Yesterday the two baseball clubs from Verona and Cedar Grove met on the field at Yogi Berra Stadium and Cedar Grove came out on top, winning by 10 after five.
The game ended after five innings because the Hillbillies were down by 10 runs and the game is officially called at the end of the fifth inning. The Hillbillies record falls to 10-8 and Cedar Grove picks up win number eight on the season.
The game opened with a big inning by Cedar Grove and scored early after several walks issued by Chris Bujnowski, who was wild all night. Buj and the Hillbillies had a rough time in the field, committing two errors in the first two innings of play. One occurred when Buj misfielded to a routine ground ball back to the mound and threw it clear past Mario Catania, the Hillbillies’ senior first baseman. Bujnowski’s night ended after 3.0 innings pitched with the Hillbillies down 6-0.
The Hillbillies were held hitless until the bottom of the third inning when Ian Metzger hit a double and was thrown out after being caught in a rundown trying to score. After three hard fought innings, the Hillbillies were down 4-0.
As we headed to the fourth, Bujnowski was pulled after giving up a walk and that later came rounded to score. After the pitching change the Hillbillies decided to throw Thanasi Grillias. He gave up a triple to Tom Greatorex, a junior from Cedar Grove that scored two runs. At the middle of the fourth inning, Cedar Grove lead by 8-0.
The Hillbillies were able to threaten in the bottom of the fourth inning with runners on second and third with one out, the Hillbillies were able to get the bases loaded after freshman DH Metzger was hit by a pitch, but Catania hit a groundball to second to end the inning. The Hillbillies struggled to provide any offensive after having only three hits through four innings of play.
The Hillbilly defense had a rough day after having three errors in the early parts of the game. Cedar Grove scored a majority of their runs off of errors. But Paul Chanley made a huge diving play out in right field in the fifth inning to safe the Hillbillies from another rough inning. The Hillbillies trailed going into the bottom of the fifth, 10-0.
The Hillbillies were unable to come back as Alex Hardenberg hit into a double play to end it. As Verona fell to Cedar Grove 10-0 after five innings. Cedar Grove had an amazing start on the mound tonight by senior Anthony Goergen, who threw a complete game shutout giving up only three hits all game.
The Hillbillies’ next game will be at Bernards High School next Wednesday.
