Salveson Leads Fairfield Legion Past Darien

It was a classic pitcher's duel on Wednesday afternoon in American Legion baseball action at Fairfield Warde High School.

Mike Miller (six innings, four hits) kept Darien in the ballgame from start to finish, but the visitors could not touch Fairfield starter Avery Salveson, who returned from a week and a half off the mound to twirl a four-hit shutout through six innings in a 4-1 Fairfield win.

"I felt really good out there," Salveson said.  "I think the time off definitely helped me. I felt re-charged, and all my pitches were working."

The few times that Darien (6-7) did reach base, Fairfield's  dazzling defense quelled the threats with savvy glove work.

Two double plays squashed the hopes of Darien, while Salveson slammed the door with a pair of inning-ending strikeouts as well. Mixing an array of off-speed pitches and high heat, Salveson had the visiting hitters guessing from the first pitch onward.

"Mike (Miller) pitched a great game for us today, but (Avery) Salveson was tremendous," Darien coach Mike Petrona. "It was a real battle between them all game long."

With stout pitching and team defense, Fairfield (3-9) also received a strong day inside the batter's box from Tyler Colby.

Colby came through in a pair of crucial spots, producing line-drive singles in the third and fifth innings.  With one plating a lone runner and the other single driving in two, Fairfield jumped out to a 3-0 lead thanks to Colby.

Darien's lone run came in the sixth inning, when Kevin Sousa scored on Fairfield's only error in the game.

Sousa dove into third on Mike Alfieiri's  single, then scored when the outfield throw sailed wide.

Fairfield closer Jimmy Dowd took over in the seventh. Darien put two runners on base, but Dowd buckled down with a big strikeout and game-ending grounder.