East Hampton is Shoreline Baseball Champs

With Joe Tuxbury standing on first following a single to lead-off the seventh inning, it was time for East Hampton to be aggressive.

The Bellringers had simply come too far to take a chance on having North Branford come to bat in a 5-5 game with a chance to win.

The sign was flashed to Tuxbury. First movement, take off for second. The junior took his lead, a big lead, so big the pitcher’s first move was to first base. After a split second of hesitation, Tuxbury does what he does well. He ran.

First baseman Robert Picone took the throw from pitcher Dan Esposito and threw to second. The problem was his angle. Tuxbury was in the line of fire causing Picone to throw high and wide of the bag. Seeing the ball bounce into left-center field, Tuxbury took off for third.

“When we’re stealing on lefties [coach] tells us to go on first movement,” Tuxbury said. “[Coach] also teaches us, when it is a pickoff, to run inside of the baseline, that way it makes him nervous, the first baseman. Maybe he’ll make a bad throw. So, I ran inside the baseline and he made a bad throw. Got lucky.

“I saw the ball rolling out toward the left-center area and I just figured the centerfielder has to run in, pick it up and make a good throw, so I took off.”

In an instant, this hard-fought, back-and-forth game was all but decided.

“We were lucky, but it is something we work on,” East Hampton coach Scott Wosleger said.

Austin Wosleger hit a sacrifice fly to bring in Tuxbury with the go-ahead run as East Hampton went on to win the Shoreline Conference tournament championship game with a 6-5 victory over the Thunderbirds on Sunday in Clinton.

It was the second Shoreline title for East Hampton in four seasons but only its third conference title in baseball since 1973, when the school belonged to the Charter Oak Conference.

This one was anything but easy.

The Bellringers fell behind in the first inning, 2-0.

Adam Michaud, who had pitched brilliantly in two starts against North Branford this season, struggled out of the gate. The righthander allowed four runs and six hits over three innings before his day on the mound ended.

Though the Thunderbirds appeared more than once to be a hit from a big inning, Michaud didn’t give in. Backed by strong defensive play, he toughed it out before giving way to Al Iannone to start the fourth.

“I told him, ‘I love you because you gutted it out and kept us in the game,’” Wosleger said. “He did not have his stuff.”

After falling behind 2-0, East Hampton (18-4) used two hits, two walks and an error to score four times in the second inning. The big hit came from Tuxbury, whose two-out single scored Austin Shumbo and Nate Heroux.

Tuxbury has hit well since recently being moved from the ninth spot in the order to lead-off.

“I feel good my coach has confidence in me doing that,” Tuxbury said. “I like being the first guy to see the pitcher, it feels good.”

North Branford scored single runs in the second and third to tie the score at 4.

Iannone, making his first appearance in relief this season and pitching on one day of rest, settled things down.

“I’m fine with it,” the lefthander said about relieving and the short rest. “I knew I was going to come in.”

Iannone, who was named the Pitcher of the Year in the Shoreline Conference, said he experienced a little tightness but, “It’s the championship game. You got to do what you go to do.”

What he did was retire the side in order in the fourth and fifth innings. With East Hampton leading 5-4 in the sixth, Iannone left with one out after giving up consecutive singles. The second to Nick Perrelli tied the score.

Marvin Gorgas came in and got the final two outs to set the stage for the seventh inning.

“The second game we played against North Branford, they got lucky against us,” Gorgas said “They got a bloop single to score on me and we lost that game. I came here focused, a new game, just throw fastballs and get the last out.”

The freshman righthander made Tuxbury’s run hold up in the bottom of the seventh despite a few final anxious moments.

Mike Forgione singled with one out, and with two out, Michael Cattaruzza hit a smash to third that Michaud handled and threw over to first for the final out.

“It felt good, it felt good,” said Gorgas, who got the win. “I had a little butterflies going on, a little nervous, but it felt good after the last out.”

The victory accomplished a season-long goal for East Hampton.

“I’m really, really happy for the seniors,” Wosleger said. “They worked really hard throughout this program. … Guys who really just love baseball and wanted to be part of our program and buy into what we’re trying to do.”

Among those seniors is Brian Roberson. Roberson had excelled at baseball since he was a kid, but after his freshman year, he walked away from the game for two years.

“When I was younger I was like … Little League All-Stars, Babe Ruth All-Stars, I was always like No. 3 hitter, starting pitcher, play wherever I wanted,” Roberson said. “Then I came in freshman year kind of thinking like I can just do whatever I want and I had an off season and I couldn’t handle it. I just quit. I took a couple of years off from the game and I think that was kind of good for me because I grew up a little bit. I came back this year and I knew we had a special group of guys. In the offseason training in the gym, before we could even get on the field yet, we were talking Shoreline champs, Shoreline champs, and I knew.

“These guys are good enough they probably would have done it without me, but I’m just glad I could come and not only be a part, but help a little bit in my own way. Everybody is real satisfied and happy about this but we’re not even close to being done. We still got more work. We still have the big show. This is just a warmup.”

As for Tuxbury, the victory also had some added meaning.

In the May 9 game Gorgas was referring to, East Hampton traveled to North Branford. Leading 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Bellringers had a chance to sweep the season series. With two out and a runner on third, the ball was hit Tuxbury’s way. By all accounts it was a catchable ball, but on that day, the normally sure-handed Tuxbury didn’t and North Branford went on to win, 3-2.

So, was there extra motivation on Sunday?

“Of course there was,” Tuxbury said. “I wanted to beat them real good because we had them beat the last time and then that happened, it turned out we lost. So, going into today, we had to get the win, and worked hard and got it.”

Whereas the May 9 game will melt into the mosaic that makes up the 2011 season, it will be Sunday’s championship that will be remembered, hung among the gymnasium banners presumably forever.

East Hampton will continue pursuit of its next goal, the Class S title, on Wednesday at home against the winner of the Career Magnet-Coventry game.

The key to the Bellringers’ success in the state tournament is no different from any other point in the season. It has been a constant refrain from Wosleger and was a big factor on Sunday. Pitching and defense.

“Defense and pitching. Even though we let in some runs today, defense and pitching won the game,” Wosleger said. “That play at the end of the game by Michaud, are you kidding me, I mean that’s how he’s been all year. He’s been phenomenal.”