Co-captain Grant Moss singled home two runs for the Wreckers in the bottom of the sixth inning to break a 4-4 tie with Darien, which led to a 6-4 win over the visiting Blue Wave on Friday.
Dave Speer came on in the seventh to close it out for Staples, which improved to 11-1 (10-1 FCIAC).
Darien's Tom Blankmeier led off in the first inning, hitting Jimmy Sikorski's first pitch to dead center field—a one-bouncer over the fence for a standup double. He moved to third on a goundout. With two out, Jack Hennessey made a diving stop of a hard grounder by John Gardner and threw to first to end the threat.
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In Staples' first at-bat, three Wave errors, sandwiched around a walk, accounted for two runs. The Wreckers didn't hit ball out of the infield, but they didn't have to.
The inning opened with an error,followed by a steal of second, a walk and a steal of third in which the catcher's throw went into the outfield for a 1-0 lead. After another error, a second run scored to make it 2-0 after one. Wave starter Andrew Hurn deserved better fate.
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The Wreckers added another run in the second inning on a leadoff walk to Tyler Jacobs. With one out, Hennessey singled to right scoring Jacobs to make it 3-0. Ben Lipper's single put runners on first and second, but they were left stranded.
Darien threatened again in the third inning when Brandon Tripodi led off with a single. After he stole second, Darien ran into some bad luck. Blankmeier hit a line drive right on the button to third that resulted in a 5-4 double play that ended the inning.
But in the fourth inning, Darien capitalized on its scoring chances. After the Blue Wave got their first run on a hit by Scott Dempsey past third, Darien loaded the bases with two out. A walk to Blankmeier forced in one run to make it a 3-2 game and then an infield hit by Matt Anderson, coupled with an error, gave Darien the lead at 4-3.
Sikorski's line was four innings pitched, four runs, three hits, one walk and two strikeouts. Sikorski was relieved by Rob Gau to start the fifth inning.
Staples tied the game in the home half of the fifth, as Lipper led off with a home run over the fence in left near the 306 foot sign.
Hurn came out in the bottom of the inning after giving up hits by Colin McCarthy and Bryan Terzian. He was relieved by Mike Miller. With runners on first and second, Staples loaded the bases when Lipper was hit by a pitch. That's when Moss put his team ahead ,6-4.
Speer, who was saved" for relief work by Coach Jack McFarland after he pitched just three innings in the rout of New Canaan a day earlier, closed it out in the seventh by getting three groundouts.
Darien Coack Mike Scott said,"We showed a lot of heart today against a good Staples team," Darien coach Mike Scott said. "Our guys didn't back down and I think we took something positive from this."
Sott said he was proud of Hurn "who remained poised and effective."
Darien falls to 4-7 (2-7 FCIAC). Its next game is Monday at Ridgefield.
