Spartans Knock Out Lyman Hall 7-3

Despite the absence of two key starters (center fielder Chris Katz, who broke his collarbone diving for a ball at the end of the recent loss 6-5 to Notre Dame and is out for the remainder of the season and third baseman-pitcher Mark Esposito, who is still recovering from a pulled ham string that he suffered in a recent win over Cheshire) the Amity baseball team had more than enough punch to knock out Lyman Hall 7-3 Friday afternoon at Janenda Field in Woodbridge. With the victory over the Trojans, Coach Sal Coppola’s Spartans improved their Southern Connecticut Conference record to 11-3 (6-0 against Housatonic Division opponents). Lyman Hall slips to 5-9.

Sophomore right hander Sam Nepiarsky threw five shutout innings and did not allow a base hit. He also walked two and struck out five Trojans batters as he improved his record to 5-1.

According to the 6-foot 1-inch sophomore, “Before the season started, I hoped that I’d do well as a varsity pitcher, but never expected to be 5-1. I was determined not to be intimidated by guys on other teams or let myself think they were better than me. It’s been great having an excellent defense behind me.”

Nepiarsky also revealed that this spring he has added a slider to his repertoire which already included a fast ball, a curve ball, and a change.

“It was nice getting a big lead early in the game. I didn’t think Sam wasn’t pitching well in the first few innings. He was falling behind batters, so I talked with him before he went out to throw the fourth inning. After that he threw much harder and began getting ahead of batters. He was a different pitcher for his last two innings. His ball had a lot more pop and he was getting both his curve and slider over for strikes,” Coppola said. “Quite honestly, I didn’t expect Sam to be 5-1 at this point in the season but with Espo hurt, Sam has thrown more than we had expected him to throw.”

A pair of Lyman Hall errors gave Amity an unearned run in  its first at bat. With one out in the bottom of the second inning, back-to-back base hits by Adam Kyasky and Paul Gusmano along with a throwing error by center fielder Lance Powell put both runners into scoring position. Nick Baviello followed with a two-out double into the left center gap, staking Nepiarsky to a 3-0 lead. Keith Klebart wasted no time in plating Baviello with a run-scoring base hit up the middle.

The Spartans put the game out of reach with two more scores in the bottom of the third inning. Following a leadoff wall to Ted Ballou, Brian Speer cracked a base hit. RBI singles from Gusmano and Kyasky made it 6-0. An inning later, the winners tacked on another score on Vin Siena’s fourth home run of the spring. This one was a line drive that sailed far beyond the left field fence. That solo round tripper drove losing pitcher Brent Commette off the mound and brought Ken Upton into the contest.

Following Nepiarsky’s almost perfect five inning stint, Coppola brought in Chris Cimmino and he threw a 1-2-3 sixth inning. With his team leading 7-0, Coppola then had Mike Concato come in to mop up in the top of the seventh inning. Consecutive errors by Siena and Baviello set the stage for Ryan Bohne to poke a two-run double into center field, scoring both Bill Grieb and Ryan Formanski. Still trailing 7-2, the Trojans added another unearned run when Bohne scored on a base hit from Powell.

Coppola added, “It was nice getting a big lead early in the game. We were able to play a steady, calm game. We were nice and loose. I heard a lot of chirping coming from our dugout. We were loose and the game had a nice buzz to it. Except for the errors in the top of the seventh, we played a solid game defensively and we had some timely hitting too. Sam didn’t walk many batters and was around the plate all game long. The last time we faced Lyman Hall, their kid (Commette) gave us trouble with his off-speed stuff. Today, we were very smart and selective at bat.”

Coming off what was expected to be (but did not prove to be) a very emotional victory over Sheehan, Coppola rejected any concern about a let down against the struggling Trojans.

He said, “In our conference, you can’t take anything for granted. You have to be ready to play your next game, no matter who it is against.”

In addition to Siena’s fourth round tripper of the spring, Klebart singled, scored a run, and stole three bases. Ballou added a pair of singles, scored a run, and also drove in a run. Kyasky chipped in with two base hits, one run and an RBI.   Powell accounted for two of the losers’ five hits and also drove in a run.