Lightning Baseball Highlights

14U-15U

Newtown Bears 3, Newtown Lightning 2: John Lebinski had the game-winning RBI and pitched three strong innings to lead the Bears to victory last Friday night at Fairfield Hills Field. Lebinski’s fifth-inning single scored Michael Koch and broke up a 2-2 tie. Lebinski and Koch each yielded just one run in three innings. Koch slapped two singles and Stephen Conway had three hits, including a double down the left field line. Eric Sutton retired the side in order to get the save in the final inning. The Lightning scored first when Anthony Maki blasted a first-inning triple to center and scored on an error. The team upped the lead to 2-0 in the third inning. Alex Saviano and Ben Stoller ripped singles to left field and pulled off a double steal. Nicky Sajovic lofted an RBI sacrifice fly to left field to score Saviano. The Bears tied the game on a fielder’s choice and singles by Chad Magoulas, Mike Newman and Conway. Lightning centerfielder Maki cut off the rally by throwing a perfect strike to catcher Mike LoBosco to nail a hard-sliding Magoulas at the plate. Magoulas also made great defensive plays with a sliding catch in left field in the seventh inning and a perfect throw from behind first base to the plate to cut down a runner coming home in the first inning. Greg Frattaroli and Saviano pitched well for the Lightning. Frattaroli, shortstop Ryan O’Keefe and first baseman Ian Kirner turned a nice 1-6-3 double play in the second inning.

Connecticut Titans 9, Newtown Lightning 6: The Lightning led for most of the game but fell apart, committing six errors, including three in the final inning, last week at Fairfield Hills. The team squandered a strong pitching performance by Ryan O’Keefe. Lightning RBIs came from Ben Stoller, Alex Saviano and Greg Frattaroli. The home club collected just three hits, singles by Frattaroli and James Rebman, and a double down the left field line by Nicky Sajovic. Lightning center fielder Anthony Maki, who has been cutting down base runners all season with bullet throws, nailed another runner trying to advance to third in the second inning.

New Milford 11, Newtown Lightning 3: New Milford clubbed 14 hits to overpower the Lightning in a game that was suspended by rain after five innings at Newtown Middle School last week and completed at Fairfield Hills Field. It was a big turnaround from the first game between the two teams, won 3-2 by the Lightning in New Milford. In the latest encounter, New Milford walloped six extra-base hits. The Lightning was led by Cole Baldino, who had three hits, including a double and two RBIs. Ben Stoller knocked in the other Lightning run on a fielder’s choice. Nicky Sajovic retired three straight hitters in one inning of pitching.

Newtown Lightning 6, Danbury 5: With the game on the verge of being suspended for darkness, Ryan O’Keefe drilled a walk-off, game-winning single to left field in the eighth inning to give the Lightning the win Sunday at Fairfield Hills. Teammate Anthony Maki also had a key hit, blasting a three-run, inside-the-park homerun over the right fielder’s head in the fifth inning to awaken a Lightning team that was trailing 2-0 and had just one hit in the first four innings. The lone hit was a fourth-inning double down the right-field line by Ben Stoller. After Maki’s round-tripper in the next inning, Alex Saviano walked, Mike LoBosco singled and Stoller drove Saviano home with a single. (Stoller leads the team in RBIs with nine, while Maki has eight and leads the team with a .500 on-base percentage and a .320 batting average.) Parker Lintz followed Stoller’s single with an RBI single up the middle. Lintz pitched 3 1/3 solid innings in middle relief, yielding just three hits and one earned run. The Lightning defense made big plays throughout the game. Right fielders Ian Kirner and Cole Baldino pulled in long fly balls over their heads with two runners on base in the second and fourth innings. Third baseman Saviano made a hustling, tumbling catch on a foul pop in the sixth inning, and then pitched brilliantly, getting the win by shutting out Danbury in the last two innings. In the seventh inning, second baseman O’Keefe snared a sharp line drive and threw to first baseman Stoller to catch a runner off base and complete an inning-ending double play. With two outs and the go-ahead run on third in the eighth inning, Stoller rushed in to grab a short pop-up past the pitcher’s mound. In the bottom of the inning, Nicky Sajovic reached second base when Danbury’s first baseman failed to catch a throw on a routine groundball to the left side. Kirner hit a grounder behind the runner to move Sajovic to third before O’Keefe’s game-winner. The win boosted the Lightning’s record to 7-4 before the club headed to the District tournament in Ridgefield.

Newtown Lightning 12, New Fairfield 11: Playing the first district tournament game in its five-year history, the Lightning hung on for a wild victory Tuesday night at Ridgefield’s Old High School Field. Lightning starting pitcher Alex Saviano re-entered the game in the seventh inning and, with potential winning runners at second and third, got the final out on a comebacker to the mound. Saviano’s game-ending throw to first baseman Ben Stoller gave him a rare win and save and he was named the game’s outstanding player by the tournament committee. The Lightning bounced back from a 3-0 second-inning deficit when Stoller reached on an error by the third baseman, moved to third on two wild pitches and scored on a sacrifice fly to left field by Nicky Sajovic. In the third inning, the Lightning scored four runs to take a 5-3 lead. Cole Baldino and Anthony Maki walked, and Mike LoBosco dropped a single into short center. The runners held up because it looked like the ball would be caught, and New Fairfield’s center fielder overthrew third base attempting a force play. Baldino and Maki scored to tie the game and LoBosco took second on the throwing error. Stoller then ripped an RBI single up the middle to give the Lightning a 4-3 lead. He took second on the throw to the plate and scored on an error by the second baseman. New Fairfield threatened a big inning in the fifth but scored only one run. Lightning reliever Greg Frattaroli came in to end the rally, aided by a fine catch by right fielder James Rebman, who entered the game in the fourth inning. Rebman made three clutch catches in three consecutive innings, scored two runs, walked, stole a base and smashed a single to right center. Leading just 5-4 in the fifth inning, the Lightning sent 10 batters to the plate and exploded for six runs. Stoller and Saviano crushed singles to left field, and Rebman walked to load the bases. Sajovic smashed an RBI single to left field, Ryan O’Keefe knocked in a run with a bases-loaded walk and Baldino drove in a run on a force play. After Maki walked to reload the bases, LoBosco drove in another run with a walk and Frattaroli bounced a two-RBI single through the left side. Frattaroli pitched a scoreless sixth inning. In the bottom of the inning, Rebman drilled a single, stole second and scored what turned out to be the winning run when Sajovic lofted a ball down the left field line that was misplayed by the left fielder. In the top of the seventh, New Fairfield pounded six hits and capitalized on two errors and an apparent missed call by the umpire. But Saviano came in to pitch, got the save and made the Lightning’s first district game a success. The Lightning advanced to the District 4 Tournament’s second round against one of the state’s top team, Ridgefield 15A.