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07/17/2016 12:00 AMThe East Haven Senior Legion baseball team was in position to claim the final playoff berth in Zone 2 entering the final week of the regular season. When all was said and done, the 89ers did just that by winning two of their three games against Milford to finish in fifth place in the zone with a record of 14-13 and make it by one spot. East Haven then saw its season come to a close with a 2-1 loss at Greenwich in the opening round of the State Tournament on July 16.
“We talked about it early. We knew they were a young team, but put goals together for ourselves. One was to make the playoffs and two was to win a playoff game. Some of the younger kids stepped up and played well for us, which made it easier,” Head Coach John Longley said. “They did more than I expected and it’s fun because we’re looking to next year because we’re young and excited about that. They kids became a team toward the end of the year and the kids knew their roles and we played better in the second half. We started tough with West Haven, Stratford, and Branford, but we came along and played well as a team at the end and made the playoffs.”
In the opening game of the Milford series on July 12, Milford defeated East Haven 12-2 at home. 89ers’ ace Dan Petr took the loss by allowing eight hits in three innings, while striking out seven. Offensively, Albert Maio had two hits and a run scored, plus Tyler Leone had a double and a RBI.
“We got ourselves a 2-0 lead in the first, but they scored six runs in the third where they kept putting the bat on the ball and it continued to fall in. We just couldn’t catch a break,” Longley said. “After that, the kids got a little flat, I think, and it was tough to come back from it. After the game, I told them to let it go and we can win tomorrow and move on.”
On July 13, Mike Mancuso pitched a complete game and earned the win as East Haven beat Milford 6-4 in a home game. Mancuso allowed five hits and struck out three. At the dish, Gabe Longley led the way with two hits, two RBI, and a run scored; Dom Delbasso had a hit and two RBI, and Maio finished with an RBI.
“We scored four runs in the first, which gave us a lift, and we played some small ball for a few extra runs to keep us ahead,” Coach Longley said. “We played solid defense in this game. Even though we allowed four runs, we prevented it from being anything worse.”
Lightning was in the distance prior to the start of the rubber match that was slated for July 14, causing the game to be postponed. That put the 89ers on edge as they were still a few percentage points behind New Haven for the final playoff spot in Zone 2.
“We wanted to play because we didn’t want to leave it into New Haven’s hands. There were three teams fighting for that last spot. Milford needed to play us to get a chance and have New Haven lose to Branford, where if we just won our game, we were in. We wanted to leave it up to us and not anybody else,” Longley said. “We had the tiebreaker with everybody. Our problem was with New Haven. They played fewer games than us and had fewer losses, so percentage-wise, they were ahead. If it rained for next three days, they’d get in because of that, so it was a very funny situation. We knew if we won that game, we’d own the tiebreakers, so we’d have been in.”
East Haven and Milford got the game in the next day and East Haven came away with a 10-0 win on the road to lock in its playoff berth. Gabe Longley pitched and allowed just three hits for the victory versus Milford, which finished at 13-14—the same record as New Haven.
“He pitched well and moved the ball around. They didn’t get solid swings on him and we played great defense behind him. It was a great team effort,” Longley said. “As a team, we had good plate appearances and drew a lot of walks. The kids had a good eye at the plate and got some key hits to help us out. They showed up knowing it was a win-and-in, lose-and-out type of game and played like it.”
Finishing fifth in Zone 2 at 14-13, East Haven earned the No. 16 seed in the Southern Division bracket of the State Tournament and faced No. 9 Greenwich in a single elimination road game on July 16. Greenwich (23-6), which plays in Zone 4, beat East Haven 2-1 and also won its next game to advance to the double elimination portion of the tournament. Petr pitched for the 89ers and allowed three hits to go with six strikeouts. East Haven had just four hits and Nick Carbone drove home the club’s one run on a sacrifice fly. East Haven loaded the bases in one inning, but just couldn’t get the timely hit.
“It was a great baseball game. They got a bunch of good players over there,” said Coach Longley, whose team finished 14-14. “In my mind, we didn’t catch any breaks. We hit a bunch of balls hard right at them. If one of them fell in, we could’ve easily put up five runs against them. It just worked out where they played solid defense and our hard-hit balls went right at them. We played great against them and both teams played great defense. It was a well-played baseball game.”
Even with the defeat, the fact that the young 89ers made the playoffs by winning some key games down the stretch showed the rest of Zone 2 that East Haven can be a force moving forward.
“The kids played hard all year. They’re a young team, played hard, and played everybody tough,” Longley said. “I think we earned a lot of respect this year.”