No cupcakes here: Lancers fall to Staples, the state’s top-ranked H.S. baseball team
Waterford — Art Peluso, the head coach responsible for two of the 11 state baseball championship banners draping the outfield fence at his home ballpark, knew better than anyone else here Saturday that his Lancers could have easily dined on a metaphorical cupcake instead, what with this season's win total unusually thin.
Turns out that Peluso would rather the bakery remain closed. And that's why Waterford's opponent was No. 1 Staples, a program that showed it has earned the ranking honestly. The Wreckers sustained their nickname, launching three home runs (none wall scrapers, either) during a 10-1 win.
“If you just schedule yourself into wins, how do you get better?” Peluso said. “What happens when you get in a bind in the state tournament? Or you're suddenly facing dudes? We saw some dudes today.”
Dude No. 1: University of Southern California-bound (if he doesn't get drafted first) Hiro Wyatt, who homered. Dude No. 2: Indiana-bound lefthander Chris Zajac, who allowed one hit and one run in four innings. Other dudes: Jaron Kline (homered), Holden Caney (homered), Duke commit Kai Nee (two hits) and senior Ethan Kukier (two-run double).
“Waterford is a baseball town. We love coming here. We want to play the blue bloods. I think of Waterford, Amity, Southington and Staples as the blue bloods in this state,” Staples coach Jack McFarland said. “They do it right here. It's just baseball. All class.”
McFarland's team occupies the same airspace as many Waterford teams of the past: talented and with high expectations. Add a competitive conference, the No. 1 ranking and three Division I players and cue Billy Joel singing “Pressure.”
“The kids really don't talk about being No. 1,” McFarland said. “Besides, there's a conference tournament and a state tournament. Nobody really cares who's No. 1 right now. We like that the expectations around our program are high.”
Waterford (7-8), playing for the fourth consecutive day, needs one more win to qualify for the state tournament. The Lancers had the game tied in the second inning on Anthony Jessuck's RBI triple to right. But Peluso saw other highlights.
“We got better today,” he said. “We saw a team that is really good, really well coached and they're where we want to be. We're not there. Yet. But if you don't play a team like this, you don't see all the things you need to do. I hope we play them next year, too.”