NHS Baseball Team Enjoys Winning Ways

By Andy Hutchison

In baseball, all it takes is a seeing-eye grounder or bloop hit here, a tough pitcher there — or any number of mostly uncontrollable circumstances to change the fate of a team. That’s what makes extended winning streaks in baseball unusual for even the best teams.

Newtown High School’s team, despite enduring a fair amount of rebuilding this year, found a way to win five straight games for an impressive 7-3 start (5-0 in the South-West Conference) to the campaign heading into this week’s action.

The Nighthawks scratched and clawed to a 5-4 win over Weston on April 14, followed with a 3-0 blanking of Joel Barlow on April 16, bested New Fairfield twice — 10-1 and 12-7 on April 18 and 21 — then edged Notre Dame-Fairfield 3-1 this past Saturday.

“It feels great — especially beating good teams,” said Newtown’s Alex Magoulas, who slid home with the go-ahead run in the sixth-inning of Saturday’s comeback effort against Notre Dame (the Lancers fell to 7-4 and 5-2 in the SWC).

The Nighthawks are getting contributions from up and down the lineup. No matter who is pitching or who’s in at the plate, the Hawks are finding ways to get the job done.

“It’s everybody contributing,” Head Coach Carl Strait said. “Everybody’s been contributing in their own way.”

Gregg Rodden has pitched well. He earned the shutout against Barlow and tossed six strong innings to hold off the Lancers. Mike Tobin is 4-0, and Charlie LoBosco and Nick Saviano (who is averaging about two strikeouts per inning, according to Strait) have all been reliable on the hill. Jake Devillis, meanwhile, has been solid in relief to shut the door on opponents.

The Rodden-Devillis combination was the one that helped the Hawks win their fifth straight. Rodden scattered five hits and allowed only an unearned run in the win over the Lancers. After surrendering a leadoff double in the seventh inning of that game, Rodden gave way to Devillis, who proceeded to retire three straight batters to close out the game. It wasn’t so easy though. Notre Dame’s Connor Montrose collided with Devillis, who was attempting to catch a ball Montrose popped up just on the foul side of the first base line. The out was called on batter’s interference, but the biggest concern was for Devillis who stayed on the ground for a couple of minutes before shaking it off and ending the game with a strikeout.

Although designed a home game for Notre Dame, is was played in Newtown while renovations at the ND field continue. The “host” Lancers took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning and maintained the edge until the top of the sixth. Devillis sparked a two-run rally with a leadoff ground rule double to left center. One out later, Magoulas followed with a opposite-field single to put runners on the corners and Nick Urso was walked to load the bases. Rodden aided his own cause with a game-tying bloop single down the right field line. LoBosco stepped up and hit a sacrifice fly to right field. Magoulas narrowly beat the throw home and a tag attempt by ND catcher Rob Stan. Magoulas slid around the tag for the go-ahead run on a bang-bang play.

“It was a real close play. I knew the throw was going to get there and that I had to make a tricky slide,” Magoulas said.

The Hawks added some insurance in the seventh. George Zarubo worked a walk and was forced out at second on a Devillis ground out. Devillis came up with a clutch stolen base and scored on Magoulas’ ground rule double to left center.

In the win over Weston, Magoulas, Brandon Rosenberger and Rodden each had two hits and Rodden knocked in a pair of runs as Newtown rallied

for two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Devillis drove in the tying run and Magoulas singled home the winning run.

Against Barlow, Rodden pitched a complete game shutout with seven strikeouts and added two hits. Magoulas, and LoBosco also had a pair of hits.

In the 10-1 win over New Fairfield, Saviano struck out eight batters in four-plus innings for his first win. LoBosco had three hits and an RBI and PJ Cochrane added a pair of hits.

In the 12-7 win over NewFairfield, a non-league contest, the Nighthawks pounded out 16 hits. Magoulas was 3-for-4 with four RBI in just five innings played. Devillis earned his first win on the mound and was 4-for-4 with a pair of runs scored. Rosenberger and Cochrane each had two hits.

Devellis is hitting .522, with a .640 on base percentage. He has scored nine runs and stolen five bases. On the mound, Devillis is 1-0 with a pair of saves. Magoulas is hitting .500 and his 10 RBI to go along with six stolen bases and a .750 on base percentage. Rodden is hitting .391 and, on the mound, carries a 2.96 ERA with 16 strikeouts in 21 innings pitched. Rosenberger is batting .346 with a .500 on base percentage and seven runs scored. Cocharine is hitting .367 with seven runs scored and eight stolen bases. Tobin is 3-0 with a 2.15 ERA. Saviano has 20 strikeouts in 11 innings. LoBosco is batting .435 with five runs batted in.