The Connecticut Tri-State Baseball League began its best-of-three World Series on Tuesday night at Fuessenich Park, but there was business to attend to before the first pitch.
The league inducted its Hall of Fame Class of 2018, and in that special group is one of the best players to ever wear a Brass City Brew uniform. Marc DiDominzio was so good for Brass City that he won the Silver Slugger Award in 2005, then captured the Cy Young Award in 2008 for good measure.
The Brew made two World Series appearances, losing to the Winsted Whalers in 2008 before returning in 2009 to knock off the Bethlehem Plowboys.
The 2009 postseason was a big one for DiDimonzio. After Brass City lost to the Burlington Hunters and fell into the elimination bracket, the Brew defeated the Tribury Pavers, then used a 10-run inning to knock off the Winsted Whalers 12-3. DiDominzio was 2-for-4 against Winsted with a double, two RBI and a run scored.
In the rematch against Burlington, DiDominzio mixed his knuckleball, curveball and fastball, and did enough to hold off the Hunters 6-3. DiDominzio pitched a complete game that day.
Next up for Brass City were the Bethlehem Plowboys in the World Series. In the first game, DiDominzio went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored in a 3-1 victory. DiDominzio was 2-for-4 in the second game of the series, a 4-1 win that gave the Brew their first Tri-State title. Brass City had been in existence since 2000.
The back-to-back World Series trips weren’t the only postseason success stories for the Brew. Brass City also played in the American Amateur Baseball Congress Northeast Regionals in 2008 after losing to All-Star Batting (Danbury) in the championship game of the Stan Musial State Tournament. The highlight of the trip to regionals was a win over the previously 35-0 Easton Cowboys from Massachusetts. The Brew lost their next two games and were eliminated, but they gave the Cowboys their only loss of the season. Brass City went 26-6 overall in 2008, including a then league all-time best regular season mark of 18-1.
On Tuesday night, it was DiDominzio’s time to be honored as one of Tri-State’s best. The other members of the Class of 2018 are Darrin Gould, Kyle Weaver, Ryan McDonald and Jimmy Mischke.
