Ludlowe Baseball Picks Up Big Win Over Norwalk

Coming off four straight losses, the Ludlowe Falcons baseball team needed a win in a big way. 

They got that win in a 12-7 fashion over Norwalk on Monday afternoon at Kiwanis Field in Fairfield. 

In their previous games, they got up early, and couldn't hold a lead. Today, it was the reverse. 

Norwalk took a 4-0 lead with three runs in the first and a run in the second before Ludlowe would get on the board in the bottom half of the second. With runners on the corners and out, Patrick Connor singled to left field to plate Christian Smith. The next batter, Sean McAdams, doubled to deep center field to bring in two runs and cut the Norwalk lead to 4-3. 

Norwalk extended their lead to 6-3 with two runs in the third, including an RBI single by Javier Gonzalez. 

Ludlowe would come back in the bottom of the fifth to not only tie the game, but take the lead. Drew Buckley walked. He then stole second and the ball went into center field, When Buckley tried to advance to third, the throw from the Norwalk shortstop, who retrieved the ball in short center field, sailed over the third baseman's head and out of play, allowing Buckley to score. Andrew Fortunato would then double, followed up by a double by Matt Longo that would plate Fortunato. The doubles continued with the next batter, Smith, as his double brought in Rhys Davies, who pinch-ran for Longo, to tie the game at six.

Two batters later, Justin Dennett singled to center field to bring Smith home and give the Falcons a 7-6 lead. 

Norwalk would not go away as they tied the game in the top of the sixth. Eddy Garabito-Soto tripled to deep right field and the throw to third went past the Ludlowe third baseman and Garabito-Soto was able to come in and score to tie the game. 

The Falcons would come right back in the bottom of the sixth. With runners on the corners and one out, Fortunato drove a ball to deep right field for a two-run triple to give Ludlowe the lead back at 9-7. They would not be done. An error would allow Fortunato to come in and score before a two-run double by Dennett would cap the scoring. 

Ludlowe improves to 2-4 overall and 2-4 in the FCIAC. The Falcons travel to Trumbull for a matchup with St. Joe's on Wednesday. 

High School Baseball Is Back

The Falcons warm up prior to the game against New Canaan

After the 2020 season was cancelled, high school baseball, and all spring sports, were back this week in Connecticut. 

It's interesting times for everyone, dealing with COVID protocols and quarantines, and the unknown due to the fact that there wasn't a season last year. 

For the Ludlowe baseball team, they got our season going on Tuesday against New Canaan after getting postponed against Greenwich on Saturday and New Canaan on Monday. 

It was 682 days between the 2019 season ending loss against Southington until Ludlowe played another game that counted. 

In terms of the game, the Falcons picked up a 9-8 win on a walk-off by catcher Christian Smith in the bottom of the seventh. 

Ludlowe took an early 3-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI single by Smith and a two-run triple by Andrew Fortunato. 

New Canaan cut into the lead with a two-run triple to center field in the fourth by Cameron Wheeler. 

Ludlowe extended their lead in the bottom half of the inning as they scored five times. Matt Vivona led off with a hustle double to right field and Noah Schaper walked. 

Three batters later with the bases now loaded, Fortunato singled to right to bring home two runs. Charlie Mulhall followed that up with an RBI single to put the Falcons up 7-2. The scoring for the inning when Mike Innaimo delivered a sacrifice fly to plate Mulhall. 

New Canaan scored four more times in the fifth as they batted around despite only getting three hits in the inning. 

The Rams would tie the game in the top half of the seventh. A single and an error put two one with one out before Jack O'Donnell came up with an RBI double to cut the deficit to 8-7 and put two runners in scoring position. Andrew Rashad's sacrifice fly would tie the game at eight. 

In the bottom half of the seventh, Rhys Davies led off with a single to center field. Matt Vivona laid down a bunt and the ball was thrown into center field to put two on and none out. Two batters later, Longo would walk to load the bases and put the winning run 90 feet away. Smith then came out and drove a 1-1 pitch deep enough to right field to allow Davies to come in and score. 

Ludlowe improves to 1-0 on the early season and will travel to Greenwich to take on the Cardinals on Wednesday at 4pm. 

We'll see if I continue to write these recaps. The lack of media coverage, especially newspaper coverage, around the league for all sports is disappointing and I want to give the student-athletes some coverage.