Varsity Baseball Beats Staples For Second FCIAC Title in Three Years

Will Pegler

The Blue Wave Varsity Baseball team capped off their magical FCIAC tournament run at Cubeta Stadium in Stamford on Thursday night with an extra innings win over Staples. The Wave's tournament run was mainly carried by their strong pitching and defense, but last night the offense erupted, as they put up 13 hits and were getting base runners on at will.

The offense came from all ends of the lineup for the Wave, but was led by seniors Fin Batson and Arthur Xanthos. Batson finished the night with three doubles, while Xanthos had three singles, including a base knock that put the Wave ahead by a run in the top of the eighth inning. Seniors Harry Rayhill and junior Mac McLean each drove in two runs, while senior Max Gasvoda came up big with two hits of his own.

The game was tied at four heading into the eighth, but Xanthos' single with the bases loaded gave the Wave the lead and McLean's single added two more, stretching the lead to 7-4.

Senior Arthur Xanthos drives one of
his three singles on the night.
(Courtesy Dave Stewart) 

Senior Justin Van de Graaf took the hill for the Blue Wave and put in 5 and 2/3 innings of good work against Staples strong bats, allowing four runs but keeping the Wave in the game throughout the night. Senior Jackson Vaught did his best Mariano Rivera impression, coming into the bottom of the sixth with runners on second and third and the score tied at four. He and his coaches decided to walk one of Staples best hitters, junior Chad Knight, to load the bases, but was able to get the next hitter to pop out to first and leave the inning unscathed.

Vaught kept the Wreckers from scoring again in the seventh, and took the hill with a three run lead in the eighth and the chance to close out Staples for good. With some help from senior Center Fielder Justin Jordan, who made an amazing diving catch to get the first out, Vaught was able to set down the Staples hitters in order, winning the game and helping the Wave earn yet another FCIAC championship.

Senior catcher Arthur Xanthos, who played great behind the dish throughout the playoffs, said about catching both Van de Graaf and Vaught, "It was such a pleasure catching those guys. The 'J.V' duo was always a 1-2 punch that no one wanted to face this season. They did a great job of mixing up pitches and locking in when we needed them to."