Union Catholic Battles Roselle Catholic in Baseball, Loses 10-2

When a pitcher takes the mound, his No. 1 priority is to compete well enough to give his team a chance to win.

Against a more seasoned Roselle Catholic squad Friday, Union Catholic junior left hander Rich Birch did just that.

Although the visiting Lions went on to gain a 10-2 Union County Conference-Mountain Division triumph at Union Catholic High School, Birch entered the top of the sixth with the Vikings down only 3-0.

After giving up two runs in the first and one in the second, Birch pitched a scoreless third, fourth and fifth before walking the first two batters he faced in the sixth and then being lifted for relief pitcher Matt Nowicki.

"We were just trying to press him for another inning," Union Catholic head coach Jim Reagan said. "We have another game Saturday, which is our third in three days, so we tried to push him one more inning."

Union Catholic sought to win consecutive games for the first time this season after coming back to win at non-conference foe Dayton 7-3 Thursday, in a game played at Ruby Field in Springfield.

The Vikings fell to 4-8 overall and 2-4 in the UCC's Mountain Division. In league play, Union Catholic has wins over Roselle and Hillside and losses to Summit, Cranford, Gov. Livingston and Roselle Catholic.

 In five innings plus two batters, Birch (1-2) was charged with five earned runs and gave up nine of Roselle Catholic's 11 hits. He struck out two and walked five in a 96-pitch effort that kept the Vikings in the game.

"He did a real nice job I thought," Reagan said. "He needed to throw a few more strikes early. He started throwing his fastball for strikes and then began to mix it up pretty good."

Roselle Catholic won its fourth straight to improve to 8-6 overall and is now 3-3 in the Mountain Division. League wins have come against Summit, Hillside and Union Catholic, while setbacks have been to Cranford, Governor Livingston and Johnson.

The Lions received a two-run triple to center field from cleanup batter Kevin Cowan to take a 2-0 lead in the top of the first.

Scoring one of the runs was winning pitcher Lou Clemente, a senior from Union, who connected on an opposite field single to left in the at-bat before Cowan's.

On the mound, Clemente was in control the entire game, with an effective curveball aiding him in his five-hitter. A complete-game, 91-pitch performance included eight strikeouts and no walks.

"He was on and when he pitches like that it's tough to get to him," Reagan said.

Clemente had at least one strikeout in every inning but the fourth. His first three strikeouts were looking, with Union Catholic batters fooled by his curveball.

Roselle Catholic upped its lead to 3-0 in the second on an RBI-double to right by No. 9 batter Justin Dziedzic.

While Clemente (3-1) allowed just three baserunners through the first five innings, Birch settled down and began to match Clemente zero for zero for three innings.

Although Birch did not pitch a perfect inning, he did face only three batters in the third. After giving up a leadoff single to No. 5 batter Matt Hennie, Birch retired the next batter on a foul out to first and then picked Hennie off on a well-executed 1-3-4 play. He then got the batter that was up to ground out to second for his first scoreless inning.

The only baserunners for Union Catholic in the first five innings were Rey Lopez smoking a triple to center field with two outs in the first, Ryan Gerhart connecting on a single up the middle with two outs in the fourth and Mike D'Antico getting hit by a pitch with two outs in the fifth.

Roselle Catholic put the game away with a seven-run sixth, with the key hit in the inning being a three-run standup triple to center field hit by Nick Telle that made the score 9-0.

With two outs in the bottom of the sixth and a runner on first, Lopez came through again for the Vikings, this time with a shot to the right-center gap that rolled all the way to the fence. Lopez easily rounded the bases, crossing home plate standing up for a two-run, inside-the-park home run that finally put Union Catholic on the board at 10-2.

On the play before the home run hit by Lopez, Roselle Catholic had a chance to end the game on a double play ball hit to the second baseman, but was only able to manage the force out at second.

As a result of Union Catholic scoring in the bottom of the sixth, that enabled the game to go a full seven innings and prevented the Vikings from suffering a 10-run mercy rule defeat.

Union Catholic also did well to hang in there in a conference game at GL last Thursday. Although the Vikings lost 12-3, they did not succumb by the 10-run mercy rule. Union Catholic executed double plays in four consecutive innings in that contest.

Lopez went 2-for-3 against Roselle Catholic, with a triple, a home run, one run and two RBI.

Also hitting safely for the Vikings were leadoff batter Christian Mora, who went 1-for-3 with an infield single in the sixth; and designated hitter Sean Siburn, who was also 1-for-3 and reached on an infield single in the seventh.

NOTES: Union Catholic will now host non-conference foe Plainfield Saturday morning at 9:30 after the game was rained out Wednesday.

Roselle Catholic will host Union Catholic on May 11 at 4 p.m. in the second conference game between the two parochial schools. 

UNION COUNTY CONFERENCE-MOUNTAIN DIVISON GAME

ROSELLE CATHOLIC (8-6, 3-3)      2   1   0     0   0   7     0 – 10  11  0

UNION CATHOLIC (4-8, 2-4)           0   0   0     0   0   2     0 -    2   5   1

PITCHERS OF RECORD:

Roselle Catholic: Lou Clemente, senior left hander, (3-1).

Union Catholic: Rich Birch, junior left hander, (1-2).

DOUBLES: Roselle Catholic - Stephen Patricco. Union Catholic – None.

TRIPLES: Roselle Catholic – Kevin Cowan, Nick Telle. Union Catholic – Rey Lopez.

HOME RUNS: Roselle Catholic – None. Union Catholic – Rey Lopez. 

UNION CATHOLIC VIKINGS

(4-8, 2-4 in UCC-Mountain Division)

April 1 (A) Union Catholic 10, Roselle 0

April 3 (H) Mendham 4, Union Catholic 3

April 6 (H) Union Catholic 11, Hillside 1

April 8 (H) Holmdel 9, Union Catholic 6

April 9 (H) Summit 13, Union Catholic 4

April 10 (H) Union Catholic 13, Rahway 3

April 13 (A) Cranford 5, Union Catholic 3

April 15 (A) Gov. Livingston 12, Union Catholic 3

April 17 (H) J.P. Stevens 11, Union Catholic 0

April 19 (A) Bernards 10, Union Catholic 4

April 22 (A) Union Catholic 7, Dayton 3

April 23 (H) Roselle Catholic 10, Union Catholic 2

Overall record: 4-8

UCC-Mountain Division mark: 2-4

Wins: Roselle, Hillside. Losses: Summit, Cranford, GL, Johnson.

REMAINING REGULAR SEASON

SCHEDULE:

April 24 Plainfield, 9:30 a.m.

April 27 at Johnson, 4 p.m.

April 29 Roselle, 4 p.m.

April 30 at Hillside, 4 p.m.

May 4 at Summit, 4 p.m.

May 6 Cranford, 4 p.m.

May 7 Gov. Livingston, 4 p.m.

May 11 at Roselle Catholic, 4 p.m.

May 13 Johnson, 4 p.m.

May 14 New Providence, 4 p.m.

May 17 Linden, 4 p.m.

May 18 at Scotch Plains, 4 p.m.