East Hampton Defeats North Branford for Shoreline Conference Baseball Crown

outhit and outpitched East Hampton High School in the Shoreline Conference Championship game at the Indian River Complex in Clinton yesterday afternoon, but the Bellringers emerged with a 6-5 victory to claim the crown.

The win negated a strong pitching performance by the Thunderbirds' Dan Esposito, who pitched a complete game and allowed only six hits, but the T-Birds' defense let him down with an error that led to four unearned runs in the second inning that gave East Hampton a lead it never relinquished.

The T-Birds tied the game in the third and again in the sixth, but the Bellringers scored a single run in the seventh to win the game.

Esposito was North Branford’s star at the plate as well with three of the team's seven hits and two runs scored, following a double in the second and a single in the sixth.

Sage Leonard and Mike Forgione also produced run-scoring hits for the T-Birds in the first.

“Danny gutted it out,” North Branford Coach Billy Mitchell said of his pitcher. “But they played tremendous defense and we didn’t and that was the difference in the game. I was proud of my kids, the way they came back and tied it after the four-run second inning.”

East Hampton used three pitchers in the game, including its star Al Iannone, who came in in relief in the fourth but was removed with one out in the sixth after giving up one run. Bellringers' Coach Scott Wosleger complimented his effort.

“He’s the best pitcher of the year in the Shoreline Conference and he was ready to go, he’s a gamer,” he said.

Iannone pitched Saturday’s semifinal game, a 10-4 win over Old Saybrook, so he didn’t start yesterday. The job went to Adam Michaud who pitched three innings, with freshman Marvin Gorgas closing out the game with a strong performance. 

“We went to the young guy,” Wosleger said. “I had a gut feeling and once we got the run in the seventh, I knew we were in good shape because he loves a fresh inning. He’s in the high 80s when he gets it up there."

Gorgas recorded a couple of fast-pitch strikeouts and closed out the game with a scoreless seventh, recording the final two outs after Mike Forgione singled for the T-Birds.

North Branford and East Hampton split two games during the regular season with the Bellringers winning the first contest 6-0 before the T-Birds won the second 3-2. North Branford was the top-ranked team in the conference and the Bellringers stood at No. 2.

Next up is the state tournaments, with third-ranked North Branford hosting No. 30 seed East Haven in the Class M first round on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. Despite the seedings, the first round may be a challenge as the T-Birds dropped two games to East Haven during the regular season.

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