Baseball season 

hitting its stride

By Ron P. Coderre

Local baseball teams managed to squeeze in a full slate of games despite some curve balls in the form of rain from the weather man.  Most teams are approximately a third of the way through their schedules with the month of May looming around the corner.

Ellis Tech with a perfect 2-0 week has been a pleasant surprise as the Techsters are 3-4 and 2-1 in the Constitution State Conference – East.  Plainfield and Putnam posted 1-1 weeks, while Killingly put together a modest two game winning streak and Woodstock went 1-2 on the week with a big win over New London.

Tourtellotte, which is winless at 0-6 on the season lost three games in a week where it had a difficult time getting runs across home plate.  The preps, Marianapolis and Pomfret School are dawdling along and having a difficult time finding wins.

Ellis Tech Posts Rare Win Over Putnam

Whenever Putnam High School and Ellis Tech square off on the baseball diamond it’s a generally accepted fact that the Clippers will end up in the win column.  Not so this year!  The Eagles, who have some talent this season, proved they were for real in posting a 1-0 victory over the Clippers.  The loss left Putnam’s junior ace Nicholas Foucault wondering what he has to do to pick up a pitching victory.

Foucault, who struck out 14 opposing hitters and yielded only four hits, lost for the second time this season despite throwing superbly.  Foucault gave up a run in the first inning and then proceeded to shut down the visitors the remainder of the way.  His mates however, were unable to produce any offense, causing Foucault to think about filing for non-support.  The Clippers are a disappointing 2-4 on the season and 1-1 in the CSC – East.

In its other game this week Ellis Tech demolished Windham Tech 16-3 behind winning hurler Chuck Innes, who also had a pair of hits including a key double in a nine run rally.  Brett Ravenelle had a great day at the bat for the Eagles, contributing three hits.

Putnam in its only other game ran away from Parish Hill 14-2 as freshman Aiden Ciquera hit a three run inside-the-park home run.  The Clippers enjoyed a field day at the bat as Ryan Whitehouse contributed three runs batted in and Foucault and Jacob Guertin each had a double.

Plainfield, after being shutout 12-0 by Waterford, rebounded with an exciting 8-7 win over archrival Griswold.  The Panthers pulled off the win after trailing by a run entering their final at-bat.  The rally was keyed by Steve Jankowski who scored the winning run on a single by Jeff Nicolosi.  Colby Greenhalgh was 3-for-4 for the 4-2 Panthers.

Killingly, much like Plainfield, bounced back from a 6-3 loss at the hands of Stonington to beat St. Bernard 7-3 behind the complete game tosses of Cory Sipos.  Ben Desaulnier and Tre Belanger each had a pair of hits for the 3-3 overall and 0-3 Eastern Connecticut Conference – Medium Division Redmen.  Killingly kept its win streak alive with a 13-8 victory over Norwich Tech thanks to a 4-for-5 day at the bat by Belanger and a key RBI double by Desaulnier.  

The highlight of the week for Woodstock Academy was a 2-1 victory over New London despite being held to one hit by the Whalers.  Eli Majek drove in Doug Gerrity with the winning tally for the 2-4 overall and 0-4 ECC – Large Division Centaurs.  Earlier in the week the Acads were shutout 6-0 by Lyman.  They closed out the week with a 12-6 loss at the hands of Fitch High School.

Tourtellotte searching for its initial win of the season was shutout by Ledyard 11-0 and St. Bernard 2-0 before dropping its final game of the week 6-4 to Stonington.  

Marianapolis and Pomfret School lost their games by identical scores of 4-0.  The Golden Knights were dropped by Suffield Academy.  The Griffins succumbed to Cheshire Academy.  Marianapolis did manage to get back into the win column with a 15-3 romp over Block Island.  Chris Cutroni picked up the victory on the hill.  George Murphy, Billy Hanrahan, Cutroni and Tom Horvat each contributed two hits for the 4-3 Golden Knights.