Cranford has known to be one of the biggest baseball powerhouses in not only Union County, but the entire state as a whole. They are coming off back to back Union County tournament wins, as well as coming off a season where they finished 26-1. Returning 6 guys from last years championship team, everyone in the state would think that Oratory would have their hands full with this Cranford team. But as we could tell from the score board by the end of the bottom of the 7th inning, this would not be the case.
A day prior, the Rams had lost to divisional rival Union Catholic in a heartbreaking 1-0 game. Despite Micheal Greco and Caden Breault both pitching to dominance, the Rams would not land more than a couple hits and get things going on the offensive side. Despite this loss, Coach Blauner looked for optimism only and told the boys before the game that he was excited for his team to get the chance of redeeming themselves. The boys took this message to heart and were fueled up to go play.
In the top of the first inning the Rams showed bunt in back to back ab’s from both Costello and Loiacono, as Cranford parents would think after seeing the Rams first two at bats that this would be an easy 10-0 5 inning win. Costello would be able to get comfortable in wet conditions pretty easily by finishing the first inning with just 6 pitches. The Rams were the first ones to strike off of a walk with the bases loaded to go ahead 1-0 in the top of the 2nd. Costello would show signs of the inning prior by only throwing 11 pitches in the 2nd, allowing for his boys to get back to work with the bats. This would be the case as the boys put 4 more runs on the board to go ahead 5-0. This was generated from their execution and the energy they brought as it would rattle the Cranford pitching staff. Costello continued to flourish all game as he would escape trouble in the bottom of the 3rd. The very next frame, Jalen Brogdon would be the leadoff man for the surging hot Rams. The pitcher threw, Brogdon locked in on it, and drove the ball 345 feet over the rightfield fence for a home run. Brogdon would not only achieve his second hit of the game or another rbi for his season total, but mark his first career high school home run in an Oratory uniform. That would not stop the Rams at all as Kevin Parker’s patience paid off by drawing a walk for a red hot Blake Duddy. Duddy would hit a crusher to the right center gap that rolled all the way to the fence, scoring Parker to make the Rams lead 7-0 in just the 4th inning. Costello continued to shine pitching wise by escaping trouble throughout the entire game, finishing with 6 2/3 innings pitched and 7ks. Mj Cohen would come into relieve him as he only needed 4 pitches to get the last out of the game. The final was 7-2 from Cranford baseball field, capping off the Rams first time defeating Cranford in school history. The boys are now 3-5 and put a huge statement out to the rest of the county. They play on Saturday at home looking to add to this big win!
