Local Baseball Weekend

Ed Hogan delivers a pitch during the Barnums doubleheader on Saturday

It was a busy weekend of local baseball. 

Four games. Two doubleheaders. 

I'm doing some media work for the Bridgeport Barnums, who are in their first year as a team. They are a member of the Connecticut College Baseball League. Their home games are at Seaside Park, Diamond 1, which is the home of University of Bridgeport. 

My role with them is basically to keep score via GameChanger, run the Instagram and write game stories. It's fun to watch a lot of the former Ludlowe baseball players I know, many I am close with. 

In addition, the team also includes former Warde players, as well as players from other schools and towns. 

Due to conflicts and vacation, I hadn't been able to get to any games in a couple of weeks. Everyone was great about me missing*, but I felt bad, due to my care about commitment. 

*I was told by a couple of players, jokingly, that I was the reason they were on a four-game losing streak. They split the Doubleheader. You can go here to read the game story. 

On Sunday, I went to watch the Fairfield Legion team play. That team in mostly made up of current Ludlowe players, so I enjoy watching those guys, as well as others I've gotten to know. 

While I was involved from a media perspective with them the last couple of years, due to the Barnums role (they have some affiliation due to management), I haven't gotten to that many games this year. 

That being said, I've tried to get to games when I can. While the results haven't been great team-wise, good group of kids working hard and getting better. 

I want to watch all of Ludlowe guys, regardless of summer program, but watching the Legion team is easy, as it's so local. I've been following other guys on other programs via social media. 

I don't want to rush summer and all of the others sports for everyone, but excited for the spring of 2024. I'm sure I'll say this on many other posts going forward. 

There will be more Barnums, Legion, and likely some other baseball in the coming weeks. 

It's always a good day watching baseball. 

Wild Weekend of Sports

The field at Trumbull HS from the press box through the chain-linked backstop

We always say, you have to be crazy to do what you do in broadcasting, journalism and in a lot of sports coverage. 

Well, this weekend was a crazy one that consisted of Babe Ruth baseball, American Legion baseball, and some summer league basketball. The heat was a major factor of the weekend. It was also a weekend of a lot of driving. Well, let's be honest. That's all relative, as we know I don't drive a lot, so any driving is a lot for me. 

It began back on Thursday, with the banquet that preceded the 13U Babe Ruth baseball tournament hosted by Trumbull Babe Ruth. Thanks to Rob Adams and Mike Buswell for inviting me to the banquet, as I would be joining Rob for some of the baseball over the weekend. 

Rob did a great job as one of the speakers at the banquet. You can hear his speech here.

Then we move to Friday. After leaving work, I joined Rob for the third game of four of day one at Trumbull High School for Babe Ruth. 

I was only able to stay for a portion of the game as I had to make my way to Bridgeport to coach a Ludlowe summer league basketball game. 

After that game ended, I headed back to Trumbull to re-join Rob for the final game of the day. In that final game, we saw the host Trumbull walk-off North Providence-Smithfield, Rhode Island 3-2 in eight innings. 

In was back to Trumbull High for four games on Saturday. None of the games were great score wise, but Rob and I had fun as always, and we had a good time with the people in the booth, most of those part of Trumbull Babe Ruth (parents, etc). 

On Sunday, it was back to Trumbull High School. There were four more games to be played. These would be the final games of pool play. I joined Rob for the majority of game one, as we saw Zac Trolland of Waterford take a no-hitter into the sixth inning and ultimately, throw a two-hit complete game as Waterford beat Quincy, Mass (apparently pronounced "Quinzy". Who knew? Not me) 3-1. Just a tremendous performance. 

I had to leave this game after six innings. Honestly, as the no-hitter was happening, I thought to myself how tough it would be to leave if the no-hitter was still happening. In the end, I saw the hit that broke up the no-hitter, so I didn't have to worry. I'm sure, somewhere, someone is blaming me for thinking about the no-hitter. 

I had to get down to Cubeta Stadium at Scalzi Park in Stamford for Legion baseball. Fairfield's 17U team was playing Stamford in an elimination game of the state tournament. 

I had thought that the game started at 1pm as that is what the website said. I left Trumbull at 11:45 figuring I'd give myself plenty of time to get there, get lineups and get settled in. When I got there, Fairfield was just finishing infield/outfield warmups. Then I learn that the game was changed to 12:30pm. 

See, people. This is why I get everywhere early. People pick on me for getting places too early (which I often do), but you never know what is going to happen. I was still able to get everything set, I just did not have the time I normally do. 

After Stamford won of Friday, Fairfield would need to win game one to force a winner-take-all game later Sunday afternoon. Stamford took game one, 13-3 in five innings to advance to the Super Regional and end Fairfield's season. 

After the game ended and after talking to a few people, it was back up to Trumbull. It was around 2:30 as I texted Rob to say I was leaving. I was thinking I'd be up there around 3:00, 3:15 at the latest. 

Well, of course there was traffic on The Merritt. It was closer to 3:30 when I pulled into the Dunkin Donuts parking lot on White Plains Road in Trumbull to grab Rob a coffee and myself a drink. I was unsure what I wanted but I knew I needed something cold and that would give me some energy. It was hot outside. I ended up with a Mango Pineapple refresher. It wasn't bad. 

I then made my way over to Trumbull High School by 3:40 for the 4pm game, which started a little late, which selfishly was helpful for me. Then, we had Trumbull playing Pittsfield, Mass at 7pm on Sunday night, in the final game of Pool Play. 

I think we all agreed that this was the premier game of the pool play, even coming into the game. Pittsfield came away with the victory in a crazy game, by a 17-10 score. 

We dealt with some rain during the weekend that delayed a portion of one of the games. Because why wouldn't we. I know Rob dealt with a couple of rain delays today for the games that were played. 

Oh and I am also apparently the VP of Statistics and Ginger Ale for Robcasting Radio. Or at least that's what Rob said. 

Fun, long weekend, that likely ended my summer of sports covering sports. At least for games I am at. A summer that included Legion baseball, little league baseball, Babe Ruth baseball and HS summer league basketball. Still some summer hoops coaching and some more writing before we get going with fall high school sports and more.  

Listen to Rob call the semifinals on Tuesday at 10am and 1pm and the Championship on Wednesday 10am at Robcasting.Mixlr.com. 

Local Sports Moments of 2021

While there were local sports for the majority of 2021, there are not a whole lot of moments that truly stand out to me. However, there were some great moments and games throughout the year, for one reason or another. 

My list only includes games I attended in person. Therefore, it does not include the FCIAC baseball or FCIAC softball championship games or the Cooper Cave Tournament that the Fairfield Legion team played in, and specifically Sean McAdams' home run. If I was at any of those, they would have been included on my list.  

Coverage of the games, either by me, or others, are linked below. 

So here we go (in no specific order)…..

Warde boys basketball defeats Fairfield Prep in the Fairfield Prep Holiday Classic.

Warde baseball edges Ludlowe 

• Warde took an early lead, then Ludlowe came back to tie the game, before Warde took the lead for good. 

Ludlowe football defeats Warde on Thanksgiving morning - New12's coverage cane be found here. 

Ludlowe girls basketball wins the Todd Burger Championship

• Ludlowe defeated Warde to win the Tournament Burger Memorial Tournament, named in honor of the former Fairfield Citizen sports editor. 

Warde football suicide prevention game

• In tragedy, community sometimes shines the brightest. The Warde football team and the Warde community (as well as students from Ludlowe and Prep) honored Kevin Kuczo and raised awareness for suicide prevention. 

 

 Zach Sullivan's one-hitter for Fairfield 17U Legion 

Southington defeats Ludlowe in softball state championship.

Southington scores two in the 7th. Blue Knights defeat Ludlowe 4-3 to win the Class LL state tournament #ctsb

— Shawn Sailer (@ShawnSailer) June 12, 2021

Ludlowe baseball walks-off New Canaan 

Prep baseball defeats Ludlowe in State Tournament

• While personally, as a Ludlowe coach, this was a tough loss, it was a great game. Ludlowe held a 1-0 lead into the sixth inning before Prep tied the game in the sixth and walked off with the win in the seventh to advance to the next round 

• View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Fairfield Prep Baseball (@ffldprepbaseball)

      

While I didn't think there were that many big moments, there were a number of moments that stand out. Hopefully things get back to normal even more in 2021 and we have more special moments and games. 

Fun Summer With Fairfield Legion Baseball

Both photos are 19U team. Players were missing from each (My photo (left), Sars Ford photo (right)) 

The Fairfield American Legion Post 143 Militia summer baseball program finished their season this past weekend. I had the pleasure of serving in a communications role for the program this summer. I know this is going to come off as being too much about me (It's bad I have to put this disclaimer), but I just enjoyed being able to help promote the Fairfield Legion program and the players. 

Basically, I was covering the games. I wrote game recaps, and handled social media (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram). I also did a lot of their Game Changer*, a scorekeeping app. In an effort to better promote the program, we submitted the recaps I wrote on another blog I created to the Fairfield Patch and the Fairfield Citizen in order to get the team and the players and team noticed by a wider audience than our sites.  In addition, I linked the blog where the game recaps were written to the Fairfield Legion website. 

*Game Changer was something I had seen but never really used before. It is nice to learn a new program. There is a lot of good in Game Changer. I am still a paper scorebook person at heart, but for certain situations, Game Changer is definitely better. 

I hope the coverage I provided them was helpful. Thank you to Sars Ford, the Fairfield GM for bringing me on board and for all his help. Thanks also to 19U head coach Chris Bugyi, his assistants Jim Chaves and Mark Keeney. In addition, thank you to 17U coaches Eddie Klukojc and Seamus McGovern. 

To all the players, it was fun to watch and write about you guys this season. Some players I knew very well, others I knew, but not well, and then there were some I didn't know at all but it was nice to get to know. There are players from Ludlowe, Warde, Prep and other schools where the players live in Fairfield. Some of the players are currently in high school, while others are in college, so it's somewhat of a wide mix age wise. You guys are all great players and young men and have great baseball ahead of you, whether that still is in high school, or in college. 

The 19U team finished 24-7 and made a run to the championship game of the Regional Qualifying Tournament. The 17U team finished the season at 11-14. 

If you want to read about their season, you can go here for all of the game recaps. Some highlights of their season (in my opinion), include the Coopers Cave Tournament in Saratoga Springs (and Sean McAdams' home run during that tournament), Phil Hogan's perfect game against Milford on July 13, and the postseason run they made. I'm sure there are other moments I'm forgetting. Especially considering the few I just mentioned were all games I was not at in person. I was mostly at the home games. 

I look forward to continuing working with them in the future.