The Branford baseball team is probably one of the better 4 – 4 teams in the state. Of their four loses three of the games have been close. They lost to West Haven 2 – 1, Cheshire 2 – 1 and Xavier 2 – 0. Their fourth loss was this past week against North Haven by a score of 7 – 3 and that game was only a one run game going into the last inning.
North Haven scored early on a triple by leadoff batter Matt Solomon and a sacrifice fly by Chris Simmons to lead 1 – 0 after one inning. The score remained the same until the bottom of the fifth when Branford started hitting and erupted for three runs to take a 3 – 1 lead.
Here first baseman Alphonse Suppa puts the tag on a North Haven runner before he gets to first base.
D.J. Caron led off the inning with a single off Indian’s pitcher Preston Young and he was followed by Nico Liguori and Maniscalco who also hit singles. Jordan Botta put the Hornets ahead 2 – 1 on a single knocking in Caron and Liguori. Cleanup hitter Alphonse Suppa got on with a fielder’s choice scoring Maniscalco with the Hornets final run. Here Caron is called out on a close play at first.
Hornet pitcher Carson Mendoza (pictured) pitched very well with the leadoff triple being the only hit he gave up until the sixth inning. In that inning, he gave up several walks, allowing the Indians to get back the three runs they gave up the inning before to the Hornets. He was relieved in the inning by Jack Spencer.
Here Shortstop Nico Liguori ‘guns’ the throw to first to nail the runner.
And here Junior Damien Maniscalco singles in the fifth inning.
The Indians iced the game in the top of the seventh with three more runs when with two outs and nobody on there came two singles and a walk. The bases were loaded when catcher Kevin Lucey cracked a triple, scoring all three runners. Here Nico Liguori scores ahead of the throw for Branford’s second run of the game
“I thought both starting pitchers threw tremendously for their respective teams through five innings,” said Branford coach Steve Malafronte (pictured). “Neither team squared up much and both pitchers, Mendoza and Young, seemed to be on their game.” Here Malafronte keeps an eye on things from the third base coaches box. The Hornets seem to lack the ability to put games away at the end.
“Both teams played a highly competitive game,” said Malafronte. “It’s an unfortunate loss for us especially after taking the lead in the bottom of the fifth and then falling apart in the sixth and seventh. We have to do better and finish games in a stronger fashion than what we did today.” Here Shortstop Nico Liguori is out on a close play at first.
The Hornets have a busy schedule this week with three home games against East Haven on Monday, West Haven on Wednesday and Guilford on Friday. They lost to East Haven Monday night 7 – 0. Here Second baseman Damien Maniscalco fires one to get the runner at first.
###