Wilton Baseball Blanked By Sheehan Sophomore

The Wilton Warriors took the field Wednesday looking for redemption after an early exit from the FCIAC Tournament. 

Senior Ace Kurt Marut had some demons of his own to excise as his poor performance against eventual FCIAC champion Ludlowe contributed to the Warriors' untimely loss.

Unfortunately for Marut and his teammates, the Sheehan Titans brought their ace-in-waiting - sophmore sensation James Davitt - to the mound and walked away with a 4-0 victory.

Davitt, who was 2-0 in the regular season, looked unbeatable from the very first pitch and displayed masterful command as he outdueled Marut to push his team into the next round.

"Kurt pitched well enough," Wilton coach Tim Eagen said, "but the young kid (Davitt) out there was outstanding.  He threw to spots very, very well."

Marut walked the first batter he faced in what appeared to be the start of another short outing for the regular-season ace.

The bases were loaded when the Wilton infield bailed out their starter by turning a crucial double play to minimize the damage, and the Warriors (16-6) only trailed 1-0 going to the bottom of the first.

Davitt was electric through the first three innings, striking out three and allowing only three Warriors to reach base. 

The sophomore pitched two innings in relief in the Titans' 11-6  victory on Tuesday and, despite not having his best stuff, was able to silence the home bats. 

"The one thing Jimmy does is command the strike zone," Sheehan coach Matthew Altieri  said. "[Whichever pitch he throws] he is going to make sure it is located well."

Wilton was strong defensively in support of Marut as he continued to battle, striking out five through the first four innings and holding Sheehan to just one hit after a rough first inning.

However, the Titans finally got to Marut and pushed their lead in the fifth inning to three runs. 

Twice the leadoff batter was walked to start the inning and twice the Titans were able to push the runner across.

The last walk issued by Marut put runners on first and second before a double by Sheehan shortstop Timothy Kiernan plated another run. A bang-bang play at first ended the inning with Wilton trailing, 3-0. 

The Titans' bench was already proclaiming victory with two innings left to play, confident their outstanding sophomore could continue to dominate.

Wilton threatened in the fifth, as consecutive singles by Edward Klukojc and Corey Fechter put the Warriors in position to tie the game. However, Davitt showed why his teammates had such faith in him as he struck out Matthew Baird for his fifth strikeout to end the inning.

Sheehan took a four-run advantage into the final inning and Davitt looked to pitch his first career shutout for his varsity team. 

Having struck out the last batter in each of the previous three innings, he showed no signs of fatigue and blew through the bottom of the Wilton order, fittingly recording the last out of the game on a called strike. He finished the game scattering six hits and one walk with seven strikeouts.

"He's a solid pitcher," Altieri replied with a smirk, "for a sophomore. He has done a hell of a job for us."

While most will view this win as an upset, Altieri thinks his team has played its entire season in one of the toughest leagues in the state, the Southern Connecticut Conference. To them, Marut was just another pitcher.

"It's not like we don't think he's good, we know he's good, but when you face pitchers like that week in, week out, you get used to it, and once you get used to it you start to hit the ball," he said.

Marut too pitched a solid game, finishing with a respectable line of four earned off five hits, three walks. He struck out eight through six and a third innings.

"When you get in a game with two good teams, you have to do the little things," said Eagen, "and I don't think we did enough of that to win."

Two consecutive postseason losses will not tarnish the regular-season accomplishments of this Wilton baseball team.

"They took this program to another level that it hadn't been at," Eagen said.  "We won an (FCIAC) Eastern Division, we had 16 regular season wins, that's another level this program hasn't been at before."

Wilton will look to rebuild, graduating eleven seniors, and hope the steps taken this season will carry through to next spring.

"These seniors will always be dear to me," Eagen said. "That's how I feel about my players because of what they have given on the field. And these guys gave a tremendous amount, win or lose, you can't take that away."