NORTH BRANFORD – A year after winning the Shoreline Conference baseball crown and reaching the CIAC Class S quarterfinals, North Branford looks to do even better this spring.
And the Thunderbirds are off to a hot start.
After beating Wilcox Tech Friday afternoon, 14-4, North Branford is on a five-game winning streak and has scored in double figures in each of its last four games. Its only loss is a 6-4 defeat at the hands of Morgan in the opening game of the season.
It’s a senior-laden Thunderbirds’ team with seven of them having started Friday.
“I expected us to round into shape and play like I thought we could,” North Branford coach Billy Mitchell said. “With the bad weather conditions, we’re hitting the ball pretty good. I’m happier with our defense but hitting has been a bonus for us. These guys fully expect to win the Shoreline Conference again. They work hard and they deserve it.”
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“All of us have one goal and that is to win a state championship,” catcher Yamil Perez said. “We believe we can win both championships this year. We’ve come a long way from failure to learning how the game works and the only way to do it is to close the story and get it done.”
J.J. O’Connor, who was the winning pitcher in relief Friday, said the most important thing that the Thunderbirds have been doing is to not take anyone lightly.
“The big thing is we’re focusing on that,” pitcher-center fielder J.J. O’Connor said. “We play our game and don’t care who the opponent is. We just want to play North Branford baseball which is focusing on quality at-bats, moving guys over and hitting the ball down and hard.”
Perez had three runs batted in Friday, including a single that ended the game in the bottom of the sixth inning.
“My goal is to have a great impact on the team defensively, be the best I can be and call a great game,” Perez said. “Offensively, I don’t take any moment for myself and just help the team win games.”
With Kyle Stegina, Adam Virginelli and O’Connor as its top three pitchers in the starting rotation, North Branford is in good shape there. The Thunderbirds are still figuring out who is after that, but Mitchell hopes it will work out by the end of the regular season.
“We’re going to have to continue to improve and try to be prudent with our pitchers,” Mitchell said. “We’ll try and keep them well rested. We have other guys to pitch, but we haven’t gotten them in yet and will start doing it.”
Meanwhile, Perez is going to Bryant to play at the Division I level in college.
“He’s a very good catcher and he hits the ball,” Mitchell said. “If the wind wasn’t blowing in today, that ball he hit to center field was one of the hardest balls I’ve seen hit this year and his work ethic and defensive skills will carry him pretty far.”
Stegina and Scalia will both play at the Division II level at Southern Connecticut. O’Connor will play at the University of Bridgeport and Virginelli is going to play at the Division III level at Albertus Magnus.
A mercy rule win
Perez poked a single to right field in the bottom of the sixth inning to give North Branford the 10-run lead that triggered the mercy rule.
“We took advantage of their mistakes and walks, and we got a lot of big hits,” Mitchell said. “It’s been tough playing in the weather conditions and how windy it is here. Good things happen when you hit the ball hard.”
With things tied at 2-2 in the second inning, O’Connor came in the game in relief of Caleb Raymond, who struggled with his control, having walked four and issued two wild pitches in just over an inning.
“I came in with runners on first and second and just had to make sure I threw strikes,” O’Connor said.
He got out of the inning without allowing a run and then North Branford scored four times in the bottom of the second with the help of two Wilcox Tech errors and two walks. Virginelli and Gavin Leone each had run-scoring singles.
O’Connor added a RBI triple in the third inning as the Thunderbirds took an 8-2 lead.
North Branford broke things open in the fourth inning, scoring three of the five runs on errors and another on a wild pitch. O’Connor also singled in a run.
Wilcox Tech, which fell to 5-2 overall, scored twice in the latter innings with Ean Finkle and Devin DelVecchio driving in runs with doubles.
“The breaks didn’t come our way today,” Wilcox Tech coach Dave Cronin said. “We hit the ball pretty well and we have the potential to be a good team. We’ll work on things and we’re going to get better.”
North Branford 14, Wilcox Tech 4
Wilcox Tech 200 110 – 4 5 4North Branford 242 501 -- 14Batteries: Wilcox Tech – Zavier Salas, Ean Finkle (4) and Devin Delvecchio. North Branford – Caleb Raymond, J.J. O’Connor (2), Ryan DeLucia (6) and Yanil Perez.Highlights: Wilcox Tech – DelVecchio and Finkle each had RBI doubles. North Branford – O’Connor had two hits, scored three runs and drove in a run. Matt Scalia scored three runs. Adam Virginelli had a two-run single, Gabe Blyshack doubled in a run. Perez had three RBI, including the RBI single that ended the game in the 6th inning. Kyle Stegina singled in a run.Records: Wilcox Tech 5-2, North Branford 5-1.