Late Homers By Quinn, Nardone Spark Fairfield American To 9-8 Victory Over Massachusetts

Heading into his at-bat with one out in the sixth inning Wednesday, Jack Quinn was 0-for-11 in the New England Regionals, but all that is ancient history now.

The cleanup hitter snapped out of his slump in a huge way - belting a game-tying two-run home run - as Fairfield American continued its thrill-a-minute joyride with a wild 9-8, seven-inning victory over Southboro, the Massachusetts state champion, in Bristol.

"It (the slump) was (on my mind), but I really don't care any more because of that home run," said, Quinn, whose shot  over the right-center field fence erased a 7-5 deficit. "I hope I do well in the semifinals."

Given new life, Fairfield American then got a two-run blast to left from Nick Nardone in the top of the seventh to take its first lead of the contest. Both of the late homers came on 0-2 pitches.

Patrick O'Leary, Fairfield American's third pitcher, surrendered a run in the bottom half, but pitched three superb  innings to earn the victory. O'Leary allowed only two hits, one of them an RBI single to Jack Harlen, as the Bay State champions  did not go quietly.

"(He had) ice in his veins today," Fairfield American coach Chris Daley said of O'Leary.

Fairfield American finished 3-1 in pool play to earn the No. 2 seed and will face No. 3 New Hampshire (2-2) in the semifinals Thursday at 5 p.m. at the Giamatti Little League Center. In an earlier meeting between the teams, Fairfield American posted a 3-2 victory.

The locals entered Wednesday's game knowing they already were guaranteed a spot in the semifinals and Nardone sensed that safety net contributed to Fairfield American's sluggish play early.

"I think the fact that we had already made it was really getting to our team's head," Nardone said. "Like we really don't need this, but he had to win or we'd face the same team and their best pitcher. We didn't want that to happen."

Indeed, this Fairfield American club refuses to lose. It has come from behind in all three of its tournament wins and erased 5-1 and 7-4 deficits Wednesday.

"They take a little bit of years off my life," Daley joked, "but these guys, to their credit, they battle in all these close games."

If Fairfield American couldn't win Wednesday, it wanted to make sure that it would at least lose by no more than 10 runs to avoid a semifinal meeting with top-seed Rhode Island, which faces Vermont on Thursday at 8 p.m.  The runs allowed differential would have been the tiebreaker.

Daley started Nardone, his ace, on Wednesday, knowing that he would have to be pulled after 20 pitches so that he could still come back on Thursday. But Nardone gave up an RBI single to Nolan Kessinger and couldn't get out of the first inning before reaching his limit.

Daley went to Nate Klein, who gave up five runs and nine hits, including three homers, but Klein did eat up innings, tossing 3 2/3 frames.

Fairfield American began its comeback in the fourth, scoring three runs to pullin within 5-4. The turning point may have come when Connor Daley's line drive struck Massachusetts starter Kevin Haley, a 5-6 lefthander, in the right thigh to start the inning.

Haley was in control early, allowing only a walk through the first two innings, but he wasn't as effective after getting drilled.

"At first, he was really good," Nardone said. "He was throwing hard, he was hitting the corners. He was throwing that curve and we were swinging and missing. After he got hit, he was still doing well, but he wasn't hitting the corners."

"I also noticed that he lost his knuckleball," O'Leary added.

Massachusetts appeared to be back in command after a two-run monster shot by Matt Trehub cleared the NESN camera in left-center in the home fourth.  But Fairfield pulled within 7-5 on Klein's solo homer in the fifth.

Chris Howell started the top of the sixth with a single and scored one-out later on Quinn's homer off Harlan, his 10th of the postseason.

In the bottom of the sixth, O'Leary got three quick ground-ball outs to force extra innings.

"I just knew I had to go in there and throw the best I could and hope for the best," said O'Leary, who opened the seventh with a single off Connor Henderson, Massachusetts' third hurler.

Henderson got the next two hitters, but couldn't slip an 0-2 pitch past Nardone, who came through with his ninth homer of the summer.

Fairfield American banged out a tournament-high 13 hits, with Howell, Nardone, Daley and O'Leary all contributing two apiece. 
 
"What was great about today, it was the first time in this tournament everybody contributed up and down the lineup,"  Daley said.

New Hampshire advanced to the semifinals earlier Wednesday with a 4-3 victory over Vermont.