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Sports

Amity Baseball Topples West Haven 8-5

Strong batting costs West Haven first loss of the season.

Based on how they have terrorized pitchers the last couple of games, people may soon be calling infielders Vin Siena and Nick Baviello “The Bash Brothers.” In Friday’s 4-2 victory over Siena blasted a home run and scored twice. On Monday, he ripped another round tripper, added a double and scored twice. Baviello chipped in with two doubles, a single and two runs as the 2-1 Spartans defeated previously undefeated West Haven 8-5 in a Southern Connecticut Conference inter-divisional game that was played at Janenda Field in Woodbridge.

“Vin and Nick have been off the batting charts,” Coach Sal Coppola said. “They have a lot of extra base hits in our first three games. The ball seems to be jumping off their bats. That’s a result of all the work they did in the weight room during the off-season. They are both much stronger than they were last year.”

Siena got Amity off and running when he led off the bottom of the first inning with his second home run of the season. Baviello followed with the first of his two doubles, stole third, and was driven home on the front end of Mark Esposito’s 2-bagger. He advanced to third base on a wild pitch and scored on Brian Speer’s infield out, giving the Black and Gold a quick 3-0 lead.

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The Spartans hung onto that lead until the top of the fourth inning. With two out, Tom Spencer drilled a double off Amity hurler E.J. Ashworth and was driven in on a base hit off the bat of J.P. Withington. Following Wes Gambardella’s single, Alex Palmeri stroked a game-tying two-run single.

That 3-3 deadlock only lasted until Amity came to bat in the bottom of the fourth inning. Consecutive singles by Keith Klebart, Adam Kyasky and Paul Gusmano, followed by a run-scoring fielder’s choice by Chris Katz gave Amity a 4-3 advantage. Siena left the bases loaded as he was retired on a ground ball to Blue Devil shortstop Matt Gagne.

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Baviello led off the bottom of the fifth inning with his second two-bagger of the afternoon and set the stage for Amity’s second three-run rally. After Esposito was hit by a pitch by Westie starter and closer Bob Moretti, Ted Ballou’s sacrifice bunt advanced both runners a base. Speer singled home Baviello and Kyasky’s second single of the day drove in Esposito, staking Ashworth to a 7-3 lead. Amity added an additional tally in the bottom of the sixth when Siena led off with a double. He came around to score on consecutive wild pitches from Moretti.

Trailing 8-3, the Westies (now 3-1) added a pair of runs in the top of the seventh. Gagne singled and was driven in by Eric Stone’s RBI double. Stone later scored on Moretti’s sacrifice fly. The game ended with Amity turning its third double play of the contest.

According to Coppola, “It was nice to see our infield turn three double plays. I know defensively, we had an off-game in our (11-10) loss to Notre Dame, but I still believe we have a solid defensive infield. We aren’t used to poor defensive play by our infielders. With guys such as Chris Migani, Brian Kownacki, Pat McKenna, Brian Paturas, Jason and Mark Esposito, we’ve had a history of solid infielders. Unfortunately, today our outfield play was a little sloppy, but West Haven also hit the ball really hard. They earned their five runs.”

Despite giving up five runs on 13 hits, Ashworth (now 1-1) went the distance to pick up his first win of the season. Every starter in the West Haven line-up had at least one hit. Gambardella led the losers with a double, two singles and also scored a run. Gagne added a par of safeties and a run. Spencer singled, doubled, and added a run. In addition to serving up the 13 hits, Ashworth also struck out five but did not walk a batter.

Led by Baviello and Siena, the Spartans also banged out 13 base hits. Kyasky singled twice and drove in a run. Paul Gusmano added a pair of base hits.

Coppola added, “Right now, I’m happy with our team. I think it has enormous potential. EJ is a veteran pitcher and Mark Espo is a proven infielder and closer, but we also have three sophomore pitchers. Those young kids are good. I like them, but they are still making rookie mistakes. We are still feeling things out at catcher and first base, but I won’t say that we are rebuilding. The guys we have vying for those two spots are good ball players. We do have some rookies in tough spots but by the end of the season, I expect us to be playing our best baseball.”     

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