It’s already about halfway through the spring season and the North Branford baseball team is well on its way to achieving its goals of qualifying for the postseason tournaments.
The T-Birds started the regular season with a 5-4 win over Morgan on April 6 and then topped Route 80 rival East Haven 11-5 the next day. North Branford’s only loss so far in 2012 came at the hands of Shoreline Conference foe HK as the Cougars took a 10-5 victory on April 9.
North Branford has since rattled off five straight wins, outscoring opponents 57-15 in that stretch, including two shutouts. Wins included:
April 11: North Branford 7, Portland 0
April 13: North Branford 19, Valley 12
April 16: North Branford 3, Coginchaug 2
April 18: North Branaford 25, Hyde 0
April 20: North Branford 3, Westbrook 1
(click on each game for full statistics from MaxPreps)
As a team so far in 2012, North Branford is batting .399 with 113 hits, 65 RBI, 12 doubles and eight triples.
The top hitters for North Branford include Brandan Basil, who holds a .562 batting average (18-for-32), Mike Forgione, who is batting .536 (15-for-28), Kyle Hart with a .533 batting average (16-for-30) and Nick Perrelli, who is batting .519 (13-for-33).
Mike Schettino has led the team from the mound, pitching 15.2 innings to earn a 4.91 ERA. Perrelli has pitched 12.2 innings with a 5.53 ERA, while Sean Haligan’s 11 innings have given him a 3.18 ERA. Other T-Birds in the bullpen include Dylan Podbielski (8.2 IP, 4.85 ERA) and Rick Paolini (4 IP, 1.75 ERA).
For full team stats, check out the players page on MaxPreps, which has also posted photo galleries from both the Morgan and East Hampton games.
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