Hand Baseball One-Hits Law; Other Clubs Keep Rolling
Baseball
The Tigers defeated Law 9-2 on April 25 to snap a four-game losing skid. Kyle Schaefer and Evan Lohn combined on a complete game one-hitter in the victory. Schaefer pitched five innings and allowed no earned runs and no hits, while Evan Lohn pitched the final two innings, allowing no earned runs and one hit.
With the game tied at 0-0 in the top of the second inning, Hand exploded for four runs. Eddie Sweeney led off the inning with a walk and Drew Harmon followed with a double. Jonathan Girardi was then hit by a pitch to load the bases. EJ Mastronardi came up and delivered a bases-clearing, line-drive double to make the score 3-0. With one out and Mastronardi on third, David Nuzzo executed a squeeze bunt perfectly to make the score 4-0. Law scored two runs to cut the score to 4-2, but in the top of the sixth inning, the Tigers added three more runs to make it 7-2. In top of the seventh inning, Hand tacked on two more runs to complete the final score. Additionally, Pat Kerins had an RBI single and Cam Fitzgerald had an RBI groundout. Girardi was hit by a pitch three times during the game and scored each time he was on base. Harmon, Andrew Fitzgerald, and Mastronardi all had two hits for Hand.
“Last year, in Kyle Schaefer’s first varsity appearance, he threw a no-hitter against Law. This year, he had a chance to do it again, but his pitch count was close to 100 after five innings due to extra pitches needing to be thrown due to some walks and errors. Kyle and Evan did an excellent job of keeping the Law hitters off-balance all day,” said Head Coach Travis LaPointe, whose team lost 8-6 to Amity on April 29 to go to 3-7. “We needed a breakout game where we were able to put lots of runs on the board. We have been swinging the bats really well all season, but have not seen the results because we have been hitting the ball right at people and opposing teams have been playing some great defense against us. EJ came up with a huge hit to break things open today. That is the type of clutch hit we have been looking for this season. All of our guys did a great job of having quality at-bats and putting pressure on their defense all day.”
Boys’ Lacrosse
Hand defeated East Lyme 10-4 on April 28. Hand goals were tallied by Liam Gotlick (5), Lucas Mendicino (2), George McGurik (2), and Teg Cosgriff (1). Assisting were Mendicino (3), McGurik, Tristan Dowd, and Gotlick. The Tigers outshot East Lyme 28-13 and Ewald Cooper made seven saves.
Hand then edged out Barlow on April 30 by a 10-9 final to go to 7-3. Reid Sweitzer (3), McGurik (3), Mendicino 2, and Liam Gotlick (2) scored for the Tigers, while assisting on those scores were McGurik, Zakery Santoemma, Owen Gotlick, and Riley Filler. Eric Lyons made 20 saves as Hand was outshot by the slimmest of margins, 35-34.
Boys’ Tennis
After 7-0 sweeps of East Haven and West Haven, the Tigers downed previously unbeaten South Windsor on April 29. In this matchup, Danny Weinreb (7-5, 5-7, 7-5); Justin Pace (6-0, 6-2) and Bryan Lynch (7-6, 6-2); plus the tandems of Robbie Israel and Noah Gulla (6-1, 6-2); Dante Egidio and Alex Beuno (5-7, 6-4, 6-4); along with Sam Thorpe and Max Thompson (6-0, 6-0) were winners to help push Hand to 10-0.
“Everyone played tough. We are doing the small things and focusing on detail,” said Head Coach Dawn Fagerquist. “The boys have a desire to never quit and always keep fighting. They’ve done a good job to outwork their opponents.”
Girls’ Tennis
It was a great week for the Tigers as Hand won both matches 7-0 versus Branford and Mercy to improve to a strong 7-1. Multiple wins were in order for Lee Jiaen, Ellie Weinstein, and Olivia Hiller in singles. Single victories also occurred for Ankita Roychoudhury, plus Clare Nelson in her first singles match of the season. Multiple doubles winners were Ryann Corniello, Alicia Imbergamo Sheila Flaherty, Sabrina Colonese-DiBello, Renee Tracy, and Grace Squtiero.
Girls’ Golf
Hand scored a 197-231 decision over Sacred Heart Academy on April 26. Gabby Martin medaled with a 39 and she was accompanied by Erin Schroeder (49), Emily Schroeder (52), Emma Boey (57), and Tori Milner 60.
The Tigers then improved to 4-0 with a 198-231 victory against Cheshire on April 28. Martin again was the medal winner with a 40 and she was joined alongside Erin Schroeder (44) and Emily Schroeder (50), plus Milner (64) and Boey (66).
Boys’ Golf
Hand went to 2-4-2 overall with a pair of ties against Xavier (156-156) and Notre Dame-West Haven (159-159) last week.
Facing Xavier, Hand had balanced scoring with Cliff Baird, Jake Bennett, and Matt Pellatt all shooting 38. Carter Chapman had a 40 to round out the scoring.
Against Notre Dame, the Tigers were led by Bennett with a 38, Baird with a 39, Chapman shot a 40, and Pellatt added a 42.