Sluggers Dominate In Five-Game Streak, Then Lose Tough One, 8-7, To Bunnell

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown High School’s baseball team used a stellar pitching performance from Kyle Wilcox in its first shutout of the season, a 4-0 blanking of Pomperaug of Southbury on May 5, and followed that up with its biggest offensive explosion of the campaign, in a 16-4 thumping of New Fairfield the next night.

 The Nighthawks had reeled off five wins in a row, outscoring their South-West Conference rivals 51-9 along the way. On May 9, however, the Nighthawks saw their five-game winning streak end in a tough 8-7 loss to Bunnell of Stratford. Newtown carried a 9-6 overall record into Wednesday’s scheduled clash with Masuk in Monroe (after The Bee sports section went to press).

“We had games where our pitching just came through — and just dominated,” Newtown Coach Matt Memoli said.

Wilcox allowed only three hits and delivered a run-scoring double in the win at Pomperaug. Ryan Powers and Bryan Czel added RBI single, and Evan Noonan scored twice in the win.

Then, against New Fairfield, under the lights at Fairfield Hills, the offense stole the spotlight as Newtown pounded out 12 runs in the fifth inning alone.

Noonan led off the game with a triple, Powers followed with an RBI single, and RJ Roman tripled home another run as part of a three-run first inning. “We were hungry — we went out and got a nice lead early on,” Memoli said.

In the fifth, Czel and Kyle Packer each had two hits, Czel delivering a run-scoring triple and RBI single, and Packer highlighting the frame with a three-run hit. Mike Davis and Chris Tenney added RBI singles, Rich Sandler had a two-run single, and RJ Roman, Noonan, and John Hull contributed in the hit parade.

“It just got contagious at that point. Everyone was doing it — we were all getting the barrel on the ball and just driving the baseball. It was fun. It was a fun game to coach,” Memoli said.

Then came the one-run loss to Bunnell, also in a night game at Fairfield Hills. That was anything but fun for Memoli who was disappointed to see a small handful of errors contribute to the demise of the winning streak. Sandler had a two-run double as Newtown continued to produce runs, but lost its third one-run game of the campaign.

“We didn’t pitch well; we didn’t field well,” Memoli said. “We have to do a better job of wanting it a little bit more — you know, we didn’t really want it today. We showed up. We just didn’t have that same intensity, that same drive where yelling and screaming and getting into the game.”

Memoli wants his team to dig down and find a way to win at least four of its last five games, compile 13 wins, and put itself in good position for a first round home game in the state tournament. Following the Masuk game, NHS visits Immaculate of Danbury and Stratford, and closes out the regular season with New Milford and Pomperaug May 18 and 20.