WESTFIELD – The Westfield High School baseball team finally met its match.
Pope Francis took advantage of some costly Westfield errors to hand the Bombers their first loss of the season, 5-2, Thursday at Bullens Field.
Westfield (6-1) spotted Pope Francis (6-2) a 3-0 lead in the first inning and failed to recover. All three runs were unearned.
“When you give up three runs on one hit to a good team it’s going to be very hard to come back,” Westfield baseball coach Mike Kennedy said. “They took advantage of our mistakes.”
Westfield junior pitcher Josh Wagner retired the first two batters he faced, taking a few steps backward off the mound toward the left side of the infield grass and leapt to field a weak fly ball for the first out, and then fielding a ground ball and firing to first base for the second out. The next out proved to be a bit trickier as things soon began to unravel.
Cole Miller and Andrew Gagne drew walks consecutively for Pope Francis. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch. The next batter, Matteo Cuccoiva reached on an infield error, allowing a run to score. Cuccoiva stole second base, putting runners at second and third. Wagner looked as if he might escape the inning with a one-run deficit, but a dropped third strike and late throw to first base by the catcher allowed a second run to score. Mark Jodoin followed with an RBI single to put the Cards up 3-0.
The first inning proved to be somewhat of a sloppy start for Pope Francis too.
Cardinals junior pitcher Andrew Niemiec also retired the first two batters he faced, forcing a ground out and fly out, but a Paul Lawry single followed by an outfield error on a fly ball hit by Wagner had Westfield threatening to cut into Pope Francis’s lead. Niemec forced a ground out to end the inning.
Wagner recovered nicely on the mound in the second, striking out the first two batters of the inning and forcing a flyout for the inning’s third out.
Pope Francis gave Westfield another chance to climb back into the contest, allowing Jackson LaValley to reach on a two-out infield error. LaValley advanced to second base on a balk, but the Bombers grounded out in their next at-bat.
Wagner continued to gain a foothold on the mound, gaining some momentum by retiring the side in order in each of the third, fourth and fifth innings. He retired 12 straight batters just prior to taking the mound in the sixth, picking up his sixth strikeout in the process.
Westfield had its best chance in the fourth inning, loading the bases with an Anthony Roberts single and two consecutive Pope Francis errors, but Niemiec forced a fly-out to keep the Bombers scoreless.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Westfield wasted a two-out Wagner single as Niemiec responded with an inning-ending strikeout.
Pope Francis tacked on some insurance in the sixth inning. Ryan Vedovelli and Miller walked to begin the inning. The runners both moved into scoring position with a wild pitch and stolen base. Wagner struck out the next batter, but Cuccoiva followed with a two-run single to left field. The Cardinals led 5-0.
Wagner struck out two batters to end the inning and his day on the mound. He finished with nine strikeouts.
Westfield attempted to mount a rally.
Chris Puza led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a base hit through the left side. Nolan Wondolowski drew a one-out walk. With two outs, Patrick Moore hit a ball that looked like it would initially scoot through the left side of the infield, but Pope Francis third baseman made a diving stab to stop the ball. The throw to second base was off the mark though, allowing Moore to reach and a run to score. That marked the end of the outing for Niemiec, who finished with three strikeouts, one walk, and one (unearned) run.
Pope Francis reliever Andrew Gagne came on in relief of Niemiec. Although Gagne allowed a Ryan Garvey RBI single, Gagne struck out the next batter to end the inning.
It was the ninth and 10th baserunners stranded by Westfield in the game.
“We didn’t come through when we should have,” coach Kennedy said. “[Our players] just [need to] bring into the game what we do in practice. We executed in practice but we’re not putting it on the field.”
Jack Madsen provided an inning of scoreless and hitless relief for Westfield in the top of the seventh. The Bombers had one more crack at it but grounded out in consecutive at-bats and struck out to end the game.
“We put the bat on the ball today; it just didn’t fall,” Kennedy said. “We just [need to] keep swinging. …We’re going to bounce back.”
