West Haven base runner Chris Cavallaro (2) steals second in last week’s game at Piurek Field.
It was an interesting week of baseball for West Haven as the Westies were no-hit, pounded out 20 hits in a victory, then suffered a grueling loss to cap a three-day stretch.
The Westies opened the week with a 3-0 loss against Shelton at Piurek Field in West Haven Tuesday afternoon. The box score was easy to tell the result when Shelton came to town.
Shelton’s Anthony Steele needed just 89 pitches to no-hit the Westies, striking out eight and walking just one. Steele threw 58 pitches for strikes.
Steele’s effort was needed to defeat West Haven as pitcher Juan Contreras, who allowed one earned run on five hits, while walking three and striking out four, was nearly as good as Steele on the hill for the Westies.
For Steele, only a leadoff walk to Chris Cavallaro in the second, a hit by pitch to Tyler Jones in the third, and Mike Tonucci reaching on an error in the sixth prevented a perfect game.
The Westies snapped a five-game losing streak with a 20-0 thumping over Bassick Wednesday afternoon at Piurek Field. West Haven pounded out 20 hits in the win.
Hunter Axelrod led the offense with three hits and two runs scored, Kaden Morgillo had two hits, drove in two runs, and scored twice, Gianni Gambardella added a pair of hits and drove in a pair, while scoring once, Cavallaro had two hits and three runs batted in, while Tonucci scored twice and drove in four runs.
West Haven started strong and never looked back, scoring eight runs in the first inning, five more in the second, and seven in the third to cruise to the victory. Lorenzo Espinal and Kaden Morgillo combined on a no-hitter, with Espinal striking out five in two innings of work, and Morgillo striking out seven in three innings.
The Westies started quickly as Dom Cambino led off the game with a triple to right and scored when Tonucci followed with a homer to right. Contreras then doubled, scored on a pair of passed balls, and Cavallaro walked.
After Mike Boni hit into a fielder’s choice, Boni scored on a single by Gambardella for a 4-0 lead. Axelrod doubled to right to put a pair of runners in scoring position, before Morgillo singled to score Gambardella and put runners on the corners.
Axelrod scored on a single to right by Tyler Jones. With two runners in scoring position, Morgillo scored on a ground out by Tonucci, and Cambino scored later in the inning when Contreras reached on an error.
The Westies increased the lead to 13-0 in the second when Gambardella singled to score Boni, Jones reached on an error to score Espinal, and Cavallaro singled to score Cambino and Tonucci.
West Haven added seven more in the third. Morgillo singled to score Derek Baker, Branden Coggins doubled to score Axelrod and Morgillo, and Cavallaro singled in Jake Lentine for an 18-0 advantage.
The Westies kept the offense going against Xavier scoring three times in the first inning, but could not hold on in a 7-4 loss at Palmer Field in Middletown Thursday evening.
West Haven was held to just five hits in the contest and watched as the Falcons scored once in the second and took a 5-4 lead in the third inning with four more runs.
With one out in the first, Toniucci was hit by a pitch, Contreras singled and Cavallaro grounded out to put two runners in scoring position. Tonucci scored on a sacrifice fly to left by Boni, Contreras scored on a single by Gambardella, and Cavallaro scored on a single to center by Axelrod.
After West Haven failed to push across another run and trailing 5-4, Xavier added two more in the sixth to seal the victory.
Gambardella allowed five earned runs on 10 hits, while walking two and striking out three in five innings of work.