Baseball Loses Another Tough One

Another game, another one-run loss for the Ridgefield High School baseball team.

Kyle Deleon surrendered a two-run double to Rob Ferrara in the top of the sixth inning that lifted Fairfield Ludlowe to an 8-7 victory over the Tigers on Thursday afternoon.

In its previous game, Ridgefield (11-5, 10-4 FCIAC) suffered an 18-17 loss to Norwalk, squandering what had been a 12-1 lead.

"Without the untimely errors in the last two games, we could have put both games in the win column," Ridgefield coach Tony Wilmot said.

Wilmot was referring to two errors that contributed to the five runs Ludlowe scored in the top of the first. 

But Ridgefield sophomore starter Ryan Callanan settled down, blanking Ludlowe over the next four innings.

Falcon starter Alex Wright couldn't hold the lead as the Tigers scored one run in the first and five in the second to go up, 6-5, after just two innings.

Ridgefield had a chance to extend a 7-5 lead in the fifth but left the bases loaded against Falcons' freshman reliever Nick Chandler, who recorded a pair of strikeouts in the inning to keep his team in the game.

The clutch pitching must have sparked the Falcons, because they scored three runs in the sixth. Ferrara then crushed a double to deep center,  putting the Falcons back ahead.

DeLeon wished he could have the pitch back.

"I hung a curve ball," he said.

Chandler shut out the Tigers in the sixth and seventh to record the win, as Ludlowe (11-5, 9-5) snapped a four-game losing streak.

"It was great to win after dropping four in a row," said Ludlowe coach Keith O'Rourke. "This game was huge for us. We spent a lot of time after the game talking about things we needed to work on. You can't really do that after losses."

Ridgefield was led by first baseman Mark Giles' three hits and catcher Tommy Payne's three steals.