Baseball: Cranford Falls to Bayonne, 6-3, on Senior Day

CRANFORD, NJ — Since pulling out a thrilling nine-inning victory over Gov. Livingston on April 16, the subsequent week was a challenging one for the Cranford baseball team.The Cougars lost a one-run road game at Watchung Hills, got swept in a two-game series against Watchung Division foe Union Catholic, then lost, 6-3, at home to Bayonne on Senior Day Friday.Even after his team won, however, Bayonne head coach Dave Hoffmann was unable to contain his praise for Cranford's senior shortstop Brayden Fry.Fry had just concluded a game in which he reached base four times, scored three runs, stole two bases and hit his Union County-leading seventh home run of the season. Fry also made several exceptional plays in the field, which is a daily occurrence for the St. Joseph's University commit."Can I just say, Brayden Fry is one of the best players I have ever seen?" Hoffmann said. "I mean, he's an unbelievable player. He makes every play. He is unbelievable, and I just want to make note of that. That kid is a phenomenal baseball player. He's really tough to prepare for. He makes every play, gets every hit, hits the home run, scores on the sac fly. Phenomenal player."Cranford and Bayonne play a crossover game in the regular season every year, and Hoffmann joked that he'll be happy now that his team doesn't have to deal with Fry's outstanding all-around talents anymore after Friday.Cranford (7-7) took a 1-0 lead with a run in the bottom of the third inning, but even that run came with a brilliant Bayonne fielding play attached to it. With one out, Brayden Fry reached on an infield error and then stole second base. Mike Tripodi followed with a long fly to dead center field. Bayonne center fielder Brandon Drago made a spectacular diving catch near the fence. Fry, as great a baserunner as he is at everything else on a baseball field, tagged up and didn't stop at third, coming all the way around to score on a two-base sacrifice fly.Bayonne scored an unearned run in the top of the fifth, then Cranford started the bottom of the fifth with an opposite-field flyball home run down the right-field line by Fry to cut the Bayonne lead to 5-2. but after Tripodi kept the Cougars' rally going with an infield single, catcher Isler erased him with a perfect peg to Isler covering second on a steal attempt.Chris Cunningham led off the top of the seventh with a home run down the right-field line despite a valiant effort against the fence by Cranford RF Christian Pereira to keep the ball in the park. That gave Bayonne a 6-2 lead.Savun Raparelli came on in the bottom of the seventh and yielded an unearned run on Adam Kielczynski's two-out RBI single before striking out the final batter of the game on a 2-2 curve with two runners on base.Fry leads the Cougars with a .452 batting average. Other Cranford batters hitting above .300 are Patrick Bendert (.368), Jackson Schoening (.333) and Mike Tripodi (.311).Seniors honored in pre-game ceremonies were: Brayden Fry, Michael Tripodi, Christian Pereira, Gabe Arato, Owen Woodruff, David Rosa, Jesse Weaver, Adam Kielczynski, Quinn Smith, Morgan Nicholls, Tyler Muccigrosso, Pat Berry and Matt Dugan.Cranford had a game at Union scheduled for Saturday morning. The Cougars had a 2-0 lead in the second inning when the game was halted because of the rain.