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07/27/2014 12:00 AMThe North Haven Prep Legion baseball team recently wrapped up the regular season in its debut campaign and Coach Chris Farina said he’s pleased with how his athletes performed as they learned more about the game while winning some games.
Post 76 recently swept a home doubleheader against the Stratford Spartans by scores of 9-4 and 5-3 on July 26 and then won again at Bailey Road Field the next day, defeating the Shoreline Hammerheads 5-3, followed by a 9-1 loss to the Hammerheads, to finish the regular season at 12-12.
North Haven is in the mix to qualify for the East Shore League Tournament that takes place this weekend. The early rounds are at East Shore Field in New Haven on Friday, Aug. 1. The semifinals and final are at East Haven’s Memorial Field on Sunday, Aug. 3. The two semis take place at noon and 2:30 p.m. with the championship contest at 5 p.m.
“It’s been a great year and the kids are learning a lot,” said Coach Farina, a lifelong town resident. “We’ve had some defensive struggles and mental errors in the field, but other than that, the kids have played well. They come to the games to compete. They want to win and we’re trying to get better and stronger fundamentally every day.”
North Haven is a U-14 squad that typically bats all 12 of its athletes in each game—similar to how teams compete at the younger Babe Ruth level. Post 76’s top two hitters this summer have been catcher Peyton Farina and second baseman/shortstop Matt Mezzano.
“Peyton is a contact hitter who’s had multiple hits in most of our games and hits the ball to all fields,” Farina said. “Matt is more of a power hitter. We play with aluminum bats, but he’s used a wood bat all year and, everything he hits, he hits it hard.”
Going around the horn, North Haven’s first baseman is Lou Migliozzi and at second base is Brendan Ziaks, both who Coach Farina complimented for their strong defensive play. The shortstop is Chris Stevens, who’s also a relief pitcher and who Farina said is “the anchor of the infield who has a good arm with great range.” Mike Salzano sees time at both first and third and the hot corner is additionally shared between Luca Lawrence and CJ DeBridgita, who are also the squad’s top two starting pitchers. They are each right-handers.
“Luca has been tremendous. He’s pitched against the top teams and he’s not overpowering—he just knows how to pitch. Luca uses his breaking ball well and gets a lot of ground balls and pop outs,” said Farina, who’s assisted by Paul Barbiero, Mike Salzano, and Bob Ziaks. “CJ doesn’t locate his breaking stuff as well as Luca, but throws a little harder and keeps hitters off-balance. He’s becoming a pitcher instead of a thrower.”
Post 76 has one other regular on their pitching staff in Jake Bencivengo, who also plays center field with Farina calling him “one of the best outfielders I’ve ever seen who has lightning speed and tracks down everything.” Left field is split between Chris Ciarleglio and Paul Barbiero and Matt Desrosiers plays right. Farina said all three have done a fine job defensively and he additionally noted Desrosiers’s knack for getting clutch hits.
In North Haven’s most recent win, it beat the Shoreline Hammerheads 5-3 on July 27. Bencivengo threw a complete game for the win and Post 76 played stellar defense.
The day before that game, North Haven swept a double-dipper with the Stratford Spartans by counts of 9-4 and 5-3. In the first game, Lawrence was dominant on the mound, throwing a complete game. Desrosiers and Barbiero had multi-hit games for Post 76, who turned in a quality defensive showing.
The second game saw DeBridgita and Stevens combine for a sterling effort on the mound with Salzano cracking a key hit with the bases loaded to open up the game. DeBridgita, Stevens, and Ziaks all had multiple hits.
“A solid win that saw the team play a solid seven innings on defense. Some early base-running miscues prevented us from opening up the game, but Lawrence keep the base-runners limited and we came away with the win,” Coach Farina said of the first game. “A great defensive effort for the second game in a row [in the nightcap].”
In the previous week’s action, North Haven dropped a home doubleheader to one of the top teams in its league in Guilford on July 19, losing 6-0 and 4-3.
In the opener, Lawerence pitched five strong innings in which he allowed just one earned run with Ziaks pitching the final two frames. Coach Farina said a key questionable call in the fourth inning helped Guilford score four runs. Peyton Farina had multiple hits for Post 76.
Coach Farina said his team then played one of its best games of the year in taking a one-run defeat in the nightcap. DeBridgita turned in a great showing on the mound with Mezzano and Salzano both collecting multiple hits for North Haven.
“We played some solid baseball against the top team in our league. We had an opportunity to beat them and we let it slip away,” Coach Farina said.
North Haven’s other victories this season came against the Bridgeport Cardinals in a doubleheader sweep that started the campaign by scores of 16-1 and 7-1, followed by an 8-3 win against the Connecticut Outlaws, a 10-6 triumph versus the Northern Connecticut Mustangs, a 12-7 win against the Connecticut Owls White, a 13-8 win over the Stratford Spartans, a 9-8 victory versus West Haven, and then a doubleheader sweep of West Haven by counts of 7-4 and 13-4.
Anyone interested in playing for North Haven Prep Legion who will be between ages 13 and 15 next summer should contact Coach Farina at chrisfar37@hotmail.com or Senior Legion Coach Charlie Flanagan at cflanagan@flanaganassociates.com.