Cheshire gets top seed in LL, while Berlin leads Class L

The CIAC revealed the brackets for the high school baseball tournament Friday.

Qualifying round games will be played on Saturday. The first round begins Tuesday. Here are five things to know about the teams, matchups and storylines.

Defending champ Cheshire takes the top seed in LL

Cheshire, the top team in The Courant’s state and area rankings, earned the No. 1 seed in the Class LL bracket. The Rams (19-1) own the longest win streak in the state, undefeated since a 1-0 defeat to Amity in the season opener.

Last year’s Class LL state champs, the Rams, are led by first-year coach Mike Lussier, a longtime assistant who took over for Bill Mrowka, who retired in the fall.

Cheshire was led offensively by Fairfield commit Ryan Strollo, who hit .462 and drove in 27 runs in the regular season. Sophomore Ryan Scialaba hit .429 and scored 17 runs. In seven starts, Northeastern commit Matt Downing posted a 0.88 ERA.

The Rams will face the winner of No. 32 Farmington and No. 33 Kennedy, which play in the qualifying round Saturday. Redcoats tops Class L

The top-ranked team in the CCC and the No. 2 team in The Courant’s area rankings, Berlin picked up the top seed in Class L.

The Redcoats (18-2) await the winner of No. 32 Weston and No. 33 Torrington’s play-in game. The duo of Assumptionbound Gianni Fanelli and senior catcher Ryan Hyde paced a steady Berlin offense which averaged just under seven runs per game, and won14 games in a row at one point in the season.

in

Area teams take topfive seeds

In Class LL, No. 3 Southington (17-3) and No. 4 South Windsor (17-3) each earned a spot in the top five.

Behind Berlin in Class L is No. 2 Wethersfield (16-4) and No. 4 Hand (15-5). The Eagles are the defending state champs, while the Tigers spent a week atop The Courant’s state and area rankings this season.

Coventry is seeded second in Class S, as Matt Cook has won the Patriots (18-2) games with his prowess on the mound and at the plate. Portland (17-3), which hasn’t won 17 games since 1992, is seeded third. Class M is the only tournament without an area team in the top five. Simsbury could have opponents on upset alert

Seeded No. 22 in Class LL, Simsbury has the chance to send a higher seed home thanks to Jack Donofrio. Depending on when the Trojans (11-9) choose to pitch the Notre Dame-bound senior, he could lead his team to an upset.

The Trojans will face No. 11 East Hartford (14-6) in the first round. The Hornets are led by senior Alessio Pressamarita, a talented and dynamic pitcher and batter in his own right.

Is East Catholic primed for a run?

Coaches will often say success in the playoffs comes down to pitching and defense. East Catholic, seeded No. 8 in Class M, boasts plenty of the former. Ace Anthony Mozzicato, committed to Central Connecticut, didn’t allow an earned run in 45 innings pitched. His younger brother, Frankie, came on halfway through the season and earned a spot on the Fab 15 twice thanks to strong outings on the mound. Jake McDowell, a senior committed to Sacred Heart, threw a nohitter and a one-hitter this year. Senior Matt Byam also threw a no-hitter to start the season.

Shawn McFarland can be reached at smcfarland@courant.com.