The Westwood Cardinals will face off against the Rutherford Bulldogs at 4:15 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Rutherford will square off against a team with plenty of momentum: Westwood extended their winning streak to six on Wednesday. The Cardinals blew past Mahwah 11-2.
Jack Walsh was a major factor no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, tossing seven innings while giving up just two earned runs off five hits. Walsh was also big at the plate, going 2-for-4 with one run and one double.
In other batting news, Gabe Arcieri was excellent, going 3-for-5 with two RBI and one run. Joe Cerritelli was another key player, going 2-for-4 with two RBI, one run, and one double.
Westwood kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 11 hits. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now got at least nine hits in three consecutive matchups.
Meanwhile, Rutherford got the win against Saddle Brook on Thursday by a conclusive 13-3. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Bulldogs.
The team relied heavily on Chris Gioia, who went 4-for-5 with one home run, two stolen bases, and three runs. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in RBI (four). Another player making a difference was Andrew Erickson, who went 3-for-5 with one stolen base, two RBI, and one run.
Westwood pushed their record up to 12-5 with the victory, which was their third straight on the road. The road wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.7 runs on average over those games. As for Rutherford, their victory bumped their record up to 11-3.
Westwood was able to grind out a solid win over Rutherford in their previous matchup back in April of 2024, winning 5-1. Will the Cardinals repeat their success, or do the Bulldogs have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
