Solid All Around Play Leads The Way As NHS Sluggers Keep On Rolling

By Andy Hutchison

After losing their first two games of the season, Newtown High School’s baseball team has had no problems winning. Not even a doubleheader and a game postponed by rain could break up the Nighthawks’ winning ways. Newtown blanked host Notre Dame-Fairfield 5-0 on April 20, then went to Brookfield for two games the next day. The Hawks earned another shutout in a 4-0 blanking of the Bobcats, then prevailed 7-4 in the second game of the doubleheader. Newtown took on Weston on Tuesday in a game moved back a day because of rain. The Hawks earned yet another shutout win with a 1-0 nail-biter to earn their seventh straight victory and improve to 7-2 overall.

In the win at Notre Dame, sophomore pitcher Mike Davis followed up his no-hit performance against Bethel with a dominant three-hitter against the Lancers. Davis, for the second consecutive game, struck out nine batters. He has gone 14 straight innings without allowing a run.

“It feels good,” said Davis, adding that the winning ways are attributable to all-around strong play on the part of the Hawks. “We’ve been playing well — hitting, fielding, everything.”

Kyle Wilcox, who hit one of two homeruns in the win, notes that many of the NHS players have been teammates for several years, dating back to youth ball.

“It’s just great that everything’s coming together now,” Wilcox said. “It’s been great. This is the most fun I’ve ever had playing baseball.”

And why not? The Hawks have been on a hot streak heading into Wednesday’s visit to Oxford (after The Bee sports section went to press).

Evan Noonan hit a solo homer and Wilcox delivered a three-run blast in the win over Notre Dame; both players had two-hit performances. Chris Tenney also had a multi-hit effort, and reached base in every at bat, and Mike Allwein had a multi-hit day. David Lucia added a double and Justin DeVellis added a hit.

Against Brookfield, Newtown got more lights-out mound work. Wilcox, a Bryant University-bound hurler, allowed just one hit in seven innings. He was perfect into the sixth inning. Newtown’s offense was led by Allwein who had three hits and two runs scored, and Noonan who had all four of Newtown’s runs batted in. Noonan was 2-for-4 with a game-changing three-run home run. John Hull added a single and Tenney had a double in the win.

 In the second game, Newtown’s starting pitching has again been dominate, with junior pitcher Pat Mullins throwing six strong innings. He allowed only four hits and two runs. Junior Colton Sposta threw the seventh inning, allowing only one earned run and striking out a batter. Wilcox started the double header success with his arm and closed it out with his bat. Wilcox had two hits, including a three-run home run. Andy Kelley also had a strong day at the plate with a two-run home run. Davis tripled and Rich Sandler, Allwein, Lucia and Tenney all added hits.

It took extra innings for the Hawks to get past Weston on Tuesday. Junior pitcher Brandon Marks had an outstanding game, pitching all eight innings, allowing only three Weston hits and striking out six Trojan batters. Allwein produced a walk-off, game-winning single in the bottom of the eighth to score DeVellis, who had three hits of his own.

The eighth inning rally was started by a DeVellis single, followed by a Wilcox single, and a sacrifice bunt by Tenney. Davis was intentionally walked to set the stage for Allwein’s walk-off one-hopper off the left field fence. Tenney had a double, and Noonan and Davis added hits in the win.

 “Very pleased with the way we are coming together,” Newtown Coach Matt Memoli said. “Everyone is contributing and playing unselfish, hard-nosed baseball. If we play our game every day and keep working as hard as we are in practice, we will be pretty tough to beat.”

The Nighthawks will host Joel Barlow of Redding on Friday, April 27, when the Falcons visit Fairfield Hills for a 6 pm first pitch.