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07/10/2016 12:00 AMThe East Haven Senior Legion baseball team is in the driver’s seat to qualify for the State Tournament and can do so by winning its last three regular season games. The top-five teams in Zone 2 make states and, upon the conclusion of last week’s games, the 89ers sported a record of 12-12 in zone play to stand in fifth place—ahead of sixth place New Haven (11-11), seventh place North Haven (11-12), and eighth place Milford (10-11). East Haven’s last three contests are against Milford and a sweep guarantees that the 89ers will make the State Tournament. There are also other scenarios in which East Haven can qualify.
“North Haven, New Haven, and Milford are right behind us. I think they have to run the table as a team, but I also feel with the three games against Milford, we control our own destiny as long as we play well,” Head Coach John Longley said. “We need to work hard and come up with no less than two wins. Hopefully, after the first two games we’ll know more, but this is a big series. The last big series [against North Haven], they came ready. They’ll come this time, too.”
East Haven started its recent stretch with that big three-game series against North Haven and won all three games to leapfrog Post 76 in the Zone 2 standings. On July 2, East Haven won the first game of the doubleheader 5-0 behind a dominant performance by Dan Petr on the hill. Petr went the distance for the win, allowing just three hits and eight strikeouts. Offensively, Nick Carbone had two hits and a run scored, Tyler Spano had two hits and an RBI, Frank Longley had a double and an RBI, and Tyler Leone finished with a hit and two walks.
“Petr was dominant and we played good defense behind him,” Head Coach John Longley said. “We got runs for him early and he just kept them off-balanced the whole game.”
East Haven won the second game behind a great outing by Mike Mancuso, who struck out six and allowed five hits in a complete game effort. Leone finished with two hits and an RBI, Nick Carbone had two hits and a run, Frank Longley had a hit, a walk, and an RBI; and Jake Ferrara had a hit and an RBI.
On July 3, East Haven completed the sweep of the series with a 9-3 victory as Frank Longley earned the win on the mound. Albert Maio had two hits and an RBI, Longley helped his own cause with two hits and two RBI, Dom Delbasso had two hits and two RBI, and Ferrara had a hit and two RBI.
“We jumped out early and scored four or five runs early in the game, which really helped out the kids and got things going,” Longley said. “We know going into the series that it was a big and important series. The kids came out with a good attitude and approach and they just played well. It was a big series win for us.”
East Haven lost its next series to Hamden by dropping two of the three games. In the first game on July 5, Hamden, which is in third place in the zone, got the better of East Haven, 10-3. Ferrara took the loss on the mound as Coach Longley said he felt that his team came out a bit flat. Leone and Gabe Longley each had two hits and an RBI, plus Delbasso added a hit.
On July 6, East Haven was defeated 2-1 by Hamden. Mancuso took the loss in a game where East Haven just couldn’t bring home its runners who reached base. Delbasso had two hits, while Maio and Punzo each had one for the 89ers.
“It was a great game played both ways. Both pitchers were good and Mancuso was outstanding,” Longley said. “We took a 1-0 lead early on a groundout by Leone that scored Gabe Longley from third, but they just got one timely hit which scored two runs and put us behind in the fifth. In the seventh, we had the tying run on second, but couldn’t get the big hit. We had our chances, but couldn’t get the hit.”
Petr pitched the third game of the series on July 8 and got the win as East Haven prevailed 5-0. Petr allowed three hits and he struck out five. Offensively, Ferrara had three hits and two runs scored, Punzo had two hits and a run scored, Andrew Luzzi had two hits, and Frank Longley had two RBI. Additionally, Leone, Delbasso, and Gabe Longley had an RBI each.
“Petr was dominant in this game. Every ball that they hit, they hit his pitch. He always got them to ground out or fly out; nothing strong. He pitched a great game,” Ciach Longley said. “It was very important, especially coming off the 2-1 loss where I thought the kids played a great game. It was important to salvage one and show them that we could’ve easily taken two from them. I’m proud at how the kids came back and played strong.”
The 89ers were then swept by Orange in a three-game set last weekend.
In the first game of a doubleheader on July 9, Orange, which is in second place in Zone 2, topped East Haven 7-3. East Haven scored three runs in the first inning, but was unable to get anything else after that. Maio had an RBI double, plus Frank Longley had two hits and drove home two. Gabe Longley had two hits with a run scored and Leone contributed two hits. Frank Longley took the loss on the mound as East Haven left eight runners on base.
In the second game, Orange won 6-5 as they left the 89ers on the field in the seventh inning. Nick Carbone pitched and took the loss for East Haven. Luzzi had two hits and a run scored, Sal Buffone had a hit before leaving with an injury, Frank Longley, Gabe Longley, and Luke Delguidice each had a hit with an RBI; and Tyler Leone had a hit and a run scored.
In the third game on July 10, Orange won 3-1. Gabe Longley was the losing pitcher as East Haven managed just three hits. Leone had one hit with an RBI, while Luzzi had a hit with a run scored and Ferrara got the other hit.
“Gabe pitched well against a veteran Orange team. We went against their ace in this game, but we had our opportunities. We’re just not getting the timely hitting,” Longley said. “It was a good game. I thought we battled. We kept it close all game and all I can ask is we compete and give ourselves a chance to win.”