CINNAMINSON (N.J.) - The Buena Regional High School baseball team faced off against Cinnaminson last year in the first edition of a home-and-home series. Buena won last year's contest, 2-0.
The Chiefs succeeded again with a 6-0 win in this year's matchup on Tuesday.
Austin Wokock tossed five shutout innings and allowed only three hits and struck out three batters. The senior pitched to contact as three groundouts and nine fly outs or lineouts accounted for 12 out of Wokock's 15 outs.
"I like to be able to trust my defense on the mound," Wokock said. "It'd be nice to strike everyone out but it's easier to just let my defense make the plays, and I know they will."
Buena's Austin Wokock hurled five scoreless innings and allowed three hits and struck out three batters in a 6-0 win over Cinnaminson at Cinnaminson High School in Cinnaminson, New Jersey on Tuesday, May 16, 2023. Chris Baker/D2 Sports Network
Ryley Betts led the offense with two runs batted in and finished 2-for-3 with a double and single. Buena racked up seven hits as Tre Carano and Charlie Saglimbeni added two hits each.
The saying "defense wins championships" has been the motto Buena has embraced as of recent. In three of their last five games, the Chiefs have shutout their opponent.
"I think our best asset all year has been pitching," Buena coach Tom Carney said. "Our pitchers have been the ones keeping us in games all year long. If our offense is down, I know we can use our pitching as a crutch to get a win."
The game plan on offense was straightforward and effective. Find a pitch and drive it.
"Our hitting has been looking for some comfortability lately so today we just waited on a pitch we all thought we could hit," Betts said. "We didn't go up there swinging away at just anything and I think that discipline was a big factor into a lot of the barrels we caught."
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