fourth and a two-run homer in the fifth. He finished 3-for-4, with nine total bases, three RBI and two runs.

Williamson retired the side in the bottom of the inning, striking out the first and last batters.

"They (Cranford) did a good job of stopping the bleeding early," Baylock said.

Cranford won its second straight to improve to 17-4. 

Westfield and Cranford have plenty of history in UCT play. Westfield holds a record 12 titles, over 19 previous appearances. They most recently won in 2006, and have defeated Cranford in the UCT semifinals in 2006, 2008 and 2009.

Cranford has won five titles, most recently in 2007, and is the last team to repeat as champion after winning its first three crowns in 1999, 2000 and 2001.

Scotch Plains reached the North 2, Group 3 final last year and lost, so now this year the Raiders can try to get back to that game and win it.

Scotch Plains is also in line to capture the Union County Conference's Watchung Division title. The Raiders lead the division at the moment with a 6-1 record and five games to go.

 

UNION COUNTY TOURNAMENT SEMIFINAL

AT ELIZABETH'S WILLIAMS FIELD

3-CRANFORD (17-4)              0   0   0     2   4   4    0 – 10  10  1

2-SCOTCH PLAINS (16-5)     2   0   0     0   2   3    0 -   7   8   0

 

PITCHERS OF RECORD:

Cranford – Pat Gilstrap, senior right hander, (4-0).

Scotch Plains – Gary Binkiewicz, senior right hander, (3-3).

Save – Ryan Williamson, Cranford freshman left hander.

DOUBLES: Cranford – Mark Osofsky, Sean Feeney, Greg Matlosz. Scotch Plains – Ricky Shevlin, John Maxwell.

TRIPLES: Cranford – Mark Osofsky, Rob Ghretti. Scotch Plains – None.

HOME RUNS: Cranford – Mark Osofsky. Scotch Plains – None.

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

Linden 22, Roselle 0 (5 inn.)

Rahway 15, Hillside 3 (5 inn.)

New Providence 10, St. Mary's 0 (5 inn.)

Dayton 16, St. Patrick 6 (5 inn.)

Oratory Prep 9, Roselle Park 2

Friday, April 30

Plainfield 9, Brearley 8

 

FIRST ROUND

Saturday, May 1 

Gov. Livingston 9, Rahway 2

Johnson 11, New Providence 1 (5 inn.)

Elizabeth 13, Summit 1 (5 inn.)

Westfield 6, Oratory Prep 1

Union Catholic 5, Union 3

Scotch Plains 17, Plainfield 0 (5 inn.)

Roselle Catholic 15, Linden 2 (5 inn.)

Cranford 11, Dayton 5

 

QUARTERFINALS

Wednesday, May 5, 4 p.m.

Johnson 13, Gov. Livingston 4

Westfield 4, Elizabeth 1

Cranford 7, Roselle Catholic 5

Scotch Plains 14, Union Catholic 2 (5 inn.)

 

SEMIFINALS

Saturday, May 8

At Elizabeth's Williams Field

Westfield 5, Johnson 4

Cranford 10, Scotch Plains 7

 

FINAL

Saturday, May 15

At Elizabeth's Williams Field

3-Cranford vs. 1-Westfield, 1 p.m.

coin flip for home and visiting teams 

 

UCT CHAMPIONS THE PAST DECADE: 

2009 - Scotch Plains - first time since 2004

2008 - Elizabeth - first time since 1991 

2007 - Cranford - first time since 2003

2006 - Westfield - first time since 2002

2005 - Roselle Catholic - first time since 1971

2004 - Scotch Plains - first time since 1976

2003 - Cranford - first time since 2001

2002 - Westfield - first time since 1997 

2001 - Cranford - first time since 2000

2000 - Cranford - first time since 1999

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