There are wins ... and then there are walk off wins. Newtown High School's baseball team celebrated a 3-0 start to the campaign the most dramatic way possible, with a last at bat hit to win it. The Nighthawks overcame a late deficit to visiting Bethel to pull out a 4-3 walk off triumph at home on April 10, when Eugene Citrano delivered the deciding knock, a hard line drive to right-center field.

Newtown's game-winning hit came with two outs. Jason Hebner led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a single to center field and scored the winning run, with two outs, after getting into scoring position with a stolen base. With one out, Austin Kasbarian was robbed of a hit on Bethel left fielder Liam Ford's diving grab. Kasbarian, earlier in the game was denied a hit when Bethel second baseman Andrew Ridzik dove to snare a liner. But Kasbarian picked up the win in relief with the help of his own prowess in field, as worked around a leadoff walk by picking off the base runner.

The Nighthawks trailed 3-2 in the sixth inning when Greg Brissette delivered a two-out, two-strike double down the left field line to plate Todd Petersen, who had walked.

Newtown grabbed an early 2-0 lead on RBI doubles by Ben Harrison and Hebner. Down 3-2 in the fifth, the Hawks nearly tied the score but Hebner, who reached on a bunt single, was later thrown out at home when he tagged up on a fly out off the bat of Kasbarian.

Newtown pitcher Kyle Roche, who relieved Orlando Swift, worked out of a jam unscathed in the fourth. Bethel had a runner at second with no outs and second and third with one out and Roche struck out a batter and got a pop up to first to escape. The Hawks had strong defense as catcher Harrison caught a base runner attempting to steal second in the sixth and Jack Miller made a diving catch in center field in the same inning.

"We worked hard today," Citrano said. "Just a good game for both teams."

"It was a team effort today. They battle," first-year Newtown Coach Ian Thoesen said. "I knew we would compete and you compete every day good things happen."

Good things have happened early on for the Hawks, who beat visiting Fairfield Warde 7-1 in the opener on April 5 and shut out host Staples of Westport 3-0 on April 8.

Against Warde, the Newtown sluggers erased a 1-0 deficit after a half-inning of play and got a complete game pitching performance from Hebner, who allowed just one hit, walked five, and struck out five batters.

Hebner helped his own cause with a hit, two walks, and two runs scored.  Kasbarian and Petersen both had a pair of hits, each with a double; Kasbarian drove in two runs and Petersen scored a run.

Robert Lombardo had a double, run batted in, and run scored; Will Heugi drove in a run and scored; Citrano and Dylan Champagne both recorded a hit and scored runs, Brissette and Harrison each had an RBI.

"Pitchers are shutting them down, we're making plays, and we're hitting," Citrano said of the team's solid start to the campaign.