By Kim J. Harmon

SOUTHBURY – There was understandably a little bit of giddiness running through the Newtown High School baseball team while it put together a nice four-game winning streak after losing its first seven games of the 2003 season.

That giddiness has dissipated, though, following a losing streak that reached four games with a 7-5 loss to Masuk last Friday. The Nighthawks – who had a chance to briefly entertain the prospect of a CIAC state tournament berth – have slipped to 4-11 overall.

In the past week, the ‘Hawks have fallen to Bunnell (9-7), Pomperaug (5-4) and Masuk (7-5).

In the loss to Bunnell, the ‘Hawks scored the bulk of their runs – five – in an explosive fifth inning that saw 10 men come to the plate. Ron Shimko, Ben Bagaglio and Pat McCarthy all doubled in the inning while Mark Fracker and Pete Meisel singled.

Ron Isler, Shimko, McCarthy and Fracker banged out two hits apiece. Fracker drove in a pair of runs with his fifth-inning single. Isler, Bagaglio, McCarthy, Pete Oggeri and Nick Magoulas all drove in runs.

In the loss to Pomperaug, the ‘Hawks saw a four-run lead slip out of their grasp as the Panthers scored twice in the bottom of the fourth and three more times in the bottom of the sixth. The ‘Hawks scored all four of their runs in the top of the third on a two-run single by Joe DeFeo and a groundout by McCarthy. Isler and Greg Britton each went 2-for-3.

In the loss to Masuk, the ‘Hawks allowed runs in six of seven innings. Masuk scored twice in the first inning and then once in the second, third, fourth, fifth and seventh innings. The ‘Hawks banged out seven hits, with Ted Rocca going 2-for-3 and Isler going 1-for-3 with a double.

A game against Foran on Monday was rained out, but the ‘Hawks had Weston (Wednesday), Stratford (Monday), Pomperaug (Wednesday, May 21) and New Milford (Thursday, May 22) left on the schedule.