Defending champ Elliott making a run

NFA grad tied for fourth after first day of Conn. Senior Open

Groton — Defending champion John Elliott is near the top of the leaderboard after the first round of the 36th Connecticut Senior Open.

Elliott, a Norwich Free Academy graduate residing in Atlantis, Fla., shot a 3-under 68 on Monday at Shennecossett Golf Course, which is hosting the tournament for the 21st straight year. He sits in a three-way tie for fourth place, just two strokes behind leader Todd Tremaglio of Wallingford.

Tremaglio rode a sizzling back nine, racking up four birdies and five pars to finish with a 5-under 66. He's one shot ahead of former champions James Becker of Bloomfield and Eric Egloff of Silver Spring, Md. Becker won the event in 2012 and 2015 and Egloff hoisted the trophy in 2016. The final round tees off on Tuesday. Elliott, who won last year's tournament in a playoff, stood at 4-under through 11 holes after notching a birdie on the par 4, 11th hole before bogeys on No. 13 and No. 15 set him back. He closed out his round with a birdie on No. 18.

Bill Hermanson of East Lyme and Richard Wilczewski of Old Lyme also made the cut, firing a 1-over 72 and 2-over 73, respectively. Mark Toscano of Westerly also moved on with a 5-over 76.

Tigers win

• Pinch runner Yomar Valentin scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the eighth inning as the Connecticut Tigers beat the Vermont Lake Monsters 2-1 in the New York-Penn League. Nick Ames drew a leadoff walk in the eighth and Valentin came on to run for him. Valentin advanced to second on a walk to Sam McMillan and took third on a groundout by Luke Sherley. McMillan scored on a sacrifice fly by Dayton Dugas in the fourth inning to give the Tigers (15-15) a 1-0 lead. Gio Arriera started and went the first 6.2 innings for the Tigers, allowing two hits. Mitchell Stalsberg (1-0) got the win.