This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.

East Haven Prep Legion Eliminated From States By Fairfield

On the heels of an exceptional regular season, the East Haven Prep Legion baseball team seemed poised to make a deep run in the State Tournament, especially after getting a bye through the first round and notching a 6-3 victory versus Ridgefield in its opening contest. The 89ers then went up against a Fairfield squad they had defeated handily during the regular season, but unfortunately, the showdown in states saw the opposite result as East Haven took an 18-4 home loss on July 29 and was eliminated from the bracket. East Haven, which had won the Zone 2 championship the previous week with its record of 19-1, completed the summer with an overall mark of 21-4.

“The one thing I would say is, obviously, me as a coach, I didn’t have the kids prepared, ready, and focused for the game. That’s what it felt like,” Head Coach John Longley said. “I don’t even want to look at the stats. It just wasn’t a good game. We beat them earlier in the year handily [12-2 on July 11]. I don’t know if that had an affect on the kids or not. We just got outplayed that day.”

Anthony Buffone started on the mound and took the loss for the 89ers, who used three pitchers throughout the game. Fairfield (12-10-1) scored in every inning except for the third and put the game away with a six-run fifth that made it 11-2.

“In my eyes, we couldn’t catch a break. We just didn’t play good as a team. We weren’t ready,” Longley said. “I don’t know if I didn’t have the kids ready, or just thinking that maybe the kids just thought we’d beaten them the last time and they weren’t really worried about it. I don’t know. Have to give credit to the other team, too.”

East Haven scored in the fourth inning to cut it to 5-2 before Fairfield’s offensive outbreak. Fairfield later plated two in the sixth and added five more in the sixth to blow open the contest.

The 89ers’ offense was held to just six hits in the game. Buffone had two hits and Luzzi also recorded two hits, including a double, with an RBI.

“They did what we like to do to teams. They put pressure on us, put the ball in play, and made a lot of things happen,” Longley said. “Every time we started to chip back, they got another one. It made it very difficult for us to get something going. Credit to them. They came and played hard.”

To reach the third round, East Haven had defeated Ridgefield 6-3 in a home game on July 27. Gabe Longley and Matt Pycela combined to shut down Ridgefield’s offense after the first inning and Pycela earned the victory.

Ridgefield (6-19) scored three runs in the first inning, but Longley settled down after that and cruised through the next few frames before handing the ball over to Pycela. East Haven scored three runs in the third and three more in the fifth that proved the difference. In the third, the 89ers scored three times, stole a few bases, had one guy reach on an error, and scored one run via a wild pitch.

“It’s funny,” Longley said. “We scored three runs and didn’t have a hit in the inning.”

Then for the fifth inning, AJ Pacheco clubbed the game-winning hit on a bases-clearing double that drove home Jake Delguidice, Pycela, and Jason Gieparda.

“That’s how it’s been all year. We’ve had someone different coming up with the big hit. It was always someone different who had a big game,” Longley said. “It wasn’t one guy consistently. That’s the good thing about lineup. We hit from one to nine. We all put the bat on the ball.”

Although the 89ers fell short in their ultimate goal of winning the state championship, Coach Longley noted how valuable it was for the 89ers to compete in the postseason and he hopes all of his players use what they learned from the experience as they move up the East Haven baseball ranks.

“For these guys, it was their first year of Legion. The playoffs mean a little bit more when it comes to Legion. I hope they take away from this that we need to be prepared for every game,” he said. “Just because you have a very good season, you can’t just expect to show up and win. You have to go out and perform. I talked to the kids, saying that they’re going out there to win. You have to be ready to play every game all the time.”