Printer Friendly Version - North Haven Junior Legion Wins a Game in States Before Getting Eliminated

Alex Bauman tossed a complete game to lead the North Haven Junior Legion baseball team to a 3-1 victory over Fairfield in its State Tournament opener. Post 76 went on to take defeats versus Wallingford and Fairfield later in the tournament. File photo by Kelley Fryer/The Courier

The North Haven Junior American Legion baseball team took a 3-2 loss to Fairfield in a State Tournament game and was eliminated from the bracket with the defeat. North Haven opened up double-elimination Southern Division Regional portion of the draw by earning a 3-1 win over Fairfield and then lost a 9-2 contest against Wallingford. Needing to win two elimination games in order to advance, Post 76 lost to Fairfield by the final score of 3-2 on July 28. North Haven has an overall record of 12-21 on the summer.

No. 3 seed North Haven started off the State Tournament by claiming a 3-1 road victory against No. 2 Fairfield at Kiwanis Field on July 24. Alex Bauman turned in a dominating effort on the hill for Post 76, pitching a complete game to get the win. Bauman allowed just one unearned run on seven hits and one walk to go with five strikeouts in his complete-game effort.

Post 76 got on the board in the top of the first inning when Owen Pincince led off with a single and later came home on a wild pitch. Fairfield came back with a run in the bottom half of the inning to make it 1-1. North Haven went up for good in the fifth when Ty Rooney hit a double, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on a groundout by Chris Hager for a 2-1 lead.

In the sixth inning, Anthony Denya came up as a pinch hitter and came through a single that brought home pinch runner Zach Brockamer to increase the lead to 3-1. Fairfield got two base hits in the seventh, but Bauman retired the final batter of the game on a fly out to right field to seal the win for North Haven.

Hager had two walks with an RBI and two stolen bases in the victory. Pincince went 1-for-3 with a walk, a run scored and a steal; Rooney was 1-for-4 with a double and a run, Mike Anquillare drew two walks, and Ryan Balzano had a walk with a stolen base for Post 76.

On July 26, North Haven was back on the road to play No. 1 seed Wallingford and dropped a 9-2 decision at Pat Wall Field. Post 76 took a quick 2-0 lead by scoring two runs in the top of the first. Pincince walked and scored when Anthony Acampora was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to give North Haven a 1-0 lead. Hager drew a walk and later came home on a wild pitch to make it 2-0.

However, Wallingford tied the game with two runs in the bottom of the first inning and then scored four more runs in the third to go up 6-2. Wallingford added two runs in the fourth inning and one more in the fifth for the 9-2 final.

Two days later, North Haven went up against Fairfield in a rematch at Pat Wall Field. The winner of that game moved on to face Wallingford with a chance to advance to the Bethel Regional portion of the bracket. Fairfield scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning and hung on for the 3-2 victory. Bauman gave another great effort on the hill by pitching tossing five scoreless innings of relief for Post 76.

Trailing 3-0, North Haven cut into the deficit by scoring a pair of runs in the fourth. Derek Novicki singled and scored on a passed ball to make it 3-1. Later in the frame, Ryan Balzano singled home Bauman, who had reached on a single, to bring the score to 3-2. Post 76 got two runners on base in the seventh inning, but was unable to push the tying run across.

Balzano went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI, Bauman was 1-for-2 with a run scored, and Pincince drew a pair of walks for North Haven.