UNION – Summit junior left hander Will Schaffer was someone that head coach Kevin Zaleski counted on this season.
His efforts on the mound and at the plate helped the Hilltoppers produce another winning season at 14-11, while Summit also won the Union County Conference’s Valley Division championship for the third time in four years, fashioning a 6-2 league mark.
Schaffer was 2-3 with a team leading 38 strikeouts on the mound.
At the plate, Schaffer led Summit in batting average at .355, RBI with 22 and triples with three.
Tabbed by the Union County coaching staff to start the June 20 7th annual Essex-Union Underclassmen Baseball All-Star Game at Kean, Schaffer did quite well in his two-inning stint.
Schaffer allowed no runs on one hit, while striking out two and walking one.
The Essex County All-Stars scored runs in each of the next four innings en route to a 9-6 victory, their fifth in the series and fourth straight.
The pitchers of record for the game were Essex County junior right hander and Rutgers commit Collin Kiernan of Verona, who started and like Schaffer tossed two shutout innings; and Union County junior lefty Nick Cocchia, who gave up five runs (only three earned) while pitching the third and fourth innings.
Each team banged out 11 hits.
Here’s a look at the Essex County hits in order:
Top of the first (1):
16-Rich Schiekofer of Millburn – single to center field
Top of the third (2):
16-Rich Schiekofer of Millburn – RBI-single to right field 1-0
8-Anthony Giachin of Newark Academy – opposite field single to left-center
Top of the fifth (3):
9-Makhi Booker of Montclair – triple to left-center field
8-Anthony Giachin of Newark Academy – RBI-double to right-center field
1-Austin Miles of Livingston – RBI-single to center field
Top of the sixth (2):
5-Danny Boehmer of Columbia – bloop single to left field
10-Nick Maldonado of Seton Hall Prep – RBI-single
Top of the seventh (1):
13-Ian McLaughlin of West Essex – opposite field single to right field
Top of the eighth (1):
15-Collin Kiernan of Verona – opposite field single to right field
Top of the ninth (1):
10-Nick Maldonado of Seton Hall Prep – opposite field single to right field off second baseman’s glove
Here’s a look at the Union County hits in order:
Bottom of the first (2):
15-Joe Turek of Johnson – opposite field single to left field
20-Jake Vall-Llobera of Westfield – opposite field single to left field
Bottom of the second (1):
4-Will Faucher of New Providence – opposite field single to right field
Bottom of the third (1):
21-Ryan Bakie of Cranford – opposite field single to right field
Bottom of the seventh (2):
17-Joe Kastner of Dayton – single off second baseman’s glove
20-Jake Vall-Llobera of Westfield – single to center field
Bottom of the eighth (1):
19-Matt Fox of Scotch Plains – single to left field
Bottom of the ninth (4):
23-Peter Yarem of Scotch Plains – single to center field
14-Victor Cruz of Westfield – bloop single to center field
12-Dan Baroff of Governor Livingston – 2-RBI single to right field
5-Jesse Goncalves of Brearley – opposite field RBI-single to right field