ECC Baseball A Wide Open Race For Top

Whenever the Eastern Connecticut Conference baseball season hits the halfway point in May, there are usually one, two and even three clear powerhouse teams that emerge from the pack.

This year, the undeniable favorite for league and state supremecy on the diamond is ….. the Waterford High girls’ softball team.

Pardon the sarcasm. But while the No. 1 ranked undefeated Lancers appear to be a lock in their sport, ECC baseball is an unpredictable and as balanced as ever. Not only had every team vacated the undefeated ranks after two weeks of play, traditional powers Waterford, Fitch, New London and Montville have struggled to maintain winning records.

Is the perennially- strong ECC down?Or are there more teams evenly-matched through the Large, Medium and Small Divisions.

Fitch coach Marc Peluso likened the ECC to Big East basketball, where multiple teams in a strong league are capable of beating others any day. The ECC has shown mixed results in non-league affairs. North Kingstown , R.I. is 2-0 against the ECC, but the locals own a 3-1 mark against the FCIAC.

Because of balance, no ECC team is ranked in the state poll’s top 10 for the first year in many. Some results show a shifting of power from traditional haves to usual have-nots.

Defending Class M state champ Montville (7-5) has lost to 5-6 Stonington and Tourtellotte (Small). New London (6-5) has lost to Woodstock and Stonington. Waterford (7-4) followed up big wins over Fitch and East Lyme with a loss to 5-6 Griswold (Medium). NFA (7-4) stumbled against 7-4 St. Bernard (Small), two games after topping Fitch.

Woodstock and Plainfield (8-3) held the ECC’s best records heading into May  – not exactly marks worthy of Sports Illustrated Faces in the Crowd. Bacon and East Lyme (6-4) have also made some noise. The ECC is like a organized crime flick with everyone knocking each other off with no apparent pattern.

“I do think that the league is extremely balanced,” Peluso said. “I have seen a transformation over the  last three years or so where there seems to be an extreme parity between many teams from the ECC Small through the Large. I feel that it is great for the league and can only help teams that make it to the state tournament compete in their respective Class.”

Peluso does not subscribe to some theories that the lack of Division I caliber pitching that the ECC came to expect in the 2000s is missing this year.

Let’s face it, area fans were spoiled when the likes of Andrew Carignan (North Carolina), Dom Leone (Clemson)  and Eric Thompson (Vermont) of NFA, Matt Harvey (North Carolina) , Jesse Hahn (Virginia Tech) and Kevin Carlow (Brown) of Fitch, Rob Bono (UConn recruit) and Colin O’Keefe (Va. Tech) and St. Bernard’s Pat Lowery (Columbia) striking out 10 to 15 batters a game.

Most state conferences don’t see that type of talent, pitchers with a variety of nasty offerings and 88-94 MPH fastballs, in a generation let alone a seven-year period. This year’s collection of pitchers, with the best touching 85 MPH fastball speed or so, is the norm for high school ball.

“There are guys like Edgar Santiago (NL), Jordan Hamler and Nolan Long from Waterford as well as some other young pitchers throughout the league (Luke Foster of Stonington for example) that have a shot to not necessarily be Division I pitchers but possibly pitchers at the collegiate level,” Peluso said. “That fact has helped to make no team a pushover and the season an exciting one.”

New London coach Mike Wheeler has seen his team exemplify the up-and-down nature of the ECC, opening 0-2 and winning four straight in a stretch. A 5-2 loss to Fitch Monday leaves the Whalers 6-5.

"I think balance throughout the league is a great thing," Wheeler said. "For my team, I think it helps the kids focus on one game at a time. We know that if we do not bring on our A game on any given day, we our really going to have to battle to pull out a win. "

So while the ECC may lack the throngs pro scouts who watched games a few years back, the league promises exciting divisional races and late bids to the ECC Tournament in late May.

Waterford, NFA, Woodstock, Fitch and East Lyme are alive in the Large, Montville, New London, Bacon and Stonington haven't gained the lead in the Medium, and Plainfield, Lyman and St. Bernard look primed for a run in the Small. The difference between qualifying the the ECC Tournament and finishing with a losing record may only be a couple of wins.

"Playing in meaningful games all year long is useful towards the end of the season anyway in preparing for the state tournament," Wheeler said. "As long as you get in that is!"