Good Eye: What caught my eye from Thursday's action

#ctbase – Shelton made a statement, Notre Dame-West Haven made some noise with the bats and Xavier punches them out. Don’t swing! Here’s what caught my eye.

SLUGFEST 2012 – Yes, it has happened before. No. 1 Notre Dame-West Haven and No. 2 Amity tangoed at John Janenda Field on Thursday and combined for 21 runs as the Green Knights improved to 2-0 with a 13-8 Southern Connecticut Conference interdivisional victory. Last season these two met and combined for, that’s right, 21 runs as Amity fell 11-10. The Spartans are now 1-1. Notre Dame-West Haven jumped out to a 5-0 first inning lead only to see Amity chip away and tie it up at five. Greg Zullo put the Green Knights back on top and the top ranked team in the state kept it going to win by five. Guess those five early runs really came in handy.

UNLUCKY SEVEN – West Haven has a really talented ball club. A good mixture of young talent, good pitching and solid hitting should keep the Blue Devils in the win column this season. However, the season hasn’t started so hot. The Blue Devils are 0-2 after dropping a pair of 7-6 games to start the season. Thursday, West Haven lost 7-6 in a SCC interdivisional game to Sheehan after giving up three runs in the bottom of the seventh. For Sheehan, Kevin Duffy got the win, his first, and Brian Murphy had two doubles. Sheehan is 2-0.

400 WATCH – Seymour coach Bob Kelo is approaching 400 career wins and yesterday he got closer. The Wildcats defeated Valley rival Ansonia 9-8 in a nine inning Naugatuck Valley League win. Kelo now has 392 career wins. Alex Barton played the role of hero, driving in the winning run in the top half of the ninth. Barton drove in two runs in the victory. Adam Merritt scored three times and had two RBI. Mike Palmquist had two RBI and Alex Westine had a RBI for the Chargers who dropped to 0-2 on the season. Seymour is 1-1.

TOP 10? – Shelton didn’t get into the New Haven Register top-10 poll but, yesterday the Gaels made a strong case for why they should be there. Ryan Daiss came from behind the plate to the mound and got the win in his first career start striking out nine in an 8-2 SCC interdivisional win over Fairfield Prep. The Gaels finish the week at 2-0, Prep drops to 1-1. Vinny Backert had two RBI, who Marcello Ursini scored twice for Shelton.

K’s – Xavier has had a good opening week. The Falcons picked up two wins and have been piling up the strikeouts. Xavier opened the season with a 4-0 win over North Haven in which Troy DeLeon (1-0), Mike Alanese and Chris Dibble combined for 12 punchouts and on Thursday the Falcons defeated Cheshire 9-2 and Connor Landers struck out five to start the season 1-0.

FIRST TIME – Hand not-so-new coach Travis LaPointe got his first career win at the school as it defeated East Haven 15-6. LaPointe said he coached the entire varsity squad on the Madison American Legion team. Hand is 1-1. East Haven falls to 0-2 after dropping a SCC interdivisional game.

GROUNDBALLS – Hamden Hall improved to 3-1 after defeating Rye (N.Y.) 8-1. Justin Santiago hit home run. … Darrian Davis drove in the winning run as Lyman Hall defeated Hamden 5-4 in a SCC interdivisional game. … Axel DeJesus struck out seven as Stratford knocked off Trinity Catholic in a non league game.

THURSDAY’S WINNERS

Pitcher                 (Team) Record

Connor Moriarty (Branford)  1-0

Sal Frosceno         (Derby)     1-0

Ryan Manning     (Foran)     1-0

Mike Capone       (Hamden Hall)  1-0

Miles Sheehan     (Hand)      1-0

Ben Miller           (Lyman Hall)   1-0

Matt Elia              (ND-West Haven) 1-0

Mike Conlan       (Stratford)     1-0

Kevin Duffy        (Sheehan)    1-0

Ryan Daiss           (Shelton)      1-0

Axel DeJesus     (Stratford)   1-0

Jake Comment  (Westbrook)  1-0

Connor Landers    (Xavier)    1-0

THURSDAY’S BIG HITTERS

Greg Zullo, Notre Dame-West Haven: Drove in go-ahead run in 13-8 win over Amity.

Nick Dummar, Branford: Went 3-for-3 and had a RBI in a win over Law.

Scott Braren, Hand: Had a two-run homer and two hits in a win over East Haven.

Alex Barton, Seymour: Drove in the winning run and had four hits and two RBI in a extra inning win over Ansonia.

Darrian Davis, Lyman Hall: Went 3-for-3, had an RBI and scored the winning run in a victory over Hamden.

Sam Grigo, Westbrook: Went 2-for-3 with a triple in a win over Hale-Ray.

AROUND THE HORN

NEW HAVEN REGISTER – Notre Dame-West Haven knew this was going to happen.

NEW HAVEN REGISTER – Check out the baseball roundup.

SHORELINE TIMES – Hand picked up its first win of the season for coach Travis LaPointe. Check out this Hand team preview from Dave Phillips.

CT POST – Catchers can sure pitch in Shelton. Mike Cardillo has more.

                                                                                                                             – HENRY CHISHOLM