East Hampton Gets What it Needs

It was a game East Hampton had to have.

As fog slowly started to gather at Indian River Complex in Clinton, Al Iannone’s final pitch settled into the glove of catcher Spencer Daly for a called strike three and a 4-1 victory over Morgan on Friday night.

For the Bellringers, who had lost two of their last three games and had not played in a week, there was nothing foggy when it came to understanding the importance of this game.

“This one was really, really important to get going into the next couple of games,” East Hampton coach Scott Wosleger said. “With three games left in the conference schedule, we absolutely had to have this one … especially struggling for the first four innings against a kid who pitched a pretty good game. We were patient enough at the plate, grinded it out.”

With this being the first of four games in five days to close out the regular season, how East Hampton (13-4) performs could be the difference in having a first-round bye in the state tournament. For sure it will influence the path they have to take in the postseason, whether Shoreline or state tournament.

“We told them this was the most important game of the season because we had to have it going into Coginchaug [Saturday],” Wosleger said.

Morgan jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an unearned run. Zak Repscher, the starting pitcher, helped his cause with a two-out single to drive in Stefan DiCrosta, who had reached on an error.

“We need to get a little better on defense,” said Wosleger, whose team committed three errors. “The last couple of games we’ve been a little shaky on defense.”

Fortunately, East Hampton had Iannone to keep things in check until his team could figure out Repscher.

The senior lefthander allowed four hits, struck out five (four looking) and walked one en route to his eighth win of the season and his first complete game.

“Al kept us in it like he normally does,” Wosleger said.

Repscher was making it tough on the Bellringers, however. The senior struck out eight through the first four innings while nursing the 1-0 lead.

In the fifth, East Hampton broke through.

Joe Tuxbury (2-for-3) got the inning started with a lead-off single. Austin Shumbo also singled and Austin Wosleger advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt.

Up to the plate stepped Daly, and the junior delivered a two-run single. Adam Michaud then followed that with an RBI double and East Hampton was up, 3-1.

East Hampton has shown at times it can produce a lot of offense. It has also shown that production can from anywhere in the lineup.

“I think they know, top to bottom, whether they are hitting ninth or hitting first, we have a lot of confidence in everybody and I think the coaching staff lets them know we have confidence in all of them,” Wosleger said. “We never lose confidence in anybody and I think that hopefully helps them.”

The Bellringers added an insurance run in the seventh when Iannone (2-for-3) drove in Michaud with a single.

As for Morgan (5-11), the loss was especially tough. The Huskies, who lost to East Hampton 1-0 on May 6, need three wins to qualify for the state tournament, but have only four games remaining to get it done.

East Hampton hosts Coginchaug (4-13) on Saturday at 9 a.m.