ANSONIA – The Franklin Monroe Jets plated a run in the top of the sixth inning to break a 2-2 tie in earning a 3-2 WOAC win over the Ansonia Tigers baseball team with FM’s Chase Stebbins going the distance tossing a one-hitter to earn the win.
“Chase Stebbins had a tremendous performance today,” said Franklin Monroe coach Tyler Zimmerman. “It was nice to see the defense step up behind him and help him get through that thing.”
“It’s a learning experience. We have to learn from the tough ones, take what we didn’t do right,” said Ansonia coach Dustin Hecht. “We played error-free today; it’s just that balls weren’t dropping our way. We just have to keep swinging; it will eventually pay off.”
Ansonia took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth, taking advantage of an FM error, a walk, a wild pitch, a Keegen Weiss steal of second, and Nick Burns racing home on a wild pitch. Asher Shives followed with an RBI single to center to close out fourth-quarter scoring.
Franklin Monroe battled back with three runs in the top of the sixth with a walk followed by a single off the bat of Armstrong and a perfectly placed Madex Skidmore bunt single down the third base line loading the bases with Jets.
“We had five walks tonight, a little out of character for us,” Hecht stated. “Later in the season, we’re starting to see a little wear and tear.”
Franklin Monroe took the lead with back-to-back bases-loaded walks and a hit batsman to lead 3-2 with no outs on the board. A double play and strikeout got the Tigers out of the inning trailing by a single run.
An FM error put Nick Burns on first with one out, bringing Weiss to the plate to crush what looked to be a go-ahead home run over the right-center field fence. However, Ansonia center fielder Matthew Hurley tracked down the hit, leaping above the fence and pulling the ball down for a long out, keeping the Jets’ one-run lead intact.
“Matthew Hurley has been great defensively, has done everything we’ve asked him to, and when he needed to step up, he did right there – just a great play,” said Zimmerman. “That’s a two-run homer and he also held a runner on a tag-up at third, he saved three runs himself today, one-run game, he held the runner trying to tag up at third, he guns him, he holds him there, and then saves two, he personally saved three when we needed it today.”
“One swing away would have made a huge difference,” said Ansonia coach Dustin Hecht. We swung well today. A lot of them were right at them, and unfortunately, that’s part of the game sometimes.”
Both teams went down in order in the seventh giving the visiting Jets a surprising win over the Tigers.
“Ty Riffle and Chase Stebbins have been playing since they were little boys,” Coach Zimmerman said of his batterymates. Ty is a grinder. Basketball or baseball, it doesn’t matter the sport; he’s the one who gets in and does the dirty work, and that’s what we needed tonight.”
Ansonia entered the game with a 5-2 WOAC record, and FM brought a 2-4 record to the Tuesday night conference game.
Stebbins earned the win, allowing one hit and two walks while striking out seven. Trevor Hemmerich went 4.1 innings for Ansonia, surrendering three earned runs, four walks, and seven strikeouts. K. Weiss threw the first two innings, allowing no earned runs, two hits, one walk, and five strikeouts.
Stebbins, Armstrong, Skidmore, and Neitzelt each had hits for Franklin Monroe, and Shives had the lone hit for Ansonia.
BOX SCORE
123 456 7 R H E
000 003 0 3 4 2 Franklin Monroe
000 200 0 2 1 0
