Darien Baseball Loses to Daniel Hand in State Tournament

In a battle for a spot in the quarterfinals of the state tournament, Daniel Hand beat Darien baseball 8-1 on Wednesday.

The loss ended an improbable run which saw 33rd seed Darien oust number one seed Cheney Tech 4-1. The teams still standing in the quarterfinals include the second, third, and fourth seeds.

Daniel Hand which beat Fairfield Warde before defeating the Blue Wave will try to make it a hat trick against FCIAC competition when they host New Canaan on Saturday.

Hand was strong in all phases of the game, pitching, hitting, and fielding, and played a mistake free game. Pitcher Jarrett Rennie threw a complete game giving up eight hits and one run.

Darien's best opportunity came in the first inning with a walk to Thomas Carruthers and hits by Bryan Previte and Tucker White but they were unable to score.

The Blue Wave threatened again in the second inning on a hit by Andrew Maley and a walk to Brendan Donohue but a high popup, which came dangerously close to hitting a hawk carrying a squirrel, was caught by the shortstop to end the inning.

Meanwhile Hand scored two runs in the first and another run in the second to take a 3-0 lead. They put the game away in the fourth inning scoring five runs.

Darien finally got on the board in the seventh inning when Maley was hit by a pitch, Carl Stowell singled, and Carruthers singled in Maley. Previte had three hits and Carruthers had two hits in their  final game for Darien.

A tip of the hat to Coach Mike Scott and the team for finishing the season strong. They had to win their final two games of the regular season to qualify for the States and once there pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament.

Editor's note: Clyde Whyte, who wrote this article, is the parent of a member of the Darien High School baseball team.