Montville Baseball Peaking At Right Time

Montville won the Class M state baseball championship last season. Stonington had not reached the state semifinals since 1960.

The Indians sure looked like the team that had "been there before" in their 12-1 win over the Bears in the semifinals Tuesday at Middletown's Palmer Field. While Stonington (14-9) left 10 runners on base and ran into two outs, Montville (16-8) delivered four extra base hits with runners in scoring position accounting four seven runs.

"[Being there] sure doesn't hurt," Montville coach Phil Orbe said. "To be in a situation where you are comfortable, you know what to expect. We're in the same dugout, in the same seats where we were last year, there is a comfortableness to it that you really can't buy."

Not only did Montville own an experience edge, it has also owned Stonington in this Eastern Connecticut Conference Medium rivalry for nearly 20 years. The Bears rallied to beat MHS in one of two games this season, but usually it's 2-0 Montville.

Orbe downplayed the past, saying "these kids don't remember that, they just remember Stonington doesn't quit. They came back with five runs late on us to win, 7-5."

But Stonington didn't play with any sense of confidence against a team that has dominated this series.

"Phil runs a great program, they're challenging for the state title every year," SHS coach Duffy Grace said. "For us to win a state title, I've got to go through Montville."

So despite a rocky 12-8 regular season and rare absence in the ECC Tourney, the 20th-seeded Indians face No. 22 Seymour (15-8) for the state title 11:30 a.m. Saturday Bristol Muzzy's Field in search of their third state title since 2006. In the back of Orbe's mind, he knew Montville had the 1-2 pitching punch (Tre Gonzalez and Corey Wilcox) to make a tourney run. He was only waiting for a slumping offense to heat up with the weather.

Montville took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on Casey Zalagens' two-run triple. After Stonington (14-10) left the bases loaded in the third, Montville tacked on four in the third with Zalagens' RBI double and Max Hart's two-run triple the key hits. Tyler Contillo's two-run single in the fourth made it 9-1.

The story of the game was Montville delivering with runners on base, and pitcher Corey Wilcox leaving SHS runners on bases. Montville only outhit the Bears, 10-7, but made the most of its opportunities.

"It's good to see a lot of our hard work pay off," Orbe said. "We didn't have the greatest regular season, but as coaches, unlike kids who think short term, we think long term. None of our pitchers ever came back on less than seven days rest. Other teams had kids come back of five days, four days, we stuck to seven. Losing a game in the regular season, or eight, is not a terrible thing. It's not football."

Wilcox (5-2) was not brilliant, allowing two singles and a hit batter to load the bases with one out in the third. But he struck out a batter and enduced a soft lineup to Stonington's third and fourth batters to escape with no runs.

In turn, MHS capitalized with runners in scoring position. Zalagens (2-for-3, four RBI), Hart (three RBI), Contillo (2-for-2, 2 runs, 2 RBI), Wilcox (3 runs) and pinch-hitter Ryan Hewitt (2-run double) led the productive attack.

"We know what we have to do to get there and know what we have to do win," Contillo said. "We knew we could win today if we just played our game."

It was a nice day in the sun, literally, for Zalagens, the shortstop who Orbe calls "the best kept secret in the ECC."

"The motivation is our Montville pride," Zalagens said. "We knew it would be a tough year for us early losing some key players from last year and seeing Tyler injure his shoulder early. We thought we could peak at the right time as we have."

It was a great day all around for Montville baseball. Taylor Lewis, '07 grad now playing at the University of Maine, was drafted in the 10th round by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

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