Scenes from New Canaan's 6-1 loss to Darien on May 18, 2015. Credit: NewCanaanite.com
It was a contest pitting the top two teams in the FCIAC up against one another. Bitter rivals and storied programs with both teams featuring their respective ace on the mound. With hundreds of fans from both Darien and New Canaan lining the fences at Mead Park, it had all the makings for a classic showdown.
In the end, it was the Blue Wave who took advantage of seven New Canaan errors, spoiling the home team’s bid for first place in the conference by besting the Rams 6-1.
“It was, unfortunately, poor execution,” New Canaan head coach Mitch Hoffman told NewCanaanite.com. “We had more errors than either team had hits, which is not going to work.”
With the loss, the Rams dropped to 13-3 in the conference and 14-4 overall, ending a three-game winning streak. Meanwhile the Blue Wave regained sole possession of the FCAIC’s top spot with a 15-1 league record, improving to 15-3 overall.
After two straight home games where New Canaan trailed early, the Rams got the first inning started off on the right foot as senior co-captain David Giusti recorded a scoreless first on the mound, striking out two and working around the first Rams error of the game.
New Canaan’s offense added a run in support during the bottom half off Blue Wave ace Stephen Barston. Third baseman Kyle Levasseur hit a one-out double to centerfield which senior co-captain Zach Smith followed with a single to left. Fellow co-captain Brandon Abate followed with an RBI sacrifice fly to center for an early 1-0 Rams lead.
Darien evened things in the top of the second. Anthony Dimeglio reached on an infield error and scored on a two-out hit to center by third baseman James Schofield.
After Barston set the Rams down in order in the bottom half, the Wave went right back on the attack in the third. With one out, first baseman Conor Davey led off with a double to deep centerfield. Two batters later George Reed drove Davey in with a single to right that dropped just in front of a diving Kane Curtin for the only earned run Giusti would allow on the afternoon and a 2-1 Darien lead.
New Canaan was poised to tie the game up in the bottom half of the third as with two outs and Levasseur on first after an infield single, Smith smacked a double into the right-centerfield gap. Wave centerfielder Michael MacCarone picked the ball up and hit cutoff man Danny Siemers on the fly. Siemers connected on the relay throw to Dimeglio at home, who tagged Leavasseur out, ending the inning with Darien still up 2-1.
Giusti followed that by striking out the Darien side in the top of the fourth, bumping his total up to six. Even so, Barston countered with a scoreless bottom half.
Miscues hurt New Canaan again in the top of the fifth, as two Rams errors put Darien runners on first and third with one out. Darien put on a delayed double steal, and while New Canaan managed to get the out at second, the Wave scored on the throw down to make it 3-1.
New Canaan threatened again in the bottom half, as with one out Giusti drove a fly ball to center. With MacCarone camped under it, it hit the leaves on the tree, altering its path down and causing the ball to land for a double. Barston was unfazed and retired the next two Rams batters on fly outs to end the inning.
Darien broke the game open in the seventh, as two errors and a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases with nobody out. Giusti struck out Davey for his seventh of the game and first out of the inning, and followed that by getting the ground ball he needed from Jake Frasca with the infield drawn in. But the throw home was short and wide for the third New Canaan error of the inning, resulting in a 4-1 Darien lead.
After Giusti fanned his eight Wave batter for the second out of the inning, Dimeglio lined a 2-RBI single to center for a 6-1 lead.
After a leadoff walk in the bottom of the seventh, there was some faint hope that New Canaan could pull off a third come-from-behind, walk-off win in four games.
Stephen Barston, however, had other ideas.
The Darien ace recorded the next three outs in order to earn the complete game win.
“There’s a little bit more pressure considering it’s the big Darien-New Canaan rivalry,” Barston told NewCanaanite.com. “I think what was really key for me was remembering that we lost our last game and we needed a big win to help get us back on the right track heading into the postseason.”
New Canaan will now try to return to its winning ways on Senior Night as the regular season home finale this Wednesday, May 20 pits the Rams against St. Joe’s at 4 p.m.
