Sports
Highlanders Baseball Falls to Cranford in Battle of Top Teams
Cougars' Williamson out-duels Graziano on the diamond.
Round one goes to Cranford.
In a matchup between the two top baseball teams in Union County, Cranford, led by the pitching of sophomore Ryan Williamson, earned a 6-2 victory over Gov. Livingston Wednesday afternoon at Memorial Field in Cranford.
Both teams entered the game at 8-1 and were pretty much playing for the top seed for the upcoming Union County Tournament, which will be seeded on Monday night.
Williamson, a left-hander, went the distance, striking out four, walking none and scattering eight hits.
“This was really the first warm weather game that I’ve pitched in,” said Williamson, who threw 105 pitches. “My arm feels great.”
This was the first meeting between the two schools after getting postponed by rain twice last week.
Gov. Livingston (8-2), which saw its starter, Joe Graziano pitch well in his own right, struck first in the top of the second.
John Jennings led off with a double to left and scored two batters later on an RBI single by Graziano.
Cranford took the lead for good with three runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Mark Osofsky led off with a single and Sean Feeney and Joe Gargiulo then followed bunt singles. On the latter, a throwing error allowed Osofsky to score.
Chris Folinusz then made it 2-0 with an RBI groundout to second and No. 9 hitter Andrew DiFrancesco added an RBI single.
Williamson allowed back-to-back singles to Mike Cranston and Ryan Jennings to start the fifth and Tyler Martis brought in a run with a long flyout to right.
Gargiulo added an RBI single in the fifth and Greg Matlosz added a big two-run single in the sixth to forge Cranford’s four-run edge.
“We try to have the same focus in every inning no matter what the score,” said Matlosz. “We always feel we need runs, and never feel any lead is safe enough, especially against a good team like this.”
Graziano (2-1) allowed nine hits, two walks and struck out five in losing for the first time this spring.
“It’s a tough loss,” said Graziano, who threw 91 pitches. “We’ll try to rebound from this and be ready for the next game.”
Williamson,who helped Cranford win the Union County and Group 3 state tournament last year, gave up a single to Graziano with two outs in the sixth and battled Aaron Smith with a 14-pitch at-bat before finally getting him to ground to short to end the inning.
Two runners reached base with one out in the seventh against Williamson, but he managed to get a fly out to deep center and a come backer to the mound to end the game and improve to 2-0.
“This was Ryan’s game and he pitched a very good one,” said Cranford coach Dennis McCaffery. “It was a very competitive ballgame and hats off to their pitcher. We beat a very good team and a very good pitcher today.”
Gov. Livingston will host Cranford in Berkeley Heights on May 10 at 4 p.m.
If the teams garner the top two spots in the upcoming UCT, a possible third encounter could happen in the county final on May 14 at Kean University in Union.
