Knights’ Baseball Highlights

Newtown Knights 16U/15U baseball highlights from this past week are as follows:

Knights 12 Rye Brook, NY 7: Newtown starting pitcher Colton Sposta pitched three shutout innings, and the Knights exploded for seven second-inning runs en route to victory Saturday at Fairfield Hills Field. The win upped Newtown’s record to 5-2 in the fiercely-competitive Stamford Fall League.

In the second inning, Newtown’s John Lebinski walked, and Austin Ekstrom reached on an error. Nick Heron blasted an RBI double to center field, and Sposta drilled a line-drive RBI to left field. John Hampford reached on a fielder’s choice, and Heron scored on the play when the catcher dropped the throw to home plate. Hampford stole second, and Dan Poeltl slapped an RBI single to left field, scoring Sposta. Heron pinch ran for Poeltl and stole second. Ben Stoller, who stole three bases during the game, knocked in a run on a fielder’s choice, and Heron scored from second when the shortstop’s throw home was wild. Stoller took second, moved to third on a passed ball and scored when Sutton drilled an RBI single. It was Sutton’s second hit after crushing a first-inning triple. Rye Brook narrowed the lead to 7-3 with two runs in the fourth inning and one run in the fifth. In the bottom of the fifth, Newtown’s Dean Demers dribbled an infield single down the third-base line, and Lebinski reached on an error. Heron smacked a two-RBI double down the right-field line. Newtown’s final three runs came in the sixth inning. Poeltl drilled a single to left, Stoller and Cooper walked, and Lebinski crushed an RBI single. Newtown also took advantage of two Rye Brook fielding errors in the inning. The game’s defensive highlights were a diving catch in left field by Ekstrom and solid catching from Sutton, who threw one runner out trying to steal second.

Fairfield National 5, Knights 2: Newtown put a scare into one of the state’s top teams, leading 1-0 after three innings, but the undefeated, veteran Fairfield team prevailed. Newtown’s Jon Hull pitched three shutout innings, retiring nine of the first 10 batters he faced. Newtown took the lead when John Lebinski walked, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on a line-drive RBI single to left center by Brandon Cooper. Fairfield scored a run to tie the game in the fourth inning. In the fifth inning, Fairfield strung together three singles and capitalized on two Newtown errors to take a 5-1 lead. Newtown battled back in the sixth inning. Hull walked and Ben Stoller reached on a force out. Dean Demers walked, and Lebinski crushed a vicious, towering shot that bounced to the left field fence. Stoller scored on the RBI double, but Demers was thrown out at the plate. The two runs were the most yielded by Fairfield in five games this season, and the three-run differential was the closest game the club has played this fall.