The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Cheshire edges past Trumbull
MIDDLETOWN » By admission of its coach, the Cheshire Senior American Legion baseball team is not going to outslug anyone.
That story remained the same Saturday in the opening game of the Super Regionals at Palmer Field in Middletown as Cheshire got solid pitching, stellar defense and took advantage of its one scoring opportunity, beating Trumbull 1-0.
“That’s been the story of our year,” Cheshire coach John Escata said. “We are not a slugging team. We take advantage of the other team’s mistakes and try to limit our mistakes. That’s how we have been going all year long.”
Cheshire will face Stamford at 4 p.m. back at Palmer Field Sunday after Stamford beat Greenwich 5-2 earlier in the afternoon.
Stamford eliminated Cheshire from the Super Regional last season.
Trumbull will face Greenwich at 1 p.m. in an elimination game.
Cheshire’s lone run came in the first inning on a soft single up the middle by Ryan Strollo, scoring Eli Battipaglia from second base. Battipaglia singled to center leading off the inning, getting to second on a wild pitch before being driven in by Strollo.
That sequence was all Cheshire starting pitcher Michael Hickey would need as he shut down Trumbull, not allowing a runner to get past second base.
Trumbull coach Jack McFarland said his team came up short in a game that could have gone either way.
“This was a great baseball game, 1-0,” said McFarland. “This game was played at a very high level, both teams played great defense. We have a really good defensive team, but Cheshire just made every play. It was impressive. We hit some balls on the nose but their kids stayed down on the ball. Their pitcher threw the ball well, our pitcher threw the ball well. They were able to get that hit with someone on second base and we weren’t.”
Trumbull pitcher Andrew Lojko was nearly Hickey’s equal all afternoon, allowing five hits and striking out six over six innings of work.