Orange takes another beating, suffers 6-0 loss to North Haven

Leaky defense and feeble hitting continues to plague Orange Post 127. Coach Bob Mirto’s boys made 4 errors and banged out only 4 hits in a 6-0 loss to North Haven Post 76 Wednesday night at DeMayo Field in North Haven.

It was the fourth consecutive Zone 2 loss for Orange (eighth set back in a row overall) and drops its record to 5-8. The Mirtomen must now win 8 of their last 11 games to get into the post-season tournament. With 3 of those upcoming games against first place Branford Post 83 and 3 more against second place East Haven Post 89, Mirto and Co. know they have a mountain to climb if they want to make it into  post-season play.

“We can’t seem to pick up the ball or hit it,” Mirto said. “I know we have the talent. Hopefully, we’ll be able to turn things around and prove we have the talent to play winning baseball.”

North Haven picked 2 runs (both unearned) in the bottom of the first inning. With 1 out, Johnny Johnson singled, stole second base, moved on to third with Edison Rodriquez’s infield out and scored on a passed ball charged to catcher Jim Martino. A pair of Orange bobbles, an infield out, and a wild pitch from starting and losing pitcher Brian Speer made it 2-0.

Johnson led off the bottom of the third inning by banging a base hit into left center field. Another defensive lapse by Post 127, a walk to Jaycen Torello, and Christian Karnauchov’s sacrifice fly staked North Haven hurler Nick Nieves to a 3-0 lead.

The winners added a pair of earned runs in the fifth inning when Speer walked Rodriquez, the lead off batter, and then served up a 2-out single to Karnauchov, followed by Troy Sundwall’s 2-out, 2-run double into left-center field. Those 2 tallies extended the winners’ lead to 5-0. The 7-8 winners added another unearned run off relief pitcher Steve Falcigno in the bottom of the sixth inning.

According to Mirto, “Brian didn’t pitch badly tonight (2 earned runs on 4 hits with 4 walks and 3 strike outs). We didn’t give him much defensive support. All our errors gave them 4 unearned runs. We’re back home at Brinley Field on Thursday night and Dane Simone is pitching for us. Hopefully, Dane will help us turn things around. If he can consistently throw strikes and we find a way to pick up the ball and throw it on target to first base, we could get  ourselves up a nice win.”

Johnson led Post 76 with 2 base hits and he also scored a pair of runs. Sundwall added his 2-run double, while Karnauchov singled, scored a run, and also drove in a run.

Nieves tossed a complete game, 4-hit shutout victory. He walked 3 batters, hit 2, struck out 3, and never let a batter reach third base.

Mark Boland singled twice for Orange Post 127.