A lot of pieces have come together for Newtown High School’s baseball team to have the season it has thus far, — the Nighthawks are the only remaining team unbeaten in the South-West Conference, with just a handful of regular-season games to play — but the Hawks look to have as a good a chance (if not better) than anybody to win the South-West Conference because of the piece that is pitching.

“It all starts on the mound,” Nighthawk Coach Ian Thoesen has said.

Newtown has a trio of standout pitchers — Connor Haywood, Josh Taylor, and Sammy Smith — who have done a bulk of the work. Each matched the other’s barely-touchable outcome on the hill, as Newtown strung together three straight shutouts (9-0 over Notre Dame-Fairfield on April 29, 1-0 over New Fairfield on May 1, and 5-0 over Stratford on May 3).

It’s hard — make that impossible — not to win when your pitchers are hanging zeros inning after inning. The Nighthawks have blanked five opponents and held two others to a single run.

Through 13 games, the Nighthawks have allowed just 31 runs, including a dozen unearned runs. Newtown’s pitchers have a collective earned run average of 1.47.

“They’re keeping us in games that are close and doing a good job throwing strikes,” Nighthawk Pitching Coach Jeff Slane said.

Newtown graduated its top pitchers from last year’s team which reached its second straight South-West Conference championship game. But this trio of juniors has helped put the team in contention — if not the favorites — for a return to the conference pinnacle; the team won it all behind a stellar postsesaon pitching effort two years ago.

Haywood has started six games, pitched in seven, tossed 35.1 innings, and allowed just four earned runs on 20 hits while striking out 40.

Taylor has made four starts, pitched in five contests, allowed three earned runs on 11 hits, and fanned 31.

Sammy Smith has made three starts, tossed 17 innings, and allowed seven earned runs on 13 hits and whiffed 13 along the way. Smith tossed 6.2 innings of shutout ball in Newtown’s win over Stratford.

Haywood tossed a one-hitter against Notre Dame, Taylor had a two-hit effort versus New Fairfield, and Smith scattered three hits against Stratford. Haywood got the last out.

“They push each other or pick each other up if they’re not having their best game,” said Slane, adding that the Nighthawks enjoy coming to practice.

“I think they’re feeding off each other. They’re all close. They all work their butts off,” Newtown Coach Ian Thosen said.

Smith said the team dynamic helps create winning ways.

“I’m having a lot of fun with it. We have a great group of guys this year — a lot of chemistry,” said Smith, who throws a fastball, curve, and slider.

“We definitely love our chemistry. We have a great group of guys. We’ve been on a roll lately. We haven’t shown any signs of slowing down, and we just have to keep doing our thing,” Haywood concurred.

Haywood mixes and matches a fastball, two-seam, slider, curve, and change.

“We knew we were going to have this much fun,” Taylor said. “We just have a blast. It’s an unbelievable group of guys.”

Taylor throws two- and four-seams, a circle change, slider, split finger, and 12-6 curve.

Eric Casagrande, Harry Lucas, Jack Petersen, Joseph Pagett, Sean McCleary, and Tom Tavar have also contributed to Newtown’s pitching success this spring. Whether it is in the starting or backup role, or in bullpen/ side session work, catchers Matt Bradbury, Brendan Smith, and Grayson DeFelice are all significant in the work these hurlers have done.

Of course, great pitching can only carry a team so far without some offense. The Nighthawks have had no shortage of that, compiling 81 runs through 13 games.

Each of the pitchers in Newtown’s regular rotation have helped their own cause in a big way. Haywood is batting .367 with eight runs batted in, eight runs scored, and nine walks. Smith is hitting .348 with eight RBI and 20 runs scored. Taylor is batting .283 with a dozen runs batted in.

Tyler Stroili, in seven plate appearances, is batting .750. Todd Petersen is batting .439 with three home runs, 16 RBI, and 16 runs scored. Shane Demers is batting .303 with ten RBI and ten runs scored. The Hawks are batting .297 as a team. Luke Melillo has driven in seven runs, Bradbury has plated six, and Harry Lucas five.

Speed and solid situational play have been on Newtown’s side, too. In fact, not only have the Nighthawks stolen 32 bases — led by Todd Petersen’s seven, Sammy Smith’s five, and Stroili’s four swipes — but they’ve been caught just twice.

“This team has really been fun to watch as a coach,” Slane said.