Hand holds off NDWH

WEST HAVEN — Like most high school teams, just how successful Hand will be this spring will depend on its pitching.

So far, so good.

The eighth-ranked Tigers (3-0) got another good outing from ace righthander Mike Engelhart Wednesday afternoon and survived a late Notre Dame-West Haven rally to post a 5-3 victory in a Southern Connecticut Conference contest at Quigley Stadium.

“Englehart (2-0) is a legit ace, but he’s going to continue to need his defense to help him,” Hand coach Travis LaPointe said. “We expect them to put the ball in play and our defense will need to be fast and athletic.”

In three games, Hand has allowed just five runs with two of Wednesday’s runs being of the unearned variety.

“We have to do every phase of the game well,” LaPointe said. “We’re not going to shut them down with our stuff on the mound. We have to play defense, throws strikes, get timely hits and run the bases really well.”

Hand certainly did so early. The Tigers took an early 1-0 lead in the second inning when Eli Davies singled to right and scored on a Connor Powell single.

The Tigers added two more runs in the top of the fourth when Davies doubled in a run and he scored on a sacrifice fly by Chris Englehart to make it 3-0.

Hand made it 5-0 in the

fifth when Anthony DePino scored on an error and Davies singled in a run. Davies had four hits in the game.

“I just wanted to stay composed and make solid contact,” Davies said. “The first pitcher was slow and pitching outside. Other guys were the same speed but inside, so I took it up the middle.”

Later in the inning, Chris Englehart belted what seemed to be a two-run double down the left field line that would have made it 7-0. However, Notre Dame appealed to the umpiring crew that Engelhart missed first base and he was called out. That was the third out and took the two runs off the board.

Even though Mike Engelhart was twirling a shutout, he came out after four innings and 76 pitches.

“He was our starter last Saturday (against Wilbur Cross) and threw 70 pitches,” LaPointe said. “We don’t want to put him in jeopardy him. The plan was to get him to 60 to 65 pitches, but he felt better than he expected to. We were on the same page and he really battled to get out of the fourth inning.”

Matt Carone came on in relief of Engelhart in the fifth and after getting one out, gave up three consecutive hits to load the bases. But he escaped that without allowing a run to keep it at 5-0.

He also had to walk a tightrope in the bottom of the seventh after getting one out. Nick Hunkele singled and after a fielder’s choice, John D’Errico and Matt LaCroix singled with Hunkele scoring.

Carone seemed to get out of the jam when Kevin Milewski grounded to third, but Anthony DePino threw the ball in the dirt at first base for an error as both D’Errico and LaCroix scored. John Coppola came to the plate as the tying run, but Carone induced a ground out to second to end the game.

What hurt Notre Dame (1-2) was leaving nine runners on base, eight of them in the first five innings, and five in scoring position.

“We were in situations where we had opportunities to score,” Notre Dame coach Don Martone said. “We’re young and a little apprehensive. We’re taking way too many fastballs. We need to swing the bats.”