“Baseball is a game of failure, so things aren’t always going to go your way but definitely we have to build on top of the positives; keep working and we have a long season ahead of us,” harped captain Leo Mangiamele after a tough 8–3 loss to Summit on opening day.
Randy Davis opened the game off for the Blue Devils with an eight-pitch walk, giving Westfield supporters something to cheer about. However, Wes Hellings, Summit’s ace, immediately silenced the crowd as he struck out the next two batters, and his catcher, Christopher Moglia, tossed a rifle down to second, catching Davis stealing.
In the bottom half of the inning, the Hilltopper onslaught began. The first two Summit batters each ripped a double, allowing the Hilltoppers to jump out to an early 1–0 lead. The next two batters both reached base safely, loading the bases with still nobody out. The proceeding batter hit into a fielder’s choice, scoring the runner at third. Tomas Cestero escaped the jam by only allowing two runs.
“[2-0] is a deficit we certainly can work back from, but I think our mentality kind of changed a little bit, and it seemed as if a bit of wind was taken out of our sails. We got to learn to be a little more mentally tough in that situation, and you know, two runs in high school baseball is nothing at all,” said Westfield head coach Jay Cook.
In the second inning, Cestero picked up where he left off. The first batter flew out to Chris Shinners in right field and the next fell victim to Cestero’s offspeed pitches, as he fooled the hitter with ease. Before Cestero could strike out the final batter of the inning, fans’ hearts began to break. Owen Callahan, captain and starting catcher, dislocated his thumb. Callahan was forced to leave the game and was unable to return. Jake Zippler attempted to fill the void at the catcher position, but it was a difficult task, as Callahan is one of the top catchers in New Jersey.
Zippler’s inexperience showed in the following inning. With runners on the corners and nobody out, Cestero chucked a high pitch that went off Zippler’s glove. The runner from third scored, and the lead was now three. Cestero walked the next two batters and the Hilltopper lead extended to four. After walking in the fourth run, Cestero was pulled from the game. Mason Gibbs replaced Cestero, however he was dropped into quite the predicament. The bases were juiced, nobody was out, and the Blue Devils needed three outs. The first batter Gibbs faced reached base safely due to an error in the field which allowed a run to score. The next batter hit into a fielder’s choice, and the Blue Devils trailed 6–0. Gibbs would walk in another run before finally getting out of the inning, and stopping the damage.
In the fourth inning, with the Westfield offense still nonexistent, the Hilltoppers added one more run, bringing them to their total for the night, eight.
While there wasn’t much for the Blue Devils to take away from this game, Westfield did manage to have a very productive sixth inning. Mangiamele had a two RBI triple, and he would be knocked in by Zippler’s two-out single.
“We can take the mentality and approach at the plate into Wednesday’s game because the other six innings were not a great approach. So we can take that approach and kind of piggyback off it, which I think could allow us to be pretty successful next game,” said Cook.
The Blue Devils will take on Union Catholic at 4 p.m. for their home opener on Wednesday. The Blue Devils will look to increase their five-game winning streak over the Vikings and will look to use the loss to Summit as fuel for them in the next game.
