(Copyright, Sports on CT-69)
The Class M state baseball final on Saturday will be an NVL fan’s dream.
For those who love their rural, small school baseball, this is the game to see.
For Wolcott baseball, it’s a second state championship game in the last three years, with an opportunity to capture a second trophy.
The third-seeded Eagles slugged their way past No. 18 Ledyard 9-4 in the first game of a semifinal doubleheader on Wednesday at Palmer Field in Middletown. Wolcott will play NVL foe Seymour, the No. 9 seed in Class M, in Saturday night’s final at 7 o’clock back at Palmer. The Wildcats smoked No. 12 St. Joseph of Trumbull 8-0 in the nightcap.
Wolcott and Seymour met once in the regular season, back on April 26 at Wolcott High School. The undefeated Eagles led 7-0, but the Wildcats erupted for an eight-run fifth and stunned the home team and its crowd 8-7. It’s a game both teams would rather forget, given the errors, walks and general poor play. Austin DeRosa, Seymour’s winning pitcher on Wednesday, said his team didn’t play near its full capability. Wolcott would agree with that statement, just change the name of the team that’s being talked about.
Fast forward to Wednesday’s Class M semifinal doubleheader, and Wolcott was a much better team.
WOLCOTT 9, LEDYARD 4
The Eagles fell behind 1-0 on a two-out RBI double by Max Ebdon in the top of the second inning. As has been a key all season, Wolcott didn’t panic.
“We just got to stay loose,” senior Nick Trager said.
The Eagles got the inning started with their first hit, a bloop single by Trey Nastri. Nastri stole second, then advanced to third on a one-out single by Ethan Gillotti. Colonel left-handed starter Cade Walters tried to pick off Gillotti at first, but the throw went wild and Nastri scored. Gillotti got all the way to third with Jeff Nicol still at the plate. Nicol walked, and so did Tino Ciarlo to load the bases. Anthony Ligi ripped an RBI single to put Wolcott ahead 2-1.
The key play in the game came on a pop up hit by Dane Hassan with two outs and the bases still loaded. Three Ledyard players converged on the shallow pop to right field, but it was dropped for an error by second baseman Elijah Morton. Nicol scored, and Wolcott led 3-1. Ligi was forced out at second on the play.
The Eagles were given an opportunity, and they took advantage of it. Nick Trager rocketed a two-run triple past the diving Drew Riffle in right field to score Ciarlo and Hassan for a 5-1 lead. Here’s video of the triple from the Wolcott High School Athletics Facebook page.
“I was trying to put it in play,” Trager said. “I hit a gapper, and good things happened.”
Ledyard shifted hard to the right side of the field against Jack Drewry, but Drewry went the opposite way and dropped a fly ball just inside the left field line for a double to score Trager and give Wolcott a 6-1 lead.
The Eagles added three more runs in the third to surge ahead 9-1. Ciarlo and Ligi had back-to-back RBI singles, then Hassan hit a deep sacrifice fly to left center for another run.
What may get lost in the offensive explosion by Wolcott is the job Brett Adams did on the mound to keep Ledyard to one run in the top of the second inning. Ebdon has just crushed a two-out RBI double to right center to put the Colonels ahead 1-0. Adams kept Ebdon at second by picking up a strikeout to end the inning.
“Brett did a hell of a job again,” Eagles head coach Tary Scott said.
Adams didn’t have his best stuff, but he pitched his way into the fifth inning before Ledyard knocked him out with three runs. Hassan came on in relief and didn’t yield a run over the last 2 1/3 innings. When Hassan picked up a strikeout for the final out, Wolcott celebrated another trip to the state final.
“I’m just pleased, very pleased with the way these guys played,” Scott said.
GALLERY: Here are my photos from Wednesday’s semifinal game.
SEYMOUR 8, ST. JOSEPH 0
The Eagles had to depart right after their game for a school sports awards ceremony, so they missed seeing what the Wildcats did to the potent offense of the Cadets.
St. Joseph scored 41 runs in its three previous state tournament games, but DeRosa shut them out. He gave up only four hits, struck out five and walked two. Seymour’s defense made one error behind him, and the bats did more than enough to back up his effort.
John Chacho ripped St. Joseph pitching for four hits and three RBI while teammate Brandon Ellsworth had three hits and three RBI. Dan Manente singled home a run, and the other Seymour run scored on an errant pickoff throw.
