Fairfield Junior Babe Ruth 15's Strike Gold At Nutmeg State Games

The Fairfield Junior Babe Ruth 15-year-old district baseball team went a perfect 4-0 en route to claiming the gold medal at the 2010 Nutmeg State Games.

In the final,  Fairfield staged a thrilling seventh-inning comeback to defeat the New England Knights, 6-5, at Beehive Stadium in New Britain.

The Knights, an AAU team from Berlin, struck first in the top of the first inning as the leadoff batter reached on a throwing error and then scored on David Sapp's double off the left-field wall. With one out, Fairfield's starting pitcher, Andrew Kirkpatrick, wasn't fazed as he calmly got the next two batters to fly out to end the inning.

Fairfield responded in the bottom of the inning with Jamie Power and Charlie Meder leading off with back-to-back singles. Power then moved to third on Victor D'Ascenzo's single and scored on a passed ball to tie the score, 1-1.

Over the next 2 1/2 innings, the pitchers took control and silenced both offenses.

In the bottom of the fourth, Fairfield's Paul Kern earned a leadoff walk and moved to second on a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt by Anthony DiLeo. Kern and Connor Quinn, who reached on an error, both scored on consecutive errors by the Knights to take a 3-1 lead.

Fairfield added another run in the bottom of the fifth after D'Ascenzo and Kirkpatrick led off with singles. D'Ascenzo moved to third on a passed ball and scored on Tommy Howell's long fly to deep left, increasing Fairfield's lead to 4-1.

In the top of the sixth, the Knights' offense came to life as they took advantage of two throwing errors by D'Ascenzo and three singles, which resulted in two runs to cut Fairfield's advantage to 4-3.

Fairfield's offense could not respond in the bottom of the inning as the game moved to the top of the seventh with Fairfield clinging to a one-run lead. D'Ascenzo relieved Kirkpatrick in the top of the seventh.

Sapp launched D'Ascenzo's third pitch to dead center where Meder tracked it down on the warning track for the first out of the inning. After a single and a strikeout, the Knights recorded three consecutive singles and took advantage of a passed ball to score two runs and take a 5-4 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh.

Fairfield regrouped and started its final at-bat as it did in the first inning with back-to-back singles. Power punched a single over the second baseman's outstretched glove followed by a single to right by Meder.

D'Ascenzo stepped to the plate and smacked a single to left field to plate Power and tie the game, 5-5. Meder moved to third on the play and D'Ascenzo took second on the throw to the infield. With runners on second and third and no outs, the Knights intentionally walked Kirkpatrick to load the bases.

The next batter, Howell, popped out to the first baseman for the first out of the inning. With a drawn-in infield, Andrew Salveson drove a 2-1 fastball between third base and shortstop to score Meder and the game-winning run.

As he was all summer, Kirkpatrick was solid on the mound and finished with six innings pitched, giving up seven hits with a season-high seven  strikeouts  and two walks.

Offensively, Fairfield recorded 10 hits and was led by D'Ascenzo (3-for-4, one RBI), Power (2-for-4), and Meder (2-for-4).

Fairfield earned a spot in the gold medal game after defeating Orange, West Haven and the Connecticut Eagles in pool play.

Fairfield finished its summer season at 16-5, including a Jimmy Fund Tournament championship (D'Ascenzo was named tournament MVP). The team finished  2-2 at the War at the Shore Tournament in Old Lyme and also made a run to the quarterfinals in the Connecticut Junior Babe Ruth State Tournament, which Fairfield hosted at Kiwanis Field.