The Terryville Black Sox are headed to the AABC Northeast World Series, and one other Connecticut Tri-State Baseball League team will be joining them.
Terryville earns a bid because of its undefeated record in the winner’s bracket of the Stan Musial State Tournament. Blasius Chevrolet or the Naugatuck Dogs will join the Black Sox in Braintree, Mass., this coming week.
As for the Stan Musial state champion, that game will have to wait. Blasius and Naugatuck are the last teams standing in the loser’s bracket, but because of the ongoing Tri-State playoffs, the championship game won’t be played until a later date. Blasius and Naugatuck are scheduled to play Sunday at 3 p.m. at Torrington’s Fuessenich Park.
Here’s what happened in the Stan Musial State Tournament:
Terryville Black Sox
Terryville beat Diamondzone 13-2 on July 29 in its first Stan Musial game. The Black Sox beat Fedells Mechanics 4-1 on July 30, then outlasted the Milford Hunters 5-4 in 11 innings on Aug. 2. Kenny Kerski was the winning pitcher in the Diamondzone game, then brother Kody Kerski carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning of the Fedell’s contest. Kody Kerski struck out nine in his complete-game effort.
Tony Patane went 3-for-4 with a home run and two doubles to lead Terryville against Diamondzone. Conor McEvoy had two hits while Kyle Skidmore, Kody Kerski and Chris Ayer each had RBI hits. Christian Callahan smacked two doubles to round out the Black Sox attack.
McEvoy drove in two runs against Fedell’s while Kyle Tehan and Kyle Skidmore added hits.
Blasius Chevrolet
Gary Novakowski gave up two runs on five hits in the first game against Fedell’s Mechanics, a 2-0 loss on July 29. Blasius rebounded with a 5-0 shutout over Diamondzone on July 30 before topping the Danbury Pirates 6-1 on July 31. The Blasius-Terryville game scheduled for Aug. 2 was rained out.
Dave Sacco struck out 12 in six shutout innings in the Diamondzone game, and Connor Goggin led off the contest with a home run. Dan Hedden threw a scoreless seventh with two strikeouts.
Hedden pitched 5 1/3 innings for the win against Danbury, and Ty Morin closed it out with 1 2/3 hitless innings. Brian Parzyck had a two-run double in the top of the first inning to get the Blasius offense into gear. Steve Carosella and Brooks Belter tallied two hits apiece.
Naugatuck Dogs
Like Blasius, Naugatuck lost its first game, 5-1 to Danbury on July 29. The Dogs blasted All-Star Batting 7-1 on July 30, then took down Fedell’s Mechanics 7-3 on July 31. On Aug. 2, Naugatuck rallied for a 9-5 win over Milford.
The Dogs pulled off a dramatic comeback against the Hunters on Aug. 2. Naugatuck trailed 5-2 entering the bottom of the seventh inning, but Brendan Slattery launched a solo home run to start the frame. The Dogs scored another run before Ryan Plourde’s RBI single tied the game at 5-5. With the bases loaded, Devin Murphy bashed a walk-off grand slam to win the game.
WHAT ABOUT THE TRI-STATE PLAYOFFS?
The second round was supposed to begin today with the first game of three different best-of-three series, but the rain may have the ultimate say in who plays, if anyone. Two games were scheduled for noon and another for 1:30.
The series matchups are: Bethlehem Plowboys/Terryville Black Sox; Southington 66ers/Tri-Town Trojans; Tribury Twisters/Litchfield Cowboys; and Naugatuck Dogs/Wolcott Scrappers.
