Darien's Baseball Season Ends With Another Tough Loss

A frustrating season for the Darien High School baseball ended with one more defeat Wednesday, but the Blue Wave certainly went down fighting.

Darien, the No. 25 seed, gave reigning FCIAC champion Fairfield Ludlowe a major scare before falling, 7-4, in their CIAC Class L first-round contest at Kiwanis Field.

The game resumed Wednesday after it was suspended because of rain on Tuesday, with Ludlowe holding a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning.

The Blue Wave (8-13) stunned the Falcons by erupting with four runs in the top of the sixth to erase a 3-0 deficit, but Ludlowe answered with four runs of its own in the bottom half off Dave Hickey. The team advances to a second-round contest Thursday against Rockville.

"We felt we had a good squad coming into the season and the league was tough this year," said Darien coach Mike Scott, who was an assistant at Ludlowe two years ago. "We ran into a lot of tough pitching, saw a lot of teams' number-ones, and we lost a lot of tough games, so we felt we were better than our record showed."

"It feels really bitter, actually," Hickey added. "I thought we could go further. I felt the last inning, we really had a chance and thought we actually could pull it through. Our hitting has been difficult all year, but today I think we had a good approach for most of the at-bats." 

As Ludlowe coach Keith O'Rourke pointed out, this was not a typical 8-12 team, as Darien had two Division I pitchers.  Hickey is headed to Yale in the fall, and Ricky Hodges, who started Wednesday's game, is bound for Virginia Tech.

In addition, the Blue Wave lost 10 of its 13 games this season by three runs or less, making Wednesday's contest a difficult draw for the eighth-seeded Falcons.

"We didn't get a good draw by playing them," O'Rourke said. "Their pitching is just as good as any team that is 14-6, 13-7. They just had a tough time scoring runs this year, but they've got two Division I kids on their staff. We faced them both in this game."

After Tom Nagy's RBI single gave Ludlowe (19-5) a 1-0 lead in the first inning Tuesday, Nick Rossomando hit a two-run single shortly after the game resumed Wednesday, making it 3-0 in the second.

O'Rourke elected not to come back with Steve Guasco, who started the game on Tuesday. Instead, he went with Taylor Brown, who surrendered only one hit over the next three frames.

Ludlowe appeared to be cruising with a three-run advantage through five, but the Blue Wave jumped on Brown in the sixth after he hit the first two batters in the inning.

John Gardner then ripped a two-run double over the head of left fielder Billy Malone to make it 3-2. After Brandon Tripodi singled Gardner to third, the Falcons played the infield back, and Scott Dempsey's grounder to third brought in the tying run.

Dan Pidgeon's sinking line-drive got past center fielder Alex Wright for a go-ahead triple that put Darien ahead, 4-3. But the Blue Wave couldn't hold the lead.

"It's the way it's gone, [which] doesn't make it any easier," Scott added. "At the same time, our guys battled. We're proud of the way they fought today. That's the FCIAC champions over there, and we gave them a scare."

Hickey replaced Hodges to start the bottom of the sixth, but Rob Ferrara belted the first pitch of the inning over the fence in left-center field for a game-tying home run.

Zach Garoffolo then walked and swiped second—the Falcons' sixth stolen base of the day. After the next two hitters struck out, freshman Mike Kochiss lined a 3-2 pitch into left-center field for an RBI single, giving Ludlowe a 5-4 lead.

"I think it was just a matter of [Hickey] leaving a couple pitches up," Scott said. "They have some good hitters over there that make you pay."

Rossomando and Max Senew followed with singles to make it 6-4. Rossomando then scored the seventh run on Hickey's wild pickoff attempt at first.

"I wish we could have beaten them," Hickey said, "but that's the way it goes sometimes."