Baseball Suffers Defensive Breakdown In Loss To Staples

If you're going to beat Staples, the hottest baseball team in the FCIAC, you can not give the Wreckers extra outs or let Jack Hennessy, their leadoff hitter, get on base.

Wilton did both Thursday night and it was recipe for disaster, as the Warriors committed six errors in a 10-4 loss to the Wreckers.

It was the 10th straight win for Staples (14-1, 12-1), which began the day tied with Greenwich in the battle for the top seed in the FCIAC playoffs.

But the shoddy defense left Wilton coach Tim Eagen shaking his head.

"You can't give them six errors and win the game," Eagen said. "Baseball is a game of throwing and catching and we didn't do much of either. If you don't play defense, you can not exist in the upper echelon of this league."

The defensive woes started with the first batter of the game as shortstop Kevin O'Connell allowed Hennessy's popup to drop on the back of the infield. Technically, the play was ruled a hit, but the ball should have been caught.

The speedy Hennessy, who swiped four bases and scored three runs, stole second and third and came home on a throwing error.

Later in the inning, Brendan Bernstein hit a two-run inside-the-park home run off Wilton starter Austin Gambee, who deserved a much better fate. Staples added three unearned runs in the second,  then made it 7-0 in the third on Danny Carbone's RBI double.

"Our problem is right now we got to make up our mind defensively that we can't give stuff (away) because then it makes the pitcher throw more pitches," Eagen said. "It gives good teams other opportunities at-bat.  They swing the bats awful well, so you have to give them limited number of swings."

Gambee settled down and actually turned in a gutsy performance.  He surrendered nine runs in five-plus innings,  but with more help from the defense would have allowed only one.

To their credit, the Warriors (10-3, 9-3) did battle back. After Ryan Phillips and Scott Young had RBI singles in the third, Wilton pulled within 7-4 in the fifth on another run-scoring single by Young and Kurt Marut's sacrifice fly to deep right field.

It was the second time in as many at-bats that Marut narrowly missed a three-run home run. A few more feet on each ball, and the Warriors would have had an 8-7 lead.

But hopes for a comeback ended when left fielder Matt Baird dropped Hennessy's flyball to start the sixth, which led to three more unearned runs without the benefit of a hit.

"(Hennessy) had four stolen bases, but the bottom line is, he shouldn't be on base to start with because you're making errors in the field to put him on base," Eagen added.

The Warriors, who are off until visiting Greenwich on Monday, have dropped two of their last three games. Presumably,  they'll be working on defense in practice over the next few days.

"We think we are (in the upper echelon of this league)," Eagen said, "but we sure didn't play that way tonight."