Shelton National Ousted From Section One Tournament After 12-2 Loss to Fairfield American

Shelton National kept it close for awhile but in the end, it couldn't slow down the steamroller that is Fairfield American.

Jack Oricoli and Grant Carnemark each hit two home runs and Brendan Flynn tossed five scoreless innings Monday as Fairfield American rolled into the section one finals with a 12-2 victory over Shelton National in Orange.

After winning its first two games in the sectionals, Shelton National dropped its last two and was eliminated.

The team actually wasn't officially eliminated following the loss to Fairfield American, but it needed North Stamford to beat East Haven by as lopsided a margin as possible.

North Stamford did its best, downing East Haven, 11-3, but it wasn't enough. East Haven (1.25) won a runs differential tiebreaker over Shelton National (1.363) to advance to Wednesday's final against Fairfield American.

"Our bats went a little bit silent the last couple games," Shelton National coach Steve McLoughlin said.

On Monday, Shelton National managed only four hits over Brendan Flynn, who tossed four scoreless inning for Fairfield American, and didn't break through until the bottom of the sixth.

"I wish I had a whole week to practice hitting curveballs with these guys," McLoughlin said. "They did a great job. They put the bat on the ball like I expected them to. I was hoping we'd get a few more runs and stay in it, that's all."

Fairfield American went deep five times Monday as Eddie Schwartz and Carnemark drilled back-to-back homers in the top of the sixth.

Oricoli had a two-run homer in the fourth and a three-run shot in the fifth for five RBI. Carnemark hit a pair of solo homers and also drove in a run with a single, finishing with three RBI.

Schwartz also collected three hits and three RBI for Fairfield American, which banged out 17 hits.

Still, Monday's game actually was close early with Fairfield American nursing a 2-0 lead after three innings on Carnemark's homer in the second and Schwartz's RBI single in the third.

Flynn, who allowed only four hits with seven strikeouts and one walk, escaped a one-out, based-loaded threat in the second, when Shelton National had a chance to take the lead.

As has been its habit throughout the postseason, Fairfield American erupted in the middle innings, scoring four runs in the fifth and four in the sixth after Oricoli's first homer made it 4-0 in the fourth.

In the fifth, Carnemark's RBI single and Oricoli's second homer pushed the lead to 8-0. After an infield single by Philip Vladis produced a run in the sixth, the homers by Schwartz and Carnemark capped the scoring.

"Everybody in their lineup just puts the bat on the ball," Shelton National coach Steve McLoughlin said. "You got to try to locate pitches differently."