Next Up for East Hampton: Old Lyme

Next up for East Hampton in the Class S baseball tournament … the Old Lyme Wildcats.

The Bellringers will face their Shoreline Conference rival in a quarterfinal game on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at West Haven High School.

Old Lyme had to wait an extra day to determine its fate. Tied with Oxford 7-7 in the top of the sixth inning on Wednesday, the game was suspended by rain. So, the two teams returned to Old Lyme on Thursday to finish what they started.

Slater Gregory’s base hit scored Nick Bellas in the bottom of the sixth to give the Wildcats an 8-7 victory over the Wolverines.

“[East Hampton is] a good team,” Old Lyme coach Randy St. Germain said. “We’re going to have to play about as perfect as we need to in order to win. They can pitch, they can hit, they got good leadership, they can field the ball, they’re good behind the plate. They won the Shoreline for a reason.”

East Hampton coach Scott Wosleger thinks Old Lyme’s familiarity with the Bellringers will give them an edge a different opponent would not have had.

“In some ways I would have liked to see Oxford because it’s a fresh new team and they don’t know us,” Wosleger said. “Old Lyme is well-coached. It will be a good team to compete against. I probably would have rather seen a team that wasn’t as familiar with us, but we’ll be OK.”

Fresh off their victory, but having to use his pitchers the past three days, St. Germain couldn’t say who he would start on the mound on Saturday.

“We’re all right,” he said. “We really don’t have a No.1. We kind of haven’t had one all year. The person who is ready to pitch is going to have to pitch.”

With two days off, East Hampton has options, but it appears Adam Michaud will get the nod as the starting pitcher with Al Iannone, Austin Shumbo and Marvin Gorgas waiting in the wings.

“We’re leaning right now toward Michaud,” Wosleger said. “We’re leaning toward what we did [in the Shoreline championship game]. We’re leaning toward Michaud and I’m sure Iannone will tell us he has some in the tank and then if we can get to the young guy [Gorgas], we’ll be happy.

What East Hampton did in the Shoreline championship game was approach it with an all hands on deck mind-set.

The two teams met only once this season, with East Hampton winning 5-4 at Old Lyme on April 27.

“The first game was kind of like a playoff-type game, it felt like,” Wosleger said. “It was close. We got out of a couple of jams. There were a couple of good plays on both sides. They kicked it around a little bit early. We kicked it around a little bit late. So, I think we’re pretty evenly matched.

The Wildcats struggled early in the season, losing five of their first seven games. They finished strong, however, winning seven of eight and qualifying for the Shoreline tournament. In the tournament, they defeated Cromwell before losing to North Branford, 6-0.

“They didn’t start out with a great record,” Wosleger said. “[St. Germain has] done a great job with their team. He made the Shoreline Conference playoffs. For him to get in the Shoreline playoffs and win a couple games in the state tournament, it’s typical him. He knows what he’s doing. I’m not shocked to see them.”