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07/09/2018 12:00 AMThe Clinton Huskies had a busy stretch that saw the team play seven games in eight days, and the Huskies won four of those games to improve their record to 9-6 this summer. Head Coach Willie Fritz’s club was bolstered by exceptional pitching performances to finish a winning mark during its grueling slate of games. The Huskies, an 18-U AAU team that competes in the Greater New Haven Baseball League, picked up three wins against the Oxford Ducks and also defeated Stratford in their recent matchups.
On June 29, Clinton grabbed a 7-1 victory versus the Oxford Ducks at the Morgan School. The Huskies scored single runs in the early innings and then applied the finishing touch by scoring three runs in the sixth. Trevor Follo and AJ Fritz reached on singles, and then Nick Caprio drove in Follo with a base hit. Ray Seward followed by clearing the bases with a double to put the game away.
John Urban earned the victory by turning in an outstanding effort on the hill. Urban tossed a complete game with 10 strikeouts to lead the Huskies to the victory.
“He’s a gamer,” Coach Fritz said of Urban. “He just went out and threw strikes. He didn’t give them a lot of opportunities to score, and that’s why we won the game.”
The next day, Clinton split a doubleheader with Oxford at the Indian River Complex. The Huskies dropped the first game 6-1 and took the second game by a 9-1 score. Caprio scored the Huskies’ lone run in the opener when he was driven in by Drew Walton.
In the second game, Walton made his season debut on the bump and pitched five innings of one-run ball, striking out five batters. AJ Fritz came on in relief and struck out one batter.
Clinton put the game out of reach early when Caprio hit bases-clearing, three-run triple in the third inning. Follo had two hits to go with a pair of runs scored in the win.
After a sluggish start to the doubleheader, Coach Fritz felt the Huskies put together a strong showing in the nightcap.
“We stole a couple of bases and put pressure on the defense,” said Fritz. “With guys on base, you can make things happen. We hit the ball decently and Drew pitched fantastic.”
On July 3, the Huskies were back at the Indian River Complex for another game against Oxford and claimed a 3-2 victory. Clinton used a discerning eye at the plate to score all three of its runs in the second inning. Urban earned his second win in as many starts by throwing six shutout innings with 10 K’s. Walton came on in relief and allowed a pair of runs, while striking out two, to record the save.
Two days later, Clinton grabbed a 7-0 win against Stratford at the Indian River Complex. Russ Green pitched a complete-game shutout on an efficient 82 pitches for the Huskies.
Clinton spread out the scoring with a pair of runs in the third inning, two in the fifth, and three more in the seventh. Mike Zingarella’s squeeze play in the third got the scoring started, but it wasn’t all small ball for the Huskies. In the sixth inning, Caprio blasted a deep fly off the wall in right field to plate a pair of runs. Seward also had double into the gap to drive in Caprio for another run.
Then on July 7, the Huskies hosted a doubleheader against the Connecticut Hurricanes at Morgan. Clinton lost the first game 6-0 and was edged by a 2-1 score in the second contest. The Hurricanes took a four-run lead in the first inning of the opener. Clinton had opportunities with runners on base throughout the game, but was unable to capitalize.
In the second game, Conor Derry gave an outstanding effort on the mound for the Huskies in a 2-1, extra-inning defeat. The Huskies went up 1-0 in the first inning on a base hit by Walton that drove in Caprio. Unfortunately, Clinton didn’t score again, the Hurricanes tied the game in the third, and then won it with a walk-off homer in the bottom of the eighth.
While the week didn’t end the way he wanted it to, Coach Fritz feels encouraged by the way the Huskies have battled so far this season. Fritz said his squad is excelling in multiple facets of the game and, with a more assertive mindset at the plate, he feels the Huskies can get even better.
“I think our pitching has been fantastic and our defense has been exceptional. We have to have a bit more aggressive approach at the plate and not take too much. We want to put pressure on the defense, and line drives and hard ground balls do that,” said Fritz. “Overall, it’s been good. We have such good young men on this team. The biggest thing is these are all Clinton kids, and we compete against teams that pull kids from all over. It says something great about these guys.”