Marut, Seniors Power Wilton Baseball Past Trumbull

The Wilton Warriors strode onto the diamond Monday and flat out outplayed the visiting Trumbull Eagles from the first pitch, rolling to an 11-4 victory.

The Eagles (0-3) came in search of their first victory of the season,  but were denied, thanks in large part to the strong play of the Wilton seniors, who appear to be confident and humbled by their 3-0 start.

Standout performances by starting pitcher Kurt Marut, designated hitter Scott Young and outfielder Darren Amelio fueled an offensive explosion by the Warriors,  who jumped all over Trumbull starter P.J. Santilli.

The heart of the Wilton lineup feasted on first pitches, the highlight of which was Young, who took the first pitch he saw over the 360-foot mark in left field.  The home fans knew as soon as he made contact it was gone.

"It felt very, very, very strong," Young said.  "Just coming off the bat, I got a low curveball and I just teed at it, got a really good piece of it and it carried into the beautiful day."

Young, who started his first game of the year,  went 2-for-3 with three RBI batting fifth. 

"It was a good feeling [hitting the first pitch for a home run], especially because the first two games,  I didn't get a lot of playing time, and today I got my first chance to start. It feels good to get the deal done."

Santilli looked rattled early,  but battled through a rough first inning in which he surrendered three runs on 16 pitches.  The wheels fell off in the fourth, however, when a series of pitching and fielding miscues left the Eagles in an eight run hole from which they could not escape. 

Three of those runs came on a bases-clearing triple by Darren Amelio, who was urged by onlookers to try for an inside-the-park home run.

For Wilton, pitching never was  a problem. Kurt Marut pitched a complete game, book-ending a shaky second inning with dominating stuff.  Coach Tim Eagen was proud of his starter.

"It starts with Kurt," Eagen said. "We tried to get him 100 pitches today, tried to up his pitch count today. He was tired, but he did really, really well." 

The Warriors played good team baseball behind Marut, combining strong offensive run support with excellent defense that ultimately was too much for Trumbull to overcome.

"We had a lot of kids step up in clutch situations with two outs, get big hits," Eagen added. "I thought Scott Young's home run was good. I though Darren Amelio had a big hit with the bases loaded to break the game open."

Unfazed by the rising pitch count, Marut  looked the part of a staff ace, contributing both on the mound and at the plate by going 2-for-3 with an RBI.

Marut is a huge part of the senior leadership on a team that is expected to contend for the FCIAC title.

"We have nine or ten seniors, so pretty heavy out here," Marut said. "Even when some of them aren't playing, they still work hard, hustle all the time,  so they can fight for that spot and get on the field. It's good."

The Warriors used that hustle to capitalize on mistakes and cruised easily to a victory, but Eagen wants his club to guard against over-confidence.

"Every day is a different day and a different adventure," he said with a smile. 'I thought today we played a good, hard seven innings. I'm very, very pleased overall."