Old Saybrook pitchers had allowed just five runs in their first four games, all victories. The positive trend continued Friday.
Senior right-hander Carson Brown pitched five innings of one-hit ball and relievers Jake Butler and Connor Lane combined to retire the final six North Branford batters — five by strikeout — as the unbeaten Rams beat the T-Birds 6-1 for their fifth straight win.
Brown allowed an unearned run in the top of the first, walked four and struck out three. Nico Falciono had the lone hit for North Branford (2-3).
Butler struck out the side in the sixth and Lane fanned two in the seventh.
Earlier this week, Old Saybrook shut out defending Class S champion Coginchaug and beat Morgan 3-1.
“Our pitching to date has been great,” first-year head coach Ryan Fraser said after Friday’s victory matched the team’s 2021 win total over 18 games. “Noah Grace, Jake Butler and Carson Brown all had quality starts this week that really put us in a position to win the game.”
The Rams’ defense committed seven errors against North Branford … and got away with it.
“We were a little sloppy today but we did enough in big spots to come away with the win,” Fraser said. “Carson really battled on the mound for us and picked up our guys defensively, who had some difficulty behind him.”
Lane was 2 for 4 with two RBIs, Noah Grace had two hits and Auggie Albert had two hits and an RBI.
Old Saybrook hosts fellow Shoreline Conference unbeaten Valley Regional (4-0) on Monday at 11am. North Branford hosts Old Lyme on Monday (4pm).
North Branford…100 000 0–1 1 3
Old Saybrook…..014 100 x–6 9 7
Batteries: NB–Caleb Allen, Jason O’Connor (3) and Ryan Michonski; OS–Carson Brown, Jake Butler (6), Connor Lane (7) and Lane, Ed Devaney (7). WP: Brown; LP: Allen.
In other baseball action Friday:
Coginchaug 5, East Hampton 1: Ethan Covello drove in 3 runs and Connor Willett pitched 6 2/3 innings for the win in the Blue Devils’ Shoreline Conference win in Durham. Willett struck out 8 as Coginchaug (3-3) ended a 3-game losing streak. Jeremy Mangiameli drove in a run for Coginchaug. James Quinn pitched 5 1/3 innings, striking out 9 for the Bellringers. RJ Stanford and Dan Cascio had the only hits for East Hampton.
East Hampton 10, North Branford 4: On Saturday, East Hampton pounded out 13 hits to beat the host T-Birds. Avery Hall was 3 for 5 with 2 RBIs and Javy Diaz, Dan Cascio, James Quinn and RJ Stanford had 2 hits apiece and one RBI apiece for the Bellringers (2-4), while Carter Scovill drove in 2 runs. Dom Scalia and Kyle Stengia drove in 2 runs each for North Branford (2-5). Diaz got the win in relief of Baden Plante.
Softball
Old Lyme 6, Morgan 5 (8 innings): Emma Bayor pitched 6 scoreless innings in relief of Victoria Gage and Jenna Schauder singled to score Ava Roth with the winning run in the Wildcats’ Shoreline home win. Roth led off the eighth with a single to center and moved to third on an infield error before Schauder’s winning at-bat. Gage, who left her start after 2 innings due to injury, hit a solo home run and singled. Roth and Maddie Hubbard finished 2 for 4 with an RBI each for Old Lyme (5-1). Kasey Edwards took the loss for Morgan (2-5).
Related Posts
Haddam-Killingworth 9, Hale-Ray 1: Kaleigh Bodak picked up her seventh win of the season. She allowed 1 run over 5 innings and struck out 5 as the Cougars improved to 7-0. Audrey Snyder went 4 for 4, scoring 1 run and driving in 2, freshman Caley Napoletano had a home run among her 2 hits and scored twice for H-K. Sammi LaFamina had 3 hits for the Noises (0-4). H-K hosts (4-1) Coginchaug on Monday at 4pm, while Hale-Ray visits Morgan (11am).
H-K………..030 311 1–9 18 0
Hale-Ray..100 000 0–1 7 2
Batteries: HK–Kaleigh Bodak, Brooke Hickman (6) and Madison La Touche; Hale-Ray–Sammi LaFemina and Jackie Goethe. WP: Bodak; LP: LeFemina.