BASEBALL | STORYLINES AND GAMES TO WATCH

STATE SPOTLIGHT

Last spring the state was abuzz as East Catholic pitcher Frankie Mozzicato drew MLB scouts at every one of his outings and eventually national media picking up the story as his scoreless inning streak grew. Mozzicato was drafted in the first round and signed by the Kansas City Royals. He was not alone with scouts from professional teams surrounding pregame bullpen sessions with radar guns from Greenwich to Killingly looking for the next big thing. It has been happening every spring it seems, as players in the state are now being noticed not only by top college programs, but by professional teams as well with players drafted each of the past few seasons. With so many high-level players across the state again this spring, the radar guns and backpacks should once again descend on the state's high school ballfields. The level of play in the state is so high that players committed to D-I programs couldn't crack the GameTimeCT 25 players to watch list.

FCIAC-SCC

Last season the FCIAC had all four Class LL semifinalists and six of the eight quarterfinalists, with 24th seeded Norwalk eventually beating No. 19 Westhill for the title. Meanwhile, Hand, out of the SCC lost one game all season before claiming the Class L championship. This year, the chatter out of both leagues is they may be as good as they have ever been. It is easy to see why people are excited with so many Division-I caliber players. Going through rosters for the two leagues there are multiple teams with more than one D-1 commit. A few teams have as many as five or six players signed or verbally committed to play at the next level, including some of the top programs in the country. A team from the FCIAC or the SCC has won every Class LL title since 2012.

DESTINATION PALMER

Though there was some talk of moving the state baseball finals to Dunkin Donuts Park in Hartford, the CIAC announced this week the championships will be staying at Palmer Field in Middletown, at least for the next five years. That means Palmer Dogs for all at the stadium which has gone through several renovations in recent years. This year, the four championship games in the four classes will be Friday June 10 and Saturday, June 11. Now, it just needs a catchy name the teams can rally behind like the “Run to the Sun” for the basketball championships.

CLASS S IS LOADED

Finishing the season 25-0, East Catholic won Class M and was crowned the unanimous No. 1 team in the GameTimeCT Poll. Does that mean East Catholic will move up to Class L this year? Not quite. Instead, the Eagles were moved down by the CIAC to compete in Class S. They are not alone as teams that could contend for championships in higher classes such as St. Paul, Holy Cross, Notre Dame-Fairfield and Northwest Catholic are also in Class S. Along with those private schools, defending Class S champions Coginchaug is still here as are teams with state final pedigree in Portland and Coventry. Coginchaug beat St. Paul in last year's Class S final. Catholic schools have won four of the last six Class S titles.

GUESS WHO’S BACK?

When North Haven hosts Stamford Saturday in the season opener it will begin the 63rd season at the helm for coach Bob DeMayo, who has won 928 games with the Nighthawks. In a funny coincidence, for the secondstraight season, DeMayo will face a first-year coach in the season opener. Last year North Haven played Guilford and new coach Nick Merullo. This year it will be Stamford coach Patrick Murphy making his debut, on DeMayo Field, against the coach who has been in the North Haven dugout since 1959.

GAMES TO WATCH

Coginchaug at Warde, April 9, 11 a.m.: Let's get the crossover games going right away. The defending Class S champion steps up in weight class, paying a visit to a favorite in Class LL in Warde.

Greenwich at Southington, April 16, 1 p.m.: Two Class LL state title contenders face off in a stellar CCC-FCIAC crossover.

Westhill at Norwalk, April 27, 4 p.m.: Rematch of the Class LL title game won 1-0 by the Bears. Norwalk took some graduation hits while Westhill returns nearly its entire team.

Fitch at Daniel Hand, May 4, 4 p.m.:

Word out of the ECC is that Fitch is loaded with 11 seniors and five starters back. Hand lost a few pieces from its Class L championship team, but should reload rather than rebuild.

Holy Cross at St. Paul, May 4, 4 p.m.: NVL games may not get any better than this with both teams possessing talent all over the diamond.

Weston at Joel Barlow, May 11, 4:15 p.m.: Senor pitcher Matt Scott of Barlow would love to end his career with a SWC title. He will take a win over the rival Trojans first.

Coventry at Portland, May 13, 4 p.m.: Excellent crossover game between the NCCC and the Shoreline with two teams perennially in the hunt for state titles.

Xavier at Amity, May 16, 7 p.m.: SCC schedules are never easy, but this one could have big time playoff implications in the last week of the season.

Southington at East Catholic, May 18, 3:45 p.m.: The premier game the last few seasons in the CCC. Top-flight players on both sides include Jackson Rusiecki of Southington and Alex Irizarry of East Catholic.

West Haven at Fairfield Prep, May 18, 4 p.m.: The rematch of last year's SCC title game won by Prep will be the second meeting between the two and come on the second-tolast game of the regular season.