Baseball: Big Plays lead to big win for Darien

By Ahmed Mustafa

                  After coming off a loss against Staples on Monday, Darien High School needs a big win against Danbury to make this season still matter. On the mound was junior Andrew Nault. Nault has been the most consistent starter for DHS, leading them to 3 wins in his 3 starts. So how would DHS do in a crucial game?

                  The offense got hot in the 2^nd inning, with Junior Cameron Smith hitting a RBI single, giving DHS an early 1-0 lead. Sac Fly’s by junior Bobby Fitzpatrick, and Sophomore Connor Davey now gave DHS a comfortable 3-0.

However, anything can happen in baseball. Danbury quickly came back and tied the game in the top of the 5^th, tying the ball game. DHS wasn’t going to let this game get away. In the bottom of the 5^th, Senior Carl Stowell got an RBI on an error, giving DHS a 4-3 lead. Stowell was in the spotlight again in the top of the 6^th inning when a Danbury player hit a sac fly to score a run, but a great throw by the RF Stowell got the runner out, still keeping DHS the lead. In the bottom of the 6^th inning, DHS was threatening to score more runs, but a controversy call cost them. With runners on 1^st and 2^nd with nobody out, Junior Daley Hebert hit a ground ball. Seeming to be a double play, Connor Davey slid hard to the 2^nd basemen, causing him to fall. The umpire said the runner was in the way, so now there were 2 outs. Because of this, DHS went that inning scoring 0 runs.

Now in the top of the 7^th, DHS was 3 outs away from winning a big ball game. On the mound was Senior Liam Naughton, who hadn’t pitched in a week. Naughton was in trouble, with runners in 1^st and 3^rd, 1 out. Danbury was now a hit away from taking this game to extra innings. Naughton wasn’t going to let the pressure get to him, striking out the next 2 batters to end the game. DHS won 4-3! Captain Andrew Maley was very happy on the win.

“Great win, did little things, the big moment in the game was  when we came back from after they tied it up, we got Brendan (Junior Brendan Donahue) to get on base right away, so that  definitely was a great win, and we are really happy about it," said Maley.

Junior Andrew Nault was very good today, going 6 innings, 3 runs, and striking out 3 batters.

“I felt good; Anthony (sophomore Anthony DiMeglio) and I were working very well together. Whenever he threw a sign, I was thinking the same thing," Nault said. 

Senior Liam Naughton made the game a little interesting, but closed out the game. “It was a very good win, I thought we did everything perfectly, we hit well, we fielded well, Nault (Andrew Nault) pitched great, other than a few mistakes I thought I pitched well too," Naughton said.

One of the key moments throughout the game was around senior Carl Stowell. Stowell got the winning RBI and made a great play in the top of the 6^th, preventing Danbury from tying the game.

“I knew there was one out; I saw the fly ball coming towards me I knew I had the arm strength to do it. So it was basically just going through motion catch and throw for me,” Stowell said. 

Coach Scott was very pleased with his team’s big victory. 

“It's huge, it’s a good ballclub coming in, our boys put in a great effort, so we were able to beat a good ballclub over there," Coach Scott said. 

With a big victory over Danbury, DHS looks to go .500 in the regular season, against a very weak ball club in Harding, tomorrow at 4.00pm.