NEW MADISON – The Ansonia Tigers made six second-inning runs hold up for a 6-4 win over the Tri-Village Patriots in varsity WOAC baseball action.
The teams played to a scoreless first inning before the Tigers exploded to a six-run second inning, taking advantage of several Tri-Village miscues.
“We have been preaching to them when they’re throwing strikes early, we need to jump on them early and get things moving instead of sitting back and trying to take it a little bit slower,” said Ansonia coach Dustin Hecht. “We’ve been doing that pretty well the last couple of games.”
“We got off to a sluggish start, booted a couple of balls here and there, and then once we lost one of our seniors to an injury, it took our guys a little bit of time to calm down,” Tri-Village coach Josh Davies, “and then we did but just a little bit too late.”
The Patriots battled back plating runs in three consecutive innings, one in the third, two in the fourth, and one in the fifth to trail 6-4 after five complete.
“It got a little rough there, we got a little bobbly, we got a little lackadaisical in that little set,” Hecht said of the Patriots’ middle innings production. “We had to remind them you have to flip your mind, and we have to get back into this. We can’t just let them chip away and get back into it. We have to do it ourselves.”
Neither team would dent the plate in the sixth and seventh innings, giving the visiting Tigers a two-run conference win.
“We were able to take advantage of a couple of their mistakes, and that was big for us,” Coach Hecht noted. “We’ve been struggling with that over the last couple of games, so to put all that together and put six up and then be able to hold on was what we needed.”
“We have been playing some pretty good baseball,” said Coach Davies. “We just haven’t been able to complete the task towards the end of the game. We’ve had three games that have gone into extra innings. Tonight, just a little sluggish; it happens in baseball.”
Ansonia banged out eight hits on the night and committed one error; Tri-Village was good for seven hits and three errors.
Lander Shives earned the win for Ansonia, tossing 6.2 innings, allowing three earned runs, three walks while striking out eight. Cainan Robinson got the final Ansonia out in relief to preserve the win.
“Lander Shives threw a gem tonight,” said Hecht. “He was great out there, kept them on their toes, so I couldn’t ask for a better outing.”
Ansonia sophomore Caleb Eubank paced the Tigers at the plate, going 2-4 with a double and a triple, and a run scored, and Asher Shives also was 2-4 with a run. Kam Ingle went 1-4 with a run; Cainan Robinson went 1-4, 1 RBI, one run; L. Shives 1-4, 2 RBIs; Austin Singer 1-3.
Mason Stansberry threw 5.1 innings in relief, allowing no runs, one hit, no walks, and four strikeouts for the Patriots.
Tri-Village senior Lane Bierly led the Patriots, going 3-4, including a double and a run; Lucas Brown 1-4, 1 RBI; Evan Duncan 1-3; Grant Howell 1-3; Mason Stansberry 1-3, 1 run.
BOX SCORE:
123 456 7 R H E
060 000 0 6 8 1 Ansonia
001 210 0 4 7 3 Tri-Village
