Westfield Blue advances to North Jersey Semi-finals with win over Warren

Westfield defeated Warren 17-11 in a North Jersey Playoff game to advance to the Semi-Final round of the playoffs. It took just under 26 hours to decide the outcome of this one -- the game was suspended on Wednesday due to darkness and continued on Thursday -- and it wasn’t pretty at times, but Westfield got the job done. The two teams combined to issue 24 walks in 5 and ½ innings of play. With the win Westfield improves to 19-6 overall and 12-1 in North Jersey games.

Warren came out strong and jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the 1st inning. Westfield immediately responded, scoring 7 times in the bottom of the 1st. Eric Varakian started things off with a single and Chris Rinaldi followed with a booming double to deep center that put runners on 2nd and 3rd. Nick Mele and Chris “Boots” Boutsikaris followed with line drive RBI singles. Vin “Madman” Difilippo walked to load the bases. Scott Tupper, Hopper “Pickle” Murray and Chris “Mariano” Varano each singled sharply to drive in runs and Brett Robertshaw and Matthew “Freight Train” Macik each worked the count full in their at-bats, earning RBI walks.

Difilippo came on and pitched 3 very solid innings of relief to earn the victory. Madman allowed only 2 runs over 3 innings while striking out 3. He fielded his position very well, making a great throw to 2nd baseman Varano to get a force out at 2nd base in the 2nd inning to prevent a Warren rally.

While Madman and the Westfield defense were holding Warren’s offense in check, Westfield’s offense continued rolling. They picked up 2 more in the 2nd inning and 5 in the 4th. In the 2nd, Rinaldi led off with a line drive triple to right field and scored on a line drive single to left field by Boots. Difilippo followed with a single to put runners on the corners and then Devin “The Animal” Anderson knocked in Boots with an RBI fielder’s choice. In the 4th, Varakian and Mele got things started with walks and Boots followed with his 3rd of 4 singles on the day to load the bases. Difilippo followed with a hard hit double (a blast to the right center field fence) to knock in 2 runs. Anderson connected with a rocket of a double to left center that scored 2 more runs. Brett Robertshaw picked up his 2nd RBI of the day with a single to right field to close out the scoring in the inning, giving Westfield a 14-6 lead.

Warren rallied for 5 runs in the 5th to close within 3 at 14-11, but Westfield’s offense wasted no time in responding with a 3 run outburst to put the game out of reach. Freight Train Macik led off with a walk, but was forced out at 2nd base when Ethan Smith made a bid for his 2nd hit of the game with a hard hit grounder, but the Warren defense made a nice play to get the out at 2nd base. Varakian, Rinaldi, Mele and Boots singled in succession to score 2 runs and with the bases loaded “The Animal” took one for the team when he hit in the foot with a pitch. That forced in another run and put Westfield ahead 17-11. The game was suspended at that point due to darkness.

When the game resumed on Thursday in Warren, Westfield quickly shut down Warren’s offense in the 6th inning to end the game. Rinaldi pitched a strong 6th and was helped by a nice defensive stab at 3rd base by Robertshaw.

Next up is Branchburg in the Semi-Final round of the playoffs, tomorrow (Friday, 7/27) at Gumbert #1 at 6pm. Warm ups start at 5pm and the boys will wear their blue jerseys.