1-1, bottom of the second, two men on and the eighth man in the order, senior Mikey Lynch stepped up to the plate. He watched two pitches go by, both strikes. He took the third pitch for a ride, high and deep into right-center field, well over the wall to give Westfield a 4-1 lead.
Following a gauntlet the previous week, Westfield looked to continue their success to start the season, coming off of three major wins against Cranford, Governor Livingston, and Brearly. Westfield was expected to win their matchup against Millburn ahead of the Union County Tournament.
With senior Jack Chavez on the mound, the Blue Devils expected to have a great game defensively and on the mound. After an unfortunate wild pitch, Millburn took the early lead in the second, and Westfield managed to get out of a jam with two runners on base with a double play.
The bottom of the second, starting with Lynch’s home run, gave way for the rest of the batting order to explode. A triple, walk and single made the game 5-1, and two straight batters got plunked to give the Blue Devils a five run lead. Back-to-back Westfield singles from senior Nic Labin and junior Aaron Ives burst the game wide open, capping off a nine-run second inning. Coach Jay Cook said, “We had a great second inning, and we swung the bat well, had some hard hit balls.”
The Millers managed to score a single run in each of the next four innings, as Chavez controlled the game. He finished with an impressive statline, allowing only six hits, two earned runs, two walks and striking out six batters. “It wasn’t the best performance I could’ve had, I struggled through things here and there throughout the game. I was able to stay mentally tough throughout the game,” Chavez said.
Sophomore Logan Revock scored on a passed ball in the bottom of the sixth, and that cemented the final score of 10-5, as senior Tommy Hyland shut down Millburn in the top of the seventh to end the game, giving Westfield a four game win streak.
Westfield will take on New Providence on the road for their next game at 4 p.m. on Thursday.
