Westfield wins at Berkeley Heights

In a game that was close until the 5th inning, Westfield came away with an 11-5 victory over Berkeley Heights Tuesday night behind timely hitting and the solid pitching of Nick Mele, Chris Rinaldi and Scott Tupper.

A double by Chris Rinaldi followed by a clutch 2 out hit by Brett Robertshaw led to 2 runs in the top of the first but Berkeley tied the game with single runs in the next two innings. Eric Varakian tripled in the top of the third to score Tom Summers with the go ahead run and was later driven in by Nick Mele to give Westfield the 4-2 lead.

In the bottom of the 4th, 1st baseman Chris Boutsikaris made the defensive play of the game. With Westfield ahead 4-3 and runners on second and third, Chris made a backhand stab of a hot shot down the line and stepped on the bag for the third out to preserve the lead. Westfield also continued their habit of nailing runners at home plate when earlier in the game Chris Varano relayed to Bouts and on to catcher Vince Difilippo. Vince chased the runner back to third before tossing to Devin Anderson who applied the tag.

Westfield broke the game open in the top of the fifth as Hopper Murray tripled to deep left to start a 4 run ralley. Ethan Smith followed with a double to right in which he entertained the crowd with some fancy baserunning between 1st and 2nd. Devin Anderson added a triple of his own to right center. The offense continued to click in the 6th as Vince Difilippo lined a homerun to right center field to start a 3 run ralley that completed the scoring.

Mele, Rinaldi and Tupper pitched a great game limiting Berkeley to 2 hits while recording 10 strikeouts.

Next up is Long Hill as the squad returns from a long road trip for their first home game of the year.