Sports: No. 7 East Lyme rallies past No. 9 Waterford in baseball, 6-5
East Lyme edges Waterford in a matchup between two of state's best
East Lyme — The competitive juices really start flowing whenever the East Lyme and Waterford high school baseball programs play. It happened again Wednesday. The entertaining game had little bit of everything, with East Lyme emerging with a satisfying 6-5 victory.
A three-run outburst in the sixth inning allowed the Vikings to overcome a two-run deficit and improve to 10-2 overall. Senior Matt Abbey's two-out double accounted for the go-ahead run.
East Lyme entered the game ranked seventh in the GameTimeCT/ New Haven Register top 10 poll. Waterford sits in ninth.
"It was a great team effort," East Lyme coach Jack Biggs said. "We had a little spark which was nice to see against (Michael Burrows) who is a quality pitcher in our league."
"... (The comeback) was good to see today because the other day when we played South Windsor we got down on ourselves and let it get to us. But in high school baseball you've got to play all seven innings and that's what we did today . ... It was good to see that we were resilient and played with some urgency."
Burrows, Waterford's ace, struggled with his control at times while going the distance. He still struck out 11, but walked four and hit two batters while allowing seven hits. He threw 115 pitches, tiring toward the end.
"His curveball kind of stayed up and they hit it," Waterford coach Art Peluso said. "You've got to get them credit, too. They put the bat on the ball."
Burrows pitched well enough to carry a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the sixth. The Lancers (10-3) surged in front with four runs in the top of the inning, getting RBI from Burrows (single), Walker Sutman (sin-
pinch-hitter Matt Driscoll (bases-loaded walk). The last run came home on a wild pitch.
The Vikings fought back, answering with three runs. With one out, No. 8 batter Luke Leonard doubled and scored on Shawn Anhalt's single. Anhalt, who went to second on the throw home and to third on a passed ball, ran home on Chris Malcom's game-tying sacrifice fly. They weren't finished yet. Junior Matt Malcom belted a shot to left field that hit the fence on one hop for a double and Abbey followed with a long double to make it 6-5.
The late-inning comeback was a good sign.
"In the late innings, we really haven't been hitting the ball," Matt Malcom said. "Today's game is a good example that could set us off on a new track for the rest of the season. It helps us learn to always stay in the game and never quit."
Reliever Trevor Delesdernier finished off the Lancers in the seventh, striking out Burrows with the potential game-tying run on third base. Right fielder Jackson DeWeese made a nice running catch for the second out.
Matt Malcom had a big day at the plate, reaching base four times on a single, hit-by-pitch and two doubles. His RBI double highlighted a two-run fifth inning that put the Vikings ahead 3-1. Starter Ryan Kane allowed seven hits and five runs while walking two and striking out nine in 5.2 innings.
Now the two teams go about trying to win their respective divisions in the Eastern Connecticut Conference. East Lyme (Division I) and Waterford (Division II) both reside in first place.
Wednesday's win provides a nice shot of momentum for East Lyme.
"It's going to help us a lot," Matt Malcom said. "It's going to help our team move forward. That's a good win, bouncing back after a couple of losses. I think it really gets us back on track."
Waterford also took something positive from the game despite the loss. Sutman finished with two singles and two RBI while Dan Castelpoggi and Nick Porazzi each added a single and double.
The Lancers also lost the first meeting 6-3 on April 3.
"I think we got better for playing this game," Peluso said. "So we'll see. I think our bats are starting to come around a little, so we should be all set. When we swing, we make good contact. Early in the game, we didn't swing nearly enough." g.keefe@theday.com