The Shelton Gaels trounced the Lyman Hall Trojans by a score of 12 – 3 behind the power-hitting of sophomore Ryan Zahornasky and the arm of senior starting pitcher Connor Nolan.
“Connor did a real nice job today. He was on top of the batters and we had a lot of ground balls,” said Shelton coach Scott Gura.
Lyman Hall jumped off to a quick, two-run lead in the first inning before Shelton bounced back with two runs of their own in their half of the first to tie the game, 2 – 2.
Zahornasky got the action started in the third inning with a solo home run blast to right field, putting the Gaels up 3 – 2.
“Ryan definitely picked us up with that home run,” Gura said.
“I hit it pretty good, hard hit ball and I thought ‘that could be gone,” Zahornasky said.
“When Ryan hit that home run it pumped all of us up,” Nolan said. “I went back on the mound energized, more focused.”
“After that home run it just made me hungrier to score more runs. When you get one you just want to pile it on.” said Zahornasky.
The other Shelton hitters must have felt the same as their bats seemed to feed off the Zahornasky home run, exploding for six more runs in the fourth inning to extend their lead to 9 – 2.
The Gaels face the no. 1 ranked team in the state tomorrow — Amity.
“We have the big boys tomorrow. It’s not too often that you have the opportunity to play the no. 1 (team) in the state,” Gura said. “Somebody has to step up and be the hero.”
