The Tri-Town Trojans have established a two-game lead (10-1) over Blasius Chevrolet (8-3) and the Terryville Black Sox (8-3) for first place in the Connecticut Tri-State Baseball League.
The top four teams in the 12-team Tri-State postseason get a first round bye. Besides Blasius and Terryville, the Naugatuck Dogs (7-3), Wolcott Scrappers (7-4) and Valley Thunder (6-4) are hovering around those top four spots. The regular season ends July 21, with the postseason beginning on July 26. Teams 5-12 in the standings start best-of-three series on July 26.
In Tri-State action on Sunday, Blasius shut out the Amenia Monarchs 6-0 behind the pitching of Gary Novakowski (5 innings), Austen Green (2 innings) and Dave Sacco (2 innings). Luis Serrano struck the big blow for the Blasius offense with a grand slam in the very first inning. Mike Butkovic had two hits for Blasius.
Naugatuck beat Terryville 2-1 in a great pitchers’ duel between complete-game winner Adam Neveski and Kenny Kerski (7 innings). Former St. Paul product Jake Kawiecki pitched two innings in relief for the Black Sox. Devin Murphy’s sacrifice fly in the first scored Ryan Plourde (2-5) for a 1-0 Naugatuck lead. Kody Kerski tied the game for Terryville in the bottom of the second on Kody Kerski’s sacrifice fly. Back-to-back doubles in the fourth by Macky Cianciolo and Ryan Russell produced the eventual winning run.
OTHER FORMER AREA STANDOUTS: Tyler Erickson allowed a single hit over five innings in a 15-1 Bethlehem Plowboys win over the Torrington Rebels. Matt Mancini went 3-for-5 with four RBI and Mike Chiovitti was 2-for-5 with three RBI.
