CESTERO TOSSES 3-HITTER, IVES 3-FOR-3, SCORES 2

Senior Tomas Cestero was on the top of his game for six of the seven innings he pitched when the top-seeded Westfield High School baseball team hosted the ninth-seeded New Providence Pioneers in the quarterfinal round of the Union County Tournament (UCT) at Bob Brewster, Sr. Field in Westfield on May 8. Cestero did yield two runs in the top of the fourth inning but that was all the Pioneers could muster as the Blue Devils banged out 10 hits in a 5-2 victory.

Cestero recorded only three strikeouts but his clever use of his sliders, fastballs and changeups kept the 7-11 Pioneers off-balance, resulting with him tossing a three-hitter, while allowing one walk and hitting a pair of batters. Interestingly, two of the hits and both hit batters came in that fourth inning.

“The goal is to go in there and get outs anyway you can if you don’t have your best stuff on a day to day basis you still got to find a way to get outs. I think that’s what makes you a pitcher. That’s my goal every day even if I don’t have my best stuff. New Providence is a good team. They have some good hitters. I have a lot of respect for those guys and I am excited to move on,” Cestero answered.

“I think he mixes pitches really well. He located his pitches. He’s really been making a conscious effort all season trying to attack the strike zone with all three pitches. He left a couple of pitches up but he got a lot of soft contact early, he got some quick outs and he was able to keep his pitch count down, which is great. Usually with strikeouts, your pitch count rises and you are not able to finish games,” Blue Devil Head Coach Jay Cook explained.

“I’m am just trying to throw those for strikes, so hopefully you can get them off-balance with the front hip, the slider. It gets a lot of guys offbalance and the changeup has been really good the last week,” Cestero explained.

Coach Cook added, “He has a college level slider and a changeup for that matter. He just doesn’t need to use it a lot. It’s his equalizer. You can’t just throw 92, 93, you got to look for that slider once in a while and when it’s biting and tight, it’s tough to hit.”

Pioneer starting pitcher Ethan Cifarelli was on the mound four innings and allowed four runs, seven hits, a walk and a hit batter, while recording no strikeouts. Left-handed relief pitcher Matt Santacross was unable to record a strikeout also in his two innings on the mound but he did yield one run, three hits and two walks.

The Blue Devils have played the Pioneers twice before this season and all three games proved to be tough ones. On April 10, the Blue Devils beat New Providence, 5-2, but just six days before this game, the scrappy Pioneers prevailed, 6-4.

more photos at goleader.com Ballyhoo Sports Throughout the season different Blue Devils have emerged as game heroes but in this one, Aaron Ives had a big afternoon going 3-for-3 and scoring twice.

“Aaron has done a great job for us this year. He’s had some big AB’s (atbats) and some big RBI’s. He’s third on our team in RBI’s, so he has the knack for getting the run in when you need to, which is all you ask for as a coach,” Coach Cook said.

In a previous win over Millburn it was Mikey Lynch who came up big with a three-run home run.

“Mike Lynch, unfortunately he’s getting an MRI tonight but I think he tore his ACL against GL (Governor Livingston). It’s a tough break for him but Mikey stepped in this year and did a good job for us,” Coach Cook said.

Others also got into the act. Cestero went 2-for-3 with another one of his long doubles, singled, scored once and had an RBI sacrifice fly. Braedan Trajkovski singled twice and had an RBI. Charlie McCormack singled and scored once. Jake Alfano rapped an RBI double. Nic Labin walked, was hit by a pitch and scored. Randy Davis beat out a high chopping single and walked. Liam Sullivan walked and had an RBI.

“It’s always when you get somebody going who you don’t expect right away, we are happy for him. Charlie McCormack tried to get a bunt down twice but he comes up with a single to load the bases and Liam Sullivan knocked a guy in. There are definitely a lot of key contributors who really got it done, especially from the middle to bottom of our order,” Coach Cook recalled.

All season Cestero has been threatening the 416 foot mark in centerfield with his long drives.

Cestero acknowledged, “Yes! I keep hitting it to the deepest part of the field but I will take extra base hits. Anything to help the team!”

“If we were playing at a different ball park, he would have about six home runs because he’s been at the 416 at least three times this year. He hit them far. He just hits them to the furthest part for sure,” Coach Cook added.

For the first three innings, Cestero allowed just a walk to Luca Vitale in the first. In the meantime, the Blue Devils did threaten in the bottom of the first when Trajkovski lined a twoout single over third and Davis beat out his high chopper to short but Kellen Edwards grounded into a force out at third.

The bottom of the third inning resulted in three Blue Devils trampling home plate. Labin led off by taking a fastball to the back. Ives’ high infield chopper resulted in a single and McCormack’s single to left loaded the bases with no one out. Labin scored on Sullivan’s slow grounder to third and Ives scored when Cestero lofted his RBI sac fly to center. Alfano followed with a hooking RBI double that skid inside the leftfield line.

The Pioneer fourth inning began with Jake Monaco rapping a grounder to third that drew an awkward throw but first baseman Trajkovski made a leaping grab-and-tag for the first out. Vitale followed with a double to leftfield. Cestero ricocheted a fastball off Ryan Kessler’s back. The Pioneers pulled off a double steal putting both runners in scoring position then Cestero struck out Sean Reilly for the second out. Robby Roth slashed a two-run single to right then Cestero hit Santacross on the foot. Vinny Bisaccia ground into a force play for the third out.

The Blue Devils got one of the runs back in the bottom of the inning for a 4-2 lead. Ives wiggled a single past second and would skip to second on a wild pitch. With Sullivan at the plate, Ives scored on a pitch in the dirt.

The final hit that Cestero yielded was a double to Jim Miller in the fifth. The Blue Devils added their fifth run in the sixth. Cestero hammered a oneout double to left-centerfield and scored on Trajokovski’s high chopping single into left.

All three Pioneers went down in order in the seventh.