Loaded on the mound, reloading the lineup
Matt Norlander,
Hickey and Rickey will lead the way.
After an 18-8 campaign in 2009, the Darien baseball team is trying to get back to the playoffs and carry as much offense with them as it did last year. It wasn't the most potent, but it was rather clutch.
However, should the bats go silent, two college-bound (Division I, at that) lefthanded pitchers will act as safety nets. Rickey Hodges (Virginia Tech) and David Hickey (Yale) will demand the ball in nearly every game, although head coach Mike Scott said he's got four guys available for pitching-only duties.
The roster carries 18 total, but with Mike Miller only seeing time as a pitcher and Dillon Duncan out of the pen, Darien will make due with just more than a dozen players at the plate.
And Matt Anderson and John Gardner will lead the charge. All of this -- the talk of quality pitchers, a deep lineup, a winning attitude -- wasn't the case in Darien until four or five years ago. With Scott's arrival, a culture has been changed.
"We're trying to raise the level for expectations of baseball in the town," he said. "It wasn't too long ago that baseball wasn't a serious sport in town. Tom Zawacki started building a relationship with kids in the youth level. It's about developing young players for the high school level. When they hit their growth spurt, they figure out the intricacies in the game, people to start to take notice. And when three guys sign as pitchers to go D-I, that's a big step."
Hickey and Anderson, the second baseman are the captains. They were chosen by their teammates last year, and neither is a real ra-ra kind of guy. Said Scott of Anderson: "He does everything that you want in a kid to help a team win. He picks his teammates up and approaches the game the right way."
Looking for some separation in the preseason, Scott challenged his guys in the cage and wanted to see who could hit early. With that, Tommy Blankemeier won his spot at the top of the order. Anderson will bat in the middle, maybe the three spot, and John Gardner, the senior first baseman, will clean up.
Other lineup mainstays are junior Justin Prior (left field) and junior Dan Pidgeon, who takes over at shortstop for Chris Bruno, who was an All-FCIAC defender. At third base, senior Brandon Tripodi will keep the spot hear earned last year, so that leaves the catcher position, and as of the time of this preview, Scott couldn't commit to one player getting the full-time work.
On the mound, Andrew Hurn, a right-handed junior, will see time as well. But despite who is throwing the cowhide, it's the big scope of it all, the ability to play against varsity competition. This team does lack the experience factor it had last season.
"It's a lot of new faces at the varsity level," Scott said. "An experienced team in baseball is a dangerous team. This year we don't have the depth we had last year. We had guy we could bring in off the bench and not lose a beat. We're not as deep. Our pitching might have to go a little further, and in our bullpen, we're not as a deep. A lot of that stuff will play a role in how this team compares to last year."
Last year's team wasn't a huge offensive team, but it was clutch. The timely hits propelled it to the state and FCIAC semis. It will take more of that, certainly, but few teams in the conference have the gas on the mound Darien does.
And you know what they say about pitching.
Hodges fires win in Wave baseball's opening game
Written by Lynsey Santimays
Wednesday, 07 April 2010 20:56
In summer-esque heat, the Darien High School baseball team nailed its first win Wednesday afternoon at home — with a final score of 11-5 in the season opener against out of conference foe New Fairfield.
“It’s a good feeling,” said head coach Mike Scott of the opening win. “Hopefully, this will give us some momentum for games coming up and keep us rolling for a little.”
Senior starter Ricky Hodges was the winning pitcher, with his left arm nabbing five strikeouts and giving up only four hits. Hodges pitched through four innings, leaving the game with six walks and five runs, three of them earned.
Sophomore Dillon Duncan made his varsity debut following Hodges, pitching through the rest of the game. Duncan ended the game with a strikeout and two walks, letting up two hits and no runs.
On the offensive side, the Blue Wave saw strong performances out of all of their hitters. Catcher Scott Dempsey hit a bomb over the fence at left center in the bottom of the second to send the Wave up 3-0, ending the day with two hits and two RBIs. Shortstop Dan Pidgeon hit a big double to center field in the bottom of the third, finishing with two hits and two RBIs as well.
The Wave also got two hits and two RBIs out of Justin Pryor, Mike Wholberg, and Brandon Tripodi. First baseman John Gardner had three hits, including a double, and two RBIs.
Their opponent, the Rebels, didn’t fare as well. Losing pitcher Anthony Muratore was taken out in the middle of the fourth after giving up eight runs. New Fairfield sent in Frank Guardi, who let up three addition runs but the bottom of the fifth, sending the Wave up 11-5. Lefty Joe Petrone finished out the game for the Rebels with a quick, three out, sixth inning.
On offense, New Fairfield was getting people on base but failing to bring them home, bringing runs in only in the second and third innings. Darien starts the season 1-0, while New Fairfield fell to 0-1.
HICKEY POWERS DARIEN TO BASEBALL WIN
By Dan Salomone
4-10-10
DARIEN -- As the record-setting temperatures cooled off in Fairfield County, the heat was just turning up for Darien's David Hickey on Friday. The Blue Wave pitcher allowed only three hits en route to a complete-game shutout of New Canaan, 2-0.
"I felt good the whole entire time," said Hickey, who will be playing at Yale next season. "I kept the energy going through the seventh inning. It went well."
The modest Hickey worked on his fastball placement during the off-season, and it clearly paid off for the senior co-captain. Hickey owned the inside half of the plate, giving fits to New Canaan hitters. He struck out six and walked two while earning his first victory of the season, the second for Darien in as many games.
New Canaan pitcher Jeff Spindel had an impressive first outing despite the loss. The senior captain matched Hickey's complete game, but the two earned runs scattered around four hits ended up being the difference.
The scrappy Darien squad utilized a hit-batter in the opening inning to manufacture its first run, which ended up to be enough. Leading off the bottom of the first, Tommy Blankmeier was hit by a pitch. After two stolen bases, Blankmeier was on third base before scoring on John Gardner's sacrifice fly.
"It was that type of game," Darien coach Mike Scott said. "There were two good pitchers going, and you need to go with what the game gives you."
Spindel settled in to throw four-consecutive scoreless innings.
"It took me a little to get working," Spindel said. "After that, they were willing to take swings so I was throwing strikes. So it worked out."
The senior captain will be playing for Skidmore College next spring, where he might trade in his pitching glove for a catcher's mitt. Before he does, New Canaan coach Mitch Hoffman will use him as long as he can.
"Jeff is a battler. He got himself into some tough jams, but he stayed poised for the entire game," said Hoffman, who is in his first year as head coach after being an assistant. "All in all, I would say it's an A-performance."
Spindel was highly efficient but not overpowering. Despite not recording a strikeout, Spindel never went over 14 pitches in any inning. Behind both pitchers, the defensive skills shined through.
"This was an old school dream right here," Hoffman said. "I'm proud of my guys."
Mustering runs was the name of the game for the Blue Wave. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Scott Dempsey belted a shot to deep right-center field. The ball bounced and hit the fence, giving Dempsey enough time for a standup double. Following a bunt by Mike Wholberg, another sacrifice fly by Brandon Tripodi accounted for the final run of the game. That was more than enough for Hickey and the Blue Wave.
"For his first start on the mound, you couldn't ask for anything more," Scott said. "He was getting ahead and making pitches; that's all we ask of him."
Darien second baseman Matt Anderson said he is excited about the season.
"I was happy with the way we played defensively," Anderson said. "We lost a lot of seniors last year. So I was looking for new guys to step up, and they're doing a great job."
The two teams entered Friday's game after winning their respective home openers. New Canaan defeated New Milford, 9-4, while Darien took care of New Fairfield, 11-5.
Written by Lynsey Santimays
Thursday, 15 April 2010 08:50
The DHS varsity baseball team couldn’t ask for much more at this point in the 2010 season — considering it has come out on the winning side in every game thus far. With a 4-0 start, the Blue Wave has come crashing down on foes during each game this season, outscoring opponents 27-6. Despite this undefeated start, coach Mike Scott is remaining cautiously optimistic.
“We still have a lot of room to improve,” Scott said. “There is a lot of baseball left to be played, and a tough part of our schedule coming up. We certainly aren’t peaking yet.”
They might not be “peaking”, but they certainly are playing good baseball. Whether it was a resounding win — like 13-1 over Harding and 11-5 over New Fairfield— or a nail-biter, like the 2-0 win over New Canaan, the Wave have always been on the winning side of things. Pitching has proved to be a strong point for the Wave so far, with starters Ricky Hodges, Dave Hickey, and Andrew Hurn bringing in impressive stats. In the season opener against New Fairfield, Hodges pitched four innings, with five strikeouts, four hits, six walks, and three earned runs. He also started against Harding on Monday, but pitched only three innings. In those nine outs pitched, though, Hodges made a strong impression, recording eight strikeouts and only one hit. Dave Hickey had his first season start against FCIAC foe New Canaan on Friday. In the pitcher’s duel, Hickey came out on top, pitching a complete game with seven strikeouts, two walks, and only two hits. Also throwing a complete game for the Wave was junior Andrew Hurn against Norwich Free Academy on Saturday. Hurn had a no-hitter going up until the fifth inning, and finished up with two hits, two walks, and a whopping 14 strikeouts.
“The pitchers have been very much in control,” Scott said.
On the offensive side, the Blue Wave bats have been getting the job done when needed. During the season opener against New Fairfield, Darien saw strong hitting performances from nearly the whole lineup with Scott Dempsey, Dan Pidgeon, Justin Pryor, Mike Whalberg, and Brandon Tripodi all bringing in two hits and two RBIs. John Gardner had three hits and two RBIs that game, as well. Monday’s game against Harding was a similar story, but with many of the younger players getting the chance to give their bats a loud workout. The Wave scored six runs in the first, three in the second, three in the fourth, and one more in the fifth in that FCIAC blowout. However, probably the most notable game of the season was when Darien faced rival New Canaan. In the first Friday game of the season and the FCIAC season opener, DHS edged out their neighboring rivals 2-0.
“New Canaan is always tough,” said Scott. “You know you are always going to get their best game, and we are always going to bring our best game.”
The battle of their personal “bests” boiled down to each team’s pitchers. Hickey got the win after his strong, seven-inning performance; while Jeff Spindel from New Canaan bore the loss.
“That game was all about pitching and defense,” Scott said. Hickey’s seven strikeouts, two walks, and only two hits were crucial to the Wave’s victory.
The Darien lineup had only four hits against New Canaan, but four was all they needed to secure the win. Senior John Gardner drove in Tommy Blankmeier in the first with a sac fly to score their first run. In the fifth, Scott Dempsey led off the inning with a double. Pinch running was Tommy Farren, who advanced to third on a bunt and was brought home by Brandon Tripodi’s sac fly. Scott hopes these wins will give the team the momentum they need to roll through the tougher part of their season. The Wave face Norwalk next at home on Friday, 4 p.m.
DARIEN 6, ST. JOSEPH 5 (10): Sam Gillespie had two hits, including the game-winning single in the 10th inning, to lead Darien (5-8) to the dramatic victory. Dillon Duncan came on in relief in the sixth and pitched four scoreless innings for the win.
|
