Warriors’ Baseball Results

Warriors 15U/14U summer travel baseball highlights from this past week are as follows:

Warriors 12, New Canaan 8: The Warriors pounded out 13 hits and withstood three New Canaan comebacks Sunday at Fairfield Hills Field. Newtown won all three weekend games to jump in front of Monroe and grab firm control of second place in the eight-team western division of the Connecticut summer travel league.

Trailing 2-0 in the third inning, the Warriors erupted for nine runs. Max Temple walked, Brandon Cooper singled, and Eric Sutton bombed a two-RBI triple over the right fielder’s head. Ben Stoller rapped an RBI single, John Lebinski walked, and Austin Ekstrom slashed a two-RBI double to right center. The hit boosted Ekstrom’s team-leading RBI total to 18 in 19 games played. Colton Sposta followed with a single, Nick Sajovic walked, Troy Larsen hit an RBI grounder, and Alex Romeo walked to reload the bases. Cooper drilled a two-RBI single, his second hit of the inning. He finished the game with three hits and three RBIs.

Newtown scored its tenth run in the fourth inning on walks to Sposta and Sajovic, and an RBI single to right by Larsen. In the fifth inning, Temple blasted a triple to right field and scored on Cooper’s groundout. Stoller reached on a fielder’s choice and stole second, his third steal of the game 33rd stolen bases of 34 attempted steals this season. Lebinski blasted an RBI double to center to score Stoller.

Sutton came on in relief in the second inning and got the win. Ekstrom relieved in the sixth inning and picked up the save, retiring six of nine batters and striking out five. Sposta made standout plays in left and center fields. In the fourth inning, he raced to pick up a hit to right center and threw a strike to nail the batter trying to reach second. Romeo made the tag for the third out just before a runner crossed the plate.

Warriors 16, Norwalk 3: Trailing 3-0 after the first half inning, Newtown unleashed a mighty offensive barrage and blanked Norwalk the rest of the game Saturday at Fairfield Hill Field.

In the bottom of the first, Brandon Cooper clubbed a double down the left field line, and Ben Stoller smacked a two-out RBI double to right center. John Lebinski reached on a two-base error by the left fielder, and Austin Ekstrom blasted an RBI double over the center fielder’s head.

Newtown scored six more runs in the second inning. Key hits were singles by Cooper, Eric Sutton, and Stoller, and a two-RBI double by John Lebinski. The Warriors tacked on seven fourth-inning runs. Key hits were singles by Lebinski and Sposta, a bunt single by Nicky Sajovic, a two-RBI, line-drive double to right by Alex Romeo, and a long RBI triple to right by Ekstrom.

The game’s defensive gem was started by left fielder Sposta. He fielded a single cleanly and threw a strike to cutoff man Sutton. Sutton wheeled around and threw perfectly to catcher Cooper, who made a nifty tag to cut down a sliding Norwalk runner at the plate. Ekstrom pitched the first three innings to get the win, and Troy Larsen threw two shutout innings for the save. Larsen struck out five of the seven batters he faced.

Warriors 13, Monroe 2: The Warriors’ furious offensive attack and the powerful right arm of Colton Sposta stunned second-place Monroe last week at Newtown Middle School Field. Ben Stoller and John Lebinski each had two hits, and Stoller and Troy Larsen each knocked in two runs. Sposta threw 111 pitches en route to the first complete-game victory of his career. He scattered five hits, walked three, struck out four and repeatedly came up with big pitches for an out with runners on base. With runners on second and third in the fourth inning, he snared a line drive at his shoe tops and threw to third baseman Lebinski for a double play. Catcher Brandon Cooper played a solid defensive game and reached base all four times at bat. Cooper walked three times, singled and scored three runs.

Trumbull 12, Warriors 7: Newtown pitchers could not find the plate all night, walking 15 batters last week at Trumbull’s Unity Field. Trailing 6-1 in the fourth inning, Newtown rebounded for five runs to tie the score. Colton Sposta drilled a bases-loaded, two-RBI single to bring Newtown within one run, and Max Temple slashed an RBI single to center to tie the game. But the walk parade resumed, and Trumbull coasted to victory.