West Orange HS baseball team’s Mikey Cassels throws no-hitter

WEST ORANGE, NJ — On Tuesday night, May 16, the West Orange High School baseball team hosted the Panthers from Cedar Grove. After a wonderful pregame ceremony honoring the younger players in town, the game was underway. The story of West Orange’s 10-0 victory was pitching, as senior Mikey Cassels pitched a no-hitter against Cedar Grove in what was most likely the last varsity start of his high school career. Cassels finished the game with six innings pitched, six strikeouts, and only one walk in an extremely dominant outing. Offensively, the Mountaineers had a great day at the plate, putting up 12 hits. Freshman Jay Stevenson went 2-for-2 with two RBIs, and senior Riley Moses went 1-for-3 with two RBIs. Sophomore Noah Gattens went 2-for-3, and freshman Jack Pimm secured his first varsity hit as well. To end off a dominant game for West Orange, junior Justin Strozyk launched a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning, finishing off a 2-for-3 day with three RBIs. The home run put the Mountaineers up 10-0, which ended the game due to the 10-run rule.

West Orange then defeated Montclair Kimberley Kimberley 5-1 on Wednesday, May 17, and Belleville 5-4 on Saturday May 20, to extend their winning streak to four games and improve to 12-10 on the season. In the win over Belleville, Curtis Battle went 2-for-4 with one RBI and two runs; Matt Orabona was 1-for-3 with one RBI and one run; Amir Stewart was 1-for-2 with one RBI and one run; and winning pitcher Sean Harrington worked three innings of three-hit ball, allowing one earned run with one strikeout and one walk.