Middle School Baseball Highlights

Newtown Middle School’s baseball team defeated Monroe’s Jockey Hollow Middle School 9-3 at home on Monday.

Pounding the strike zone for Newtown were hurlers Kevin Liniger, Ryan Pisani, Virgil Procaccini, and Pat Rowley. Backing them with errorless infield play were Procaccini, Garrison Buzzanca, and Grant Ricketts. 

Switching positions from third to shortstop in the sixth inning, Ricketts brought the crowd to its feet  by retiring a batter on a groundball deep into the hole.

Leading the Lions’ batters Buzzanca, Tom Floros, and Matt Hoyt with two hits apiece.

Facing a polished seven-inning pitcher from Rochambeau Middle School in Southbury, Newtown couldn’t overcome an early deficit in a 8-2 loss at home last Friday.

On the mound, a trio of hometowners — Alex Lapinski, Kevin Liniger, and Anthony Venezia — pitched economically and effectively in relief. In the field, the locals continued to receive airtight defensive play from infielders Procaccini,  Matt Mossberger, and Grant Ricketts. Second baseman Mossberger earned a pair of exclamation points in the scorebook with a far-ranging play up the middle that broke the back of a Southbury rally. 

Pitchers Ryan and Eric Pisani combined to allow only four runs in nine innings at Rochambeau Middle School in Southbury on Thursday in a tense curfew-shortened 4-4 tie.

Eric Pisani also helped his own cause with his bat when he knotted the contest in the top of the seventh with a two-run double to center.

Ryan Pisani started and went four gritty innings on the mound for the Lions before handing the ball  to Eric, who threw five innings of goose eggs.

Procaccini and Ricketts played flawlessly in the middle infield, as did Nick Cagginello in later innings at third.  Center fielder Hoyt contributed the game’s web-gem in the fifth, saving two runs by sprinting straight back toward the woods to haul down a possible two-out blast. 

Runs were hard to come by. Newtown plated a run in the first after Austin Raftery singled, took second on a delayed steal, and scored on a passed ball. The Lions added another run in the fourth as Connor Noonan doubled, took third on a grounder, and scored on a catcher’s interference ruling with Matt Sabia in the batter’s box.

A Southbury runner chugged home and barreled into catcher Matt Sabia, neither sliding nor avoiding as he delivered a forearm shiver to Sabia’s head to score a controversial run.