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06/21/2021 12:00 AMThe North Haven Senior American Legion U-19 baseball team opened up its 2021 summer season by playing three games versus Wallingford during the first week of the campaign. North Haven took three defeats on the week by losing to Wallingford by scores of 3-1, 6-4 in 8 innings, and then 10-1.
On June 15, North Haven was on the road to face Wallingford for its season opener and dropped a 3-1 decision at Pat Wall Field. North Haven scored a run in the top of the first inning when Derek Mortali walked and scored on a base hit by Daniel Boudreau. Wallingford tied the game with a run in the bottom of the first and later took 2-1 lead by scoring the go-ahead run in the fifth inning. Wallingford added an insurance run in the sixth and went on to get the 3-1 victory. North Haven had runners at the corners in the top of the seventh, but was unable to tie the game.
Alexander Bauman pitched a complete game for North Haven, allowing three runs with five strikeouts in six innings. At the plate, Tyler Harger went 2-for-3 with a walk, while Mortali was 1-for-3 with a walk, a run scored, and a stolen base. Caleb Somma went 1-for-2 and had two stolen bases in the game.
The following day, North Haven hosted Wallingford at Bailey Road Field and lost the contest by a 6-4 score in eight innings. North Haven had a 4-2 lead heading into the top of the seventh, but Wallingford tied the game with two runs in the inning and then scored two runs in the eighth to get the 6-4 victory.
Trailing 2-1, North Haven scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 4-2 lead. Declan Finkle singled and then Michael Brandt drew a walk to get it started. Luke Blasi followed with an RBI single that scored Finkle to tie the game at 2. A few batters later, Brandt scored on a wild pitch to put North Haven up 3-2. Harger then hit a groundout to shortstop that brought home Blasi and make it 4-2.
Wallingford used a couple of two-out singles to tie the game 4-4 in the top of the seventh inning. In the eighth, Wallingford got an RBI single to with two outs to take the lead and then added another run on an RBI double for a 6-4 advantage. North Haven put one man aboard in the bottom half of the eighth, but Wallingford was able to hang on for the win.
AJ Maggiore tossed six strong innings for North Haven, giving up two runs and striking out nine in six innings pitched. Finkle went 2-for-3 with a run scored, and Blasi was 1-for-4 with a walk, a run, and an RBI. Will Sullivan went 1-for-3 with a walk and a double, while Brandt drew three walks, scored two runs, and had a stolen base.
In its last game of the week, North Haven took a 10-1 road loss to Wallingford at Pat Wall Field on June 17. Wallingford scored five runs in the first inning and then one run in the third to take a 6-0 lead. North Haven scored its lone run of the game when Somma singled and scored on base hit by Harger in the fourth inning to make it 6-1. Wallingford came back with four runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 10-1 lead.
Somma also had a stolen base to go with his single and run scored in the game. Alexander Bauman hit a double for North Haven. Ryan Bauman pitched three innings of relief, allowing just one earned run. Harger threw two scoreless innings of relief for North Haven.