Nine-Run Fourth Inning Lifts East Hampton

When your season has gotten off to a slow start, the last thing a team needs to deal with is injuries. That those injuries are happening to Portland behind the plate, make it all the more challenging.

Down to their fourth catcher, a freshman, the Highlanders traveled to East Hampton on Monday looking for their first victory of the season. The Bellringers, however, were not in a very compassionate mood.

East Hampton (4-1) seized the opportunity, and the basepaths, using stolen bases, wild pitches, passed balls and timely hitting to break open a close game with a nine-run fourth inning en route to an 11-0 victory.

“We knew they were challenged behind the plate,” East Hampton coach Scott Wosleger said. “That in combination with our guys being a little flat, you have to move [baserunners], you got to be aggressive and you have to do some things. You can’t just wait for three or four singles in a row.”

Portland’s Mike Bordonaro had some tough cleats to fill, replacing senior Trevor Fleischmann, who is out with a torn ACL. Considering the constant pressure he was under, Bordonaro did a decent job, a job that will be his for the foreseeable future.

“[The injuries] bother me more than the losses,” Portland coach Rick Borg said. “One of the kids [Fleischmann] is a senior co-captain that is a good catcher and he stabilizes our team and he’s also our leadoff hitter. It made me sick to my stomach when we lost him.”

Portland’s John Clark held the Bellringers in check through the first three innings, allowing only an RBI single to Al Iannone to spot East Hampton a 1-0 lead.

“A little sluggish in the beginning but I think we were patient enough,” Wosleger said. “They’re a confident group, so I think they felt things would happen eventually.”

And things did happen in the fourth.

Brian Roberson got things started with a leadoff double. After Marvin Gorgas grounded out to third, the next eight batters reached safely, concluding with another double by Roberson, this one off the base of the fence in left. Austin Shumbo had a two-run double and Iannone a two-run single in the inning. The inning also saw four stolen bases, three wild pitches and two passed balls. In all, 14 Bellringers batted.

“It’s good to come out here and take care of business and not have any regrets,” Wosleger said. “The theme for today was ‘Let’s not go home tonight and have any regrets.’”

Iannone started and pitched four innings of two-hit ball for East Hampton. Ben Fortin, Shumbo and Gorgas pitched an inning each in relief, allowing no hits and no walks though a runner reached in each inning on an error. After the leadoff batter reached first in the seventh, Gorgas struck out the next three to end the game.

“It was kind of a staff day where we used everybody and I think the guys who went in there took care of business and didn’t mess around and that was good,” Wosleger said. “They all knew at that point they were in there to get their work in. Today we were trying to concentrate on pitching to contact, trying to test our defense out a little bit. I thought our defense did well today, not phenomenal, but I thought we did well. I’m happy moving forward, keep throwing strikes, have the pitchers mix their pitches and have a plan on the mound.”

At 0-5, Portland has played against some of the top teams in the Shoreline Conference, including Old Saybrook, North Branford and Cromwell, who had a total of two losses combined heading into Monday’s games.

“I think that we are better than we have shown so far,” Borg said. “We’ve had some tough luck. That doesn’t explain why we didn’t score a run today. East Hampton played well and other than the fourth inning, it was a 2-0 game. That’s been kind of our pattern, is to have a bad inning.“