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Westwood bats topple Tenafly
(by J.C. Baumuller - May 13, 2008)
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Staff Photos By Joe Camporeale
Westwood’s Ryan McConnell is congratulated by his teammates after leading off the second inning on Monday, May 5 with a long homerun to left. The Cardinals won the game 11-0 to start off a week where they went 4-0, dominating the competition.
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Westwood scored early and often in an 11-0 win over Tenafly.
The Cardinals jumped on Tiger freshman starter Nick Hroncich for four runs on three hits in the first inning.
“I think it was necessary to do that,” said Westwood coach Joe Yurko. “I pushed the envelope a little bit in that first inning, put some plays on just to get us going. It’s a big week for us.
“We have to win five straight to make the counties. And we basically have to run the table to win the league. There is no time for waiting around.
Chris Leyden led off with a walk and made it to second on a botched pick-off play. Eric Taxeras followed with a bunt single, pushing Leyden to third. Leyden scored when Hroncich threw the ball into dead ball territory when he tried to pick off Taxeras at first.
Jason Hrbek’s two-run single followed a walk to Ryan Kuizema. Hrbek later scored the fourth run of the inning on a single by Rob Schneider.
“He’s pitched about three or four times,” Tenafly coach Kurt Hommen said of Hroncich. “We figured we would give him a shot to try to keep them off stride for a couple of innings. He’s pitched well for us.
“Today he got the ball up and had trouble getting ahead with strikes.”
Ryan McConnell led off the second with a long home run to left. Leyden walked again and scored on Hrbek’s sacrifice fly to center and it was 6-0.
The Cardinals also added single runs in the third and fourth innings.
“I think we caught a break because they pitched a freshman against us,” said Yurko. “It looks like he’s going to be a good pitcher down the road. But I’m sure they have a busy week too. And everybody is trying to save pitchers.”
Meanwhile Westwood starter Kuizema yielded only one hit through four innings, a lead off single by Brian Sherman to open the second. He struck out two and did not walk a batter.
“The first three or four innings we hit the ball,” said Hommen. “We just hit it at people.”
“I just wanted to throw strikes, get outs,” said Kuizema. “We are looking to get back into the hunt. We had a couple of tough losses.”
The Westwood offense was a shot in the arm for the pitcher.
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Westwood starting pitcher Ryan Kuizema yielded only one hit through four innings in the 11-0 win over Tenafly on Monday, May 5. He struck out two and did not walk a batter.
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“It’s always helpful,” said Kuizema. “As long as you get a couple of runs that’s perfect. We hit well today. When you can get out to a comfortable lead it’s always good. We have been struggling lately but it was good to get back into it today. Once we start hitting we’ll be fine.”
Hrbek was more than fine as he collected two hits and drove in five runs.
“I would like to have that kind of day everyday,” he said. “Some days you do and some days you can’t. I try everyday. Today was a good day. I hit the ball hard. It’s all you can ask for.”
The Cardinal bats were quieted when Hommen brought in Sam Roden to relieve Hroncich with a runner on and no outs in the fourth. Roden gave up an RBI single to Hrbek, but nothing in the fifth or sixth.
“Our relief guy came in and did a decent job and kept us in there,” said Hommen. “He kept it competitive.”
Yurko replaced Kuizema on the mound with Hrbek to begin the fifth inning. Hrbek yielded a two-out single to designated hitter Pete Loconte in two innings of work.
Russ Zeltner finished up, striking out two of the three batters he faced in the seventh.
“They did their job,” Yurko said of his pitchers. “We have to play one day at a time and keep going. You play four days in a row you have to do something.”
“Our pitchers got to pitch with a lead and it’s much easier to pitch with a lead,” said Hrbek. “Our batters didn’t have to stress that much at the plate. Just go up and hit the ball. There is not as much pressure and I think that helped us at the plate.
“The hitting set the tone for us, especially defensively. Defense gets to play a lot looser and you do better.”
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