A parent helps clear up questions about lopsided score

There is no evidence Fairfield Ludlowe purposely ran up the score last weekend in a 36-0 victory over Wright Tech in a game stopped by the 10-run mercy rule after 41⁄2 innings.

Again, there was and is no evidence.

In examining the game, I had written, “Two questions need to be asked after such an embarrassing score: What did Fairfield Ludlowe do to avoid piling on the runs? Why was this game scheduled in the first place?”

Multiple calls and multiple days had passed without firstyear Ludlowe baseball coach Ken Geriak or Ludlowe athletic director Todd Parness returning messages. So when I wrote the piece, I left the first question unanswered. I focused on the second question and concluded it was not wise for an undermanned and fledgling tech program to schedule three games against big, talented FCIAC schools.

Seeing that the game could have been 75-0 or 100-0 if it had been played to its full seven innings, it didn’t seem at the time like an absurd point of view. Better use of the boys’ baseball training and competitiveness, in my opinion, could have been employed.

Maybe you agree. Maybe you don’t.

Again — again — there was no assertion or evidence Ludlowe purposely ran up the score. Yet I also wasn’t going to go on hearsay from off-the-record or anonymous sources that it hadn’t.

So I am thankful for a gracious email from Ludlowe parent Mike Randazzo, who played from time he was 4 through college and “20 minutes” in the minors. He also coached baseball at various youth levels for 25 years.

“I have played in, coached through, and watched many blow-outs in my lifetime, although to be fair, never to the degree of what I witnessed on Saturday,” Randazzo said.

Geriak, he said, did everything he could to NOT run up the score.

“I cannot speak to how or why the high school schedules are devised as they are but, I can comfortably let you know that coach Geriak handled it as professionally as he could given the situation,” Randazzo said. “Ludlowe scored 15, 10, and 11 runs in innings one, two and, three, respectively. Coach Geriak stopped taking extra bases early during the first inning. I can only presume that he realized pretty quickly how one-sided the

game could or was going to get. As a former coach, watching a varsity coach’s first regular season game, I was happy to see him handle the game as he did. He also, if I am not mistaken, removed many of his position-player starters after the first inning and others during or after the second inning.

“Coach Geriak allowed the boys to continue playing but in a modified fashion. For example, players could advance one base on wild pitches (but only one base at a time and only to as far as third base) and/or errors (he allowed players to score from third base on an error, only if they were on third base already prior to the error). He prohibited them from taking additional bases on these types of plays, and Ludlowe could have done so plenty of times as you can imagine in such a lopsided game.”

There is no clock in baseball so it is a difficult sport to manage. Randazzo aid he would argue that if Geriak told the players to purposely strike out, not run out a grounder or fly ball, run into outs, or do anything to make a travesty of the game this would have been even more demoralizing for the Wright Tech players. I agree.

The real problem, as Wright Tech coach Brian Colantonio said, was his team couldn’t make any plays. On Friday, Wilton freshman Will Forgione threw a five-inning perfect game against Wright Tech. No. 1 Westhill is up next for Wright Tech.

Randazzo gave me permission to use his email and I was content to use only his words until Ludlowe principal Greg Hatzis got back to me on Friday afternoon. I had reached out to Mr. Hatzis on Wednesday night when coach Geriak and Mr. Parness hadn’t since Sunday.

Mr. Hatzis said he didn’t want to speak for the other two, but that it was a tough situation from the standpoint that the Ludlowe players were doing everything they could to keep the score down that it became kind of an unavoidable thing trying to get to get to 41⁄2 innings, and any attention would only bring more embarrassment to the other team.

Finally, six days after the game, we had confirmation from the school that it had in no way tried to run up the score.

Told that I didn’t think it was too much to ask for the AD and coach to extend the same professional courtesy he did in returning my call — even if they had no public comment on the score or scheduling — Mr. Hatzis said he would pass along the message. He also reminded me this is a very busy time of the year.