Senior left-handed pitcher Justin Zigon gutted his way through four innings of work and junior Joe Kealy slammed a three-run triple enroute to a six-inning, 14-4 Chatham High School (N.J) baseball mercy victory over Mendham Monday at home.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Zigon, 5-1 on the season, allowed three earned runs, four hits, and three walks while striking out five batters for the hard-fought win.
“That’s him being a senior,” head coach Todd Leathers said of Zigon finding a way to pick up the victory while battling the hot, humid conditions. “That’s him being up here for four years and going through it and learning. He’s been great this year. He’s really come in with the idea, I’m just going to have fun, I’m going to do what I need to do. And like I said, he’s been awesome, and today is another day, he did what seniors do. Him going out there after that (tough) inning and giving us another two innings allows us to bridge to (Luke) Brendle and (Jack) Hadzima allows to put it down.”
While the Cougar’s defense has been nothing short of impresses this campaign, Leathers was taken aback a bit with the few hiccups during the second frame, he noted. But it said he is not losing any sleep over it.
“Our defense has been great all year,” he said. “I never had a team that has fielded the ball like we have this year. It’s amazing how it catches you by surprise. And none of the plays were easy. But when they have been making all those types of plays all year, you kind of expect them (to do it). But you know what? They’ll be fine.
Chatham (17-6) jump out to 5-0 advantage in the first inning, but the Minutemen (12-10-1) answered with three runs of their own to cut the defict to 5-3 in the top of the second frame.
However, three RBI, including ones from junior Drew Speace and sophomore Kieran Brendle, extended the Cougars’ lead to 8-3 in the bottom of the fourth inning.
After Mendham added a run in the top of the sixth frame to make it 8-4, Chatham tacked on six more runs to unceremoniously end the Minutemen’s day on the losing end of the ledger.
Kealy went 2-4 with four RBI, while senior Luke Leskaukas posted a 2-3 day, including a perfectly executed bunt base hit and two RBI for the Cougars.
Senior Kris Wilson drove in three runs for the Minutemen.
Chatham travels to Mendham Wednesday for a 4:00 p.m. game.
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