Vikings Beat Westlake as Franzese Pitches His Second Shutout

With the wind blowing more than 30 miles an hour and the temperature struggling to reach even 40 degrees on Friday afternoon, both the Westlake and Valhalla baseball teams took a similar approach before taking the field.

They tried not to think about the chilly conditions.

“We can’t control the weather, so we don’t talk about it,” said Wildcats coach Michael Paquette.

“Forget about the cold, we’re not gonna mention it,” Vikings coach Josh Wolfson told his players.

On a day more suited for penguins and polar bears, it was host Valhalla that prevailed. Junior southpaw Steven Franzese limited the Wildcats to five hits, recording his second shutout in three starts this season, as the Vikings defeated Westlake 5-0, completing a 24-hour sweep of the teams’ home-and-home series.

“Would love to have the warmer weather,” said Wolfson afterwards. “But if we’re gonna win, we’ll take any kind of weather.”

In improving to 6-1 this year, the Vikings broke a scoreless tie with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Designated hitter Carl Bespolka, who finished the day with a pair of hits and three runs batted in, delivered a key single that brought home the game’s first two runs and gave Franzese all the support he would need.

An inning later, after two quick outs, Valhalla added a pair of insurance runs on RBI singles off the bats of Christian Lovecchio and Bespolka. Meanwhile, Franzese, who had shut out Bronxville in his first start of the season, stymied a Westlake comeback bid by pitching out of a fifth-inning jam, stranding runners at second and third base.

“He’s pitched real well for us,” said Wolfson. “The first couple of innings of his first two starts were a little shaky. And again, today, but he found it. It was real tough to grip the curveball today, so he was battling that the whole game.”

Still, Franzese didn’t walk a single batter and only allowed the Wildcats to get a runner into scoring position on two occasions. In the top of the first inning, Mike Poggioreale smacked a two-out double right over the third-base bag. But Franzese ended the Westlake threat by getting his second strikeout of the inning.

He gave up a leadoff single to Matt Latino in the third, but then Chris Donato lined into a double play on an ill-fated Wildcat hit-and-run play. Finally staked to a three-run lead, Franzese found himself in some trouble in the fifth when both Brendan Duane and Latino reached on infield hits and, with two outs, moved up a base on a double steal. But the inning ended as Donato was retired on a slow bouncer to short.

The Vikings had been set down in order over the first three innings by Westlake’s Duane, who got some defensive help in the first when center fielder Matt Rubin made a sparkling, sliding catch to rob Lovecchio of a hit. In the bottom of the fourth, though, Duane gave up a leadoff single to right to Sergio Osorio. One out later, Lovecchio’s fly to left in the stiff wind couldn’t be corralled and Valhalla suddenly had two runners in scoring position.

“If that ball gets caught, it could be a different game,” said the Wildcats’ Paquette about the two-base hit that eluded left fielder Jason Kalle. “He turned one way, the wind was blowing, and then he lost his footing and he just didn’t make the play.”

Bespolka then stepped to the plate and provided his two-run single into center field that gave Valhalla, which had beaten the Wildcats 4-2 a day earlier, a 2-0 advantage. The left-handed Brett Holtz followed by squibbing a single to the opposite field to score Bespolka, who had advanced to second base when his hit to center was bobbled for a moment.

“In conditions like this,” said Wolfson, “with the pitchers, they’re pitching pretty well in the beginning, we figured one or two runs would win it. So our mindset was, ‘Let’s get one (run) and see where it goes from there.’”

According to Wolfson, the Vikings’ big fourth inning was also aided because they had a chance to settle in after watching Duane humble them for three innings.

“Yeah, it was the second time through the lineup,” he said. “Our batters got a lit bit more comfortable and then we turned the lineup over to the top. The top of the order got a couple hits in a row and got us the three runs.”

In the fifth, Duane retired the first two Valhalla batters but then yielded a line single to right by Osorio, who prompty stole second. After a walk to Sam Gannon, who a day later would single in the winning run in the Vikings’ improbable seventh-inning comeback over Hastings, Lovecchio stretched the Valhalla lead to 4-0 with an RBI single to center. A single to left by Bespolka brought home the game’s final run.

“That’s been the case a couple times this year,” said Paquette about his team’s inability to escape unscathed even when the first two batters are retired. “We’re just not closing the innings.”

The Wildcats began the seventh with a single to center field by Rubin, but then Franzese got Derek Petfield to hit a sharp ground ball to Osorio at short, which turned into an easy double play. Another grounder to Osorio by Nico Agosto ended the game.

“It’s great,” said Wolfson about winning twice against the rival Wildcats. “A team that’s five minutes down the road, it’s always great to beat them. But, really, what’s important is the sixth win of the season. Obviously we’re playing well. Just really great to get off to this 6-1 start no matter who we’re beating.”

“Well, it’s always disappointing to lose to Valhalla,” said Paquette. “I know the kids are disappointed, but hopefully we learn from this.”