Mistakes Cost Orange in Loss to Shelton

Christmas came about six months early for the Shelton Post 16 baseball team. Orange Post 127 proved to be the perfect holiday host, serving up six hits, wrapping up three errors, giving away six unearned runs and presenting the Valleyites with an 11-6 gift victory Sunday night at Brinley Field.

It was the second of the three-game summer series between the Zone 2 rivals. On Thursday night, Orange stomped Shelton 12-2.

Orange Coach Bob Mirto said, “We didn’t play well today. Our errors killed us and we got behind early.  We scored twice in the third inning and with the score 7-3, I thought we had the potential to come back. We do have the ability to hit the ball and score runs, but once they added four more runs in the top of the fourth, it was 11-3 and we became desperate.”

Back-to-back first inning singles by Brian Kernan and Nick Baviello along with Brian Speer’s sacrifice fly gave the hosts a 1-0, but that lead was short-lived. An error by starting pitcher Mark Boland opened the flood gates and Shelton responded by pouring seven runs (five earned runs) across home plate. The key blows in that offensive flood were Scott Catadella’s run-scoring double and a grand slam home run by Shelton catcher Mike Dew.

Staked to that early 7-1 lead, Post 16 hurler Mike Ferro sailed threw the early innings. Orange did pick up a pair of third inning scores to slice Shelton’s lead back to four runs (7-3). Steve Falcigno led off with a single, but was quickly erased when Kernan banged into a double play. Baviello singled with two outs. Speer doubled him home and after a walk to Ted Ballou, Adam Kyasky cracked the second RBI double of the inning to make it 7-3.

Post 16 answered right back with four unearned runs. Following a two-out miscue by Orange third baseman Sean Butler, Shelton added two runs on a bases loaded walk to Matt Brady and Boland hitting Ed Groth with a pitch. Ferro then stepped up and walloped a two-run triple to give the visitors an 11-3 advantage.

“Mark (Boland) deserved a better fate,” Mirto said. “He made a couple of bad pitches but we hurt ourselves with our defensive lapses.”

Orange made the game more respectable by posting three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. The inning began with consecutive singles from Butler and Jim Martino. After Martino was forced out at second base by Falcigno, Baviello hammered a two-run triple to the fence in left center field. Speer quickly brought him home with his second two-bagger of the afternoon.

The Mirtomen continued to chip away at Ferro in the bottom of the fifth inning as Kyasky led off with a base hit and Grayson Amoroso drew a free pass. With both runners in motion, Butler lofted a soft popper down the first base line that Greg Heinz made a diving catch to grab. Neither Kyasky nor Amoroso could get back safely to their bases and were easily retired to complete the triple play.

Orange third base coach Bill Butler vehemently argued with umpire Craig Inzero that the ball Heinz snagged had first hit the ground, and was quickly ejected by Inzero. Because he was tossed out of the game, Butler will be required to serve a one game suspension.

Mirto added, “It’s a long 24-game season and you are bound to have one or two bad games. We just can’t let this one get under our skin. On a positive note, I thought Streve Falcigno pitched well in relief. He changed speeds effectively and did a nice job.”

Despite the final score, Orange out-hit Shelton 12-6. Brady had two singles, scored a run, and drove in a run for the winners. Baviello singled twice, tripled, scored two runs, and added a pair of RBIs for Post 127. Speer doubled twice, scored a run, and drove in two runs. Kyasky recorded three base hits, a double, and an RBI.

Orange (now 1-1) hosts West Haven Post 71 tonight in a 5:45 p.m. twilight twin bill at Brinley Field.