The Westfield Blue Devils will head out on the road to face off against the Union Catholic Vikings at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday.
Westfield is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of New Jersey's top teams: Governor Livingston, who was ranked eighth at the time (Westfield was ranked 15th). The Blue Devils fell just short of the Highlanders by a score of 8-7 on Monday. The loss continues a trend for the Blue Devils in their meetings with the Highlanders: they've now lost three in a row.
Braeden Trajkovski was cooking despite his team's loss, going 2-for-3 with one home run, two runs, and two RBI. Another player making a difference was Aaron Ives, who went 2-for-4 with one run and one RBI.
Union Catholic not only won on Tuesday, but they posted their biggest win since April 3rd (when they won 9-2). They put the hurt on Dayton with a sharp 10-3 win. The high-flying hitting performance was a huge turnaround for the Vikings considering their two-run performance the matchup before.
Nick Anderson made a big impact no matter where he played. He tossed three innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than one walk in four consecutive appearances. He was also solid in the batter's box, going a perfect 2-for-2 with three RBI and one double. Those three RBI gave him a new career-high.
In other batting news, Greg Viloria was a standout: he went 1-for-4 with three stolen bases and two runs. Chris Wilson also deserves some recognition as he hit his first double of the season.
Union Catholic pushed their record up to 6-3 with the victory, which was their sixth straight at home dating back to last season. Those home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.8 runs on average over those games. As for Westfield, their defeat was their first of the season and makes their record 7-1.
Westfield skirted past Union Catholic 6-4 in their previous meeting back in May of 2023. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Blue Devils since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
