No. 6 Whalers advance on game-winning single by Otanez

Stonington — Juan Otanez lined a single to left with one-out and the bases-loaded in the bottom of the seventh to give sixth-seeded New London a 5-4 victory over No. 11 Stonington in the opening round of the Eastern Connecticut Conference baseball tournament on Tuesday.

The game, originally scheduled to be played at Sal Amanti Field in New London, was moved to Stonington after a mid-day storm left the field unplayable.

The Bears (10-11) trailed 4-1 entering the seventh when they rallied to tie the game, the final two runs coming on a two-run, two-out double by Ben Potenziano.

Jeremy Santos led off the bottom of the inning for the Whalers (14-7) with a double and after being bunted to third, Stonington elected to intentionally walk two batters to load the bases before Otanez came up with the game-winner.

Otanez and Santos had two hits apiece forNew London, Gabriel Cortorreal tripled home a run and Freddie Pacheco pitched six strong innings, allowing just five hits and one earned run.

Up next for New London is a date with No. 3 Montville in today's quarterfinal round at 4 p.m. at Waterford. The top-seeded Lancers will play No. 9 Plainfield at 7. In other games: • Rico Adams singled home Andy Grant in the bottom of the 12th inning as No. 7 Norwich Free Academy beat No. 10 St. Bernard 9-8. Robert Thorburn hit a grand slam in the sixth inning for the Wildcats (10-11) and earned the win in relief, giving up two runs over six innings.

Thornburn was also 3-for-6 with six RBI while Cam Milton, Grant, Colby Jakan, Adams and Bryan Caisse had two hits apiece for NFA, which plays No. 2 East Lyme at 4 p.m. tody at Fitch.

Steven Gerovitz homered in a sixrun first inning for St. Bernard (9-12) while Austin Malchiodi was 3-for05 with two RBI.

• Trevor Bolduc pitched a five-hitter as No. 13 Ledyard beat No. 4 Lyman Memorial 6-1. Bolduc struck out six with one walk. Ken Turner was 3-for-4 with two RBI, Nick Traystman had two hits and scored twice, Nick Smith had two hits and drove in two runs and Anthony Viteritto homered for Ledyard (10-11). Ledyard plays Bacon Academy in a quarterfinal at Fitch on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

• Matt Shane pitched a three-hitter as No. 12 Bacon beat No. 5 Fitch 6-0. Aaron Beeney doubled for Fitch (119) and Hunter Nadeau took the loss, pitching a five-hitter with five strikeouts and two walks.