Fairfield 19U Comes From Behind To Walk-Off Greenwich In FCBL Playoffs

Fairfield 19U baseball came from behind to defeat the Greenwich Cannons in walk-off fashion 7-6 on Sunday morning at Kiwanis Field. The win moves Fairfield into the semifinal of the Fairfield County Baseball League Playoffs. 

Fairfield won the game in the bottom of the seventh on a two-out bases-loaded error of the bat of Joey D'Elia to shortstop, as the ball could not be fielded cleanly. 

Earlier in the inning, Fairfield tied the game on on a one-out single to right by Sam Weinstein. 

 

That ending was just a small part of a major comeback for Fairfield as Greenwich got out to a strong start. 

Fairfield starter Chris Domizio was strong through the first two innings, but ran in to some trouble in the third. Harrision Feinberg doubled to left field with one out. He moved to third on a wild pitch and then Hunter Gruenstrass,grounded out to third to bring in Feinberg and get the Cannon's on the board. 

Ben Nash then doubled and Ian Colalucci walked before Jack Griffin singled to left to bring in Nash. Cage Lasley then doubled home Colalucci and Griffin to give Greenwich a 4-0 lead. That would be the end of the day for Domizio. 

Josh Wittenberger would come on a walk the next two batters to load the bases. He then got a ground ball to first off the bat of Chris Genero but the throw from Blake Benway was dropped and that allowed Genero to reach and Lasley to come in and score. 

Fairfield would get on the board bottom half of the inning. D'Elia singled with one out and stole second. The next batter, Christian Homa doubled to left to bring in D'Elia and get Fairfield on the board. 

Greenwich got that run back in the fourth. Gruenstrass singled to lead off the inning and moved to third on two wild pitches.Ben Nash then doubled to deep right field to bring home Gruenstrass and increase the Cannons lead to 6-1. 

Fairfield got another run back in the fourth. Benway led off with a triple to right field. The next batter, Jack Varcoe then singled to right to bring in Benway and cut the deficit to 6-2. 

An inning later, Fairfield clawed even further back into the game. D'Elia reached on an error and Homa singled to put two on with two outs. The runners moved to second and third on a wild pitch and Blake Benway came to the plate. Benway would strike out swinging but reached first base on a wild pitch that also allowed D'Elia to score and Homa to go to third. 

A walk to Jack Varcoe loaded the bases before a walk to Brady Pomer brought in Homa to cut the deficit to 6-4. Charlie Mount then came up with a bases-loaded walk of his own to cut the score to 6-5. 

Fairfield still trailed 6-5 heading to the bottom of the seventh. Benway reached on an error and Varcoe singled. Pomer then hit into a fielder's choice to put runners on first and second with one out. Mount then hit a slow roller to second base that could not be fielded cleanly to load the bases. That set the stage for Weinstein's game tying hit with one out. After a strikeout, D'Elia came up and put the ball in play and was able to help Fairfield come up with the win. 

Fairfield advances to the FCBL semifinals where they will host Ridgefield on Monday at 5:30 at Kiwanis Field.