Printer Friendly Version - 2016 Branford American Legion Baseball Year in Review

Rich Balzano coached his final game with the Branford American Legion baseball program this summer. Balzano (left), pictured with Will Coleman, guided the Post 83 Seniors to four appearances in the American Legion World Series during his 12-year tenure.Photo by Kelley Fryer/The Sound

The 2016 summer season marked the final one for Rich Balzano as the head coach of the Branford Senior American Legion Post 83 baseball team. On the flipside, Post 83’s Junior and Prep Legion squads introduced new head coaches this summer.

The Branford Senior Legion baseball team finished the regular season with a record of 16-11 in Zone 2 to place fourth and qualify for the State Tournament, where Post 83 took a 5-0 loss at Orange in the opening round. Branford completed its season with an overall mark of 17-13-3.

Branford won 11 straight Zone 2 games early in the season. One of them was a 6-5 walk-off victory versus East Haven that saw Post 83 score four runs in the bottom of the seven inning, winning it when Robbie Barbash doubled home Ben LaCroix with the winning run. Branford also won three-game series against Shelton and Hamden by taking the rubber game of each set. Among Post 83’s other key players were Devin DeRenzo, Will Coleman, Nick Candelora, Tyler Criscuolo, and Jordan Botte; along with pitchers Alphonse Suppa, Mike Keinz, and Devon Lawson.

At the end of the season, Rich Balzano announced that he was retiring from his head coaching position following a 12-year run that saw Post 83 win seven Zone 2 titles, as well as four state and Northeast Regional championships en route to the American Legion World Series in all four years. Prior to taking over the Senior Legion team, Balzano coached a Branford 14-U Sandy Koufax squad to a state title, a 16-U Mickey Mantle team to the state championship, and guided the Branford Junior Legion team to the state crown. All totaled, Balzano won 375 games as a head coach in the Branford American Legion baseball program.

Post 83 welcomed a new head coach to the dugout in Michael Krause, who took the reins from Ryan Santoro.

Branford finished with an overall record of 16-15, plus a mark of 12-12 in Zone 2 action, coming up one victory shy of reaching the postseason. Post 83 still played great down the stretch, though, by winning 11 of its last 14 games.

Branford’s top pitchers were Eddie Zanor, Jake Judd, and Matt Judd. The club’s offensive stalwarts were Nick Mancini, Dean Lear, and Colin Baxter.

Bruno Castaldi came aboard as Branford’s head coach and Post 83 notched an overall record of 10-13 to go with a mark of 7-11 in the Central Division, narrowly missing a playoff berth.

Among the season highlights, Tyler Sibley threw a complete game when Branford beat Stratford 10-1. He later pitched a solid game in a 4-2 win over Cheshire. Also, Justin Botte pitched a complete game in a 5-2 victory versus Meriden. Toward the end of the season, Branford rallied from a nine-run deficit to stun Fairfield 11-9. Enrique Diaz had the game-winning RBI and Jack Van Gelder was the winning pitcher in relief. After that, Brett Fee pitched a complete game in a 4-3 victory versus West Haven. Alex Barbour had some of Branford’s biggest hits during the season.