Hamden Post 88 Beats Orange Under Tuesday Night Lights

Baseball statistics reveal that when a batter leads off an inning with a walk (or gets hit with a pitch) he (or she) will score 70 percent of the time.

Orange Post 127 proved to be the exception to that rule on two occasions Tuesday night and the result was a 1-0 loss to Hamden Post 88. The Zone 2 contest was played under the lights at Brinley Field in Orange.

In both the third and forth innings, Orange batters drew lead-off walks from Hamden pitcher P.J. Scott but failed to score either time. In the bottom of the third inning Grayson Amoroso got the free pass but Scott retired the next three batters to leave Amoroso stranded at second base.

In the fourth inning, Nick Baviello walked, stole second base and he also was left by Scott to die on the vine.

Adding insult to injury, Sean Butler singled at the outset of the fifth inning but was quickly picked off first base by Scott.

“Their kid (Scott) was good and we couldn’t score any runs off of him. We just didn’t hit the ball with guys on base. In addition, he has a great move to first base and picked off 2 base runners,” Orange coach Bob Mirto said.

Scott ended the bottom of the sixth inning by  picking Brian Speer off first base.

Hamden’s run came in the top of the fourth inning when Matt Bunbdock led off by blasting a double to the fence in left center field. Jake Lotto bunted him on to third base and the burley Bundock scored on a third strike wild pitch from Orange hurler Dane Simone.

Scott retired the first nine batters he faced and had a no-hitter going until Butler broke it up with his base hit at the outset of the fifth inning. In his summer debut, Scott tossed a complete game three-hit shutout while striking out seven ands walking three. His victory improved Hamden’s record to 3-5.

Despite the final outcome, Simone (now 0-2) only allowed one run on two hits. He also walked one Post 88 batter and whiffed three.

The loss snapped Orange’s three game winning streak and evened its record at 5-5.