It was a battle of bordering towns in the Valley on Friday with Ansonia coming back to defeat neighboring Derby by a 6 – 5 margin at Matthew ‘Pop’ Shortell Field.
Derby at 5 – 3 has surprised more than a few teams in its first Naugatuck Valley League season while the 4 – 3 Chargers of Ansonia have been living on the edge, with five of its seven games decided by one run.
“To tell you the truth it looked a little shaky there for awhile,” Ansonia coach Mike Vacca. “Our number one pitcher was out of the game and we were down 5 – 1. It didn’t look good.”
“The other day Christian (Dzienkiewicz) was lights out but today he struggled with his control and Josh (Eannotti) came on and bailed us out.”
Dzienkiewicz set down Derby in order aided by the heads up play of second baseman Alex Chosczyk in the first inning. The Chargers tallied a run against the Red Raiders work horse Ryan Skelly it their first turn at the plate.
Julian Sobin drew a two out walk and came around to score when Orlando Morales launched a double over the head of the left fielder for a 1 – 0 Chargers advantage.
The Red Raiders didn’t win five games by accident ‚as they came up in the second and got the first five batters to reach base. Skelly got it started with a solid single to left and Colin Haydu followed with a walk.
Jonathan Haydu loaded the bases with a single up the middle. Tyler O’Connor tied the game at 1 – 1 on a single that got under the glove of the diving third baseman. That’s when things went from bad to worse as Dzienkiewicz walked Mike Fanelli on four pitches to force in the go ahead run.
Mike Ippolito belted a sacrifice fly to center to chase home another run followed by a two run double off the bat of Brian Dobek. Dzienkiewicz struck out two batters to end the uprising but not before Derby managed to take a commanding 5 – 1 lead.
There was no panic in the Ansonia dugout. They realized what they were up against and went out and battled one run at a time to get back in the game.
Josh Eanotti took over on the hill in the third after a lead off walk. Derby managed to load the bases on a pair of full count walks and it looked like the Red Raiders were at it again.
Dzienkiewicz who took over at second base stepped in front of a ball hit in the hole tagged the runner and threw on to first to complete the inning ending double play. That was the spark that the Chargers needed to get back in the game.
Christian Sobin led off the bottom of the third swinging at the first pitch and drilled it down the left field line. Two passed balls sent Sobin to third and Dzienkiewicz drove in the run on a groundout to make it a 5 – 2 game.
The key to the Chargers win was Eanotti who shut down the Red Raiders going five innings on the hill allowing just two hits and no runs striking out four.
“My two seam fastball was working and I just tried to stay ahead in the count throwing strikes,” said Eanotti.
“The guys backed me up making the plays behind me and it was only a matter of time before our bats would get the runs we needed.”
The Chargers drew a little closer plating two more in the fourth. Chris Jeanette battled to draw a two out walk to get it going. Brandon Urzuo walked and Alex Westine singled to left loading the bases.
Christian Sobin pounded a two run single scoring pinch runners Jim Kiley and Floyd Pellegrino to make it a 5 – 4 barn burner.
Clutch hitting and heads up base running led to another Chargers rally in the fifth that decided the game. Julian Sobin led off with a walk and wound up on third after two stolen bases.
Eanotti tied the game with a single up the middle. Howie Miller singled and Jeanette loaded the bases dropping a single over the second baseman. Urzuo sent pinch runner Vinny Bonaporte across the plate with the eventual game winning run on a sacrifice fly to center.
Ansonia was clinging to a 6 – 5 lead with six outs to go and Eanotti brought it home setting down the Red Raiders without incident.