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06/25/2017 12:00 AMSenior Legion Baseball
The North Haven Senior Legion baseball team swept a doubleheader against Zone 2 opponent Hamden last week, after which Post 76 played four games at Baseball Heaven in Long Island, coming away with one victory and a tie. Head Coach Tim Binkoski’s squad is now 4-3 in Zone 2 play with an overall record of 6-6-1 on the season. North Haven is tied for fourth place in the zone with New Haven and East Haven. Orange is in first place at 7-1, while Hamden and Stratford sit tied for second at 4-2.
On June 20, North Haven hosted Hamden for doubleheader at Bailey Road Field and swept the twin billing behind final scores of 7-5 and 9-3. In the first game, North Haven trailed 5-2 before scoring four runs in the sixth and one more in the seventh to get the two-run victory. Peyton Farina went 2-for-4 with a run scored and a stolen base, Chris Stevens was 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI, Nick Perillie was 2-for-3 with a run scored, and Andrew Laudano went 1-for-2 with a walk, two runs scored, and an RBI for Post 76. Luca Lawrence started on the mound and allowed three runs in four innings. Preston Young gave up two runs (1 earned) in his one inning of work, after which Chris Ciarleglio tossed two hitless innings to get the win.
North Haven completed the sweep by beating Hamden 9-3 in the nightcap. Post 76 was down 2-0 early, but scored four runs in the first, one in the second, and four in the fifth to emerge victorious. Several players had big days at the plate for North Haven, including Brendan Clark, who went 3-for-3 with a walk, a run, two RBI, and a stolen base. Farina stole four bases as part of his 2-for-3 day that also featured three runs scored and an RBI. Dom Onofrio was 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI, Tom Myjak went 2-for-3, scored a run, drove in a pair of runs, and stole a base; Steven Erbe went 2-for-4 with a run scored, and Matt Iovanne went 2-for-4 to go with a run, an RBI, and a steal. Young was North Haven’s starting pitcher and got the win by allowing two runs in three innings. Griffin Bottomley pitched three scoreless innings in relief, and Nate Zalegowski closed it out by pitching the seventh inning, allowing one run.
North Haven then ventured to Long Island to play a quartet of non-zone contests against teams from around the tri-state area. Post 76 started off by taking a 4-2 loss to Baseball U Connecticut Black on June 22. North Haven played two games the next day, dropping a 7-5 decision to Connecticut Bombers Gold before bouncing back with a 9-2 victory over the Long Island Titans. Then on June 24, North Haven played New Jersey Black to a 4-4 in its final game of the road trip.
Junior Legion Baseball
Following a one-run loss to Branford, the North Haven Junior Legion baseball squad faced another Zone 2 foe when it played a doubleheader at Hamden on June 20. North Haven swept the double dip by winning the first game 8-6 and the second game 8-3 to improve to 2-5 in zone play. After that, the Post 76 Juniors trekked to Long Island with the Senior Legion team to play four games against non-zone opponents, going 0-3-1 for the stretch. North Haven is 2-8-1 overall on the year.
On June 18, North Haven took a 3-2 loss at Branford, which won the game in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the seventh inning. Carson Leyerzapf started on the hill and allowed one run in three innings with five strikeouts. Zack Pincince pitched the final 3.2 innings, giving up two unearned runs, while also striking out five. Colby Cusano went 2-for-4 with a run scored and a stolen base for Head Coach Pete Katynski’s club. Dan Cannavaciolo doubled and scored a run, Nick Martineau had a single with an RBI, and John Gontarek walked and scored a run.
In the first game of the Hamden doubleheader, Post 76 trailed 4-0 before scoring three runs in the third inning, four in the fourth, and another in the sixth to prevail 8-6. Gontarek got the win by allowing four unearned runs in three innings and helped his cause at the dish by going 2-for-3 with a walk, a run scored, and three RBI. Justin Shea gave up two runs in 3.2 innings of relief, and Leo Konopka got the last out of the game for North Haven. Also at the plate, Cusano was 2-for-4 with a walk, two runs, and an RBI; Ryan Sullivan went 2-for-5 and drove in a run, Jack Peruso went 2-for-4, Konopka went 1-for-4 to go with a walk and two runs scored, Shea went 1-for-4, drew a walk, scored a pair of runs, and had an RBI; and Nick Rossi was 1-for-3 with a walk, a run, and an RBI.
For game two, North Haven held a 3-2 lead entering the fourth and scored twice in that inning to make it 5-2. Then in the seventh, Post 76 tacked on three more runs to come away with the 8-3 win. Sullivan was the winning pitcher as he allowed three runs (1 earned) in five innings, after which Konopka fanned five in his two scoreless innings. Shea went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI, Peruso was 1-for-4 and had two RBI, Mason Balmer doubled, walked, and scored a run; and Rossi singled, walked, and drove home a run to help North Haven put a bow on the sweep.
For its four games on Long Island, North Haven lost 10-3 against the Long Island Titans on June 22, tied the Diamond Spikes 2-2 on June 23, took a 3-0 loss versus Freedom later that day, and then lost a 7-0 contest to Long Island Titans Black on June 24.