With wins over the Lightning and the Knighthawks, the Tuscans captured the Newtown Babe Ruth Fall Baseball championship in the 8/9 division.

In the win over the Lightning, the Tuscans scored 14 runs Sam Czel (4-for-4), Bobby Archiere (4-for-4) and Matt Wood (3-for-4) powering the offense. Matt Mitchell added two hits and Ryan Conway scored three runs.

In the 8-6 night cap win over the Knight Hawks, the Tuscans came from behind as Archiere (3-for-3) belted a homer, Matt Wood drove in three runs and Lane Kummer smacked a two-run double. The Tuscan’s ace pitching staff, consisting of Czel, Archiere and Mark Dowling, combined for 25 strikeouts across both games.

In other playoff action –

U10/11

Davis’ Destroyers advanced to the U10/11 championship with a 6-5 win over the Thunder. David Gerics blooped a two-out single to left center, scoring Jack Benedict and Andrei Ruscoe with the winning runs in the bottom of the sixth inning at Glander Field on Sunday.

The Destroyers will battle the Hawks, 5-4 winners over the Thunder (see below).

Gerics’ hit, one of his three singles in the game, culminated a four-run comeback. Down 5-1 in the fifth inning, Brandon Cooper tripled to deep left field and scored when Patrick Pierce reached on an error. Jimmy Gilbert followed with a single, and Rob Andreotta and Jimmy Russo knocked in runs with RBI groundouts to shrink the Thunder lead to 5-4.

The Thunder jumped out to a 3-0 first-inning lead. Erik Laaksonen singled and scored on an error. Michael Koch walked and moved to third after Kyle Wilcox reached on an error and Ben Stoller popped a single to right center. Kaleb Rowe walked to drive in Koch, and Stoller alertly scooted home from second base when Jacob Moore hit a grounder that was dropped at second base.

The Destroyers bounced back for a first-inning run. Gerics and Michael Davis singled, and Pat Sullivan drove in Gerics with a ground single up the middle.

Thunder pitchers Wilcox and Koch then threw three shutout innings, combining to strike out six batters. Playing shortstop in the fourth inning, Wilcox made a sensational over-the-head catch, tumbled to the ground and flipped to second baseman Michael Burton to nail a base runner at second base in an inning-ending double play.

Wilcox led off the next inning by smashing a double to right center and came home when Stoller drilled a line-drive single to right field. Stoller raced to second and third on wild pitches and scored on an RBI groundout by Rowe.

The Thunder’s loss was its second straight one-run loss after winning its first two playoff games. The Thunder started the season slow with a 2-6 record but won seven straight games and finished the season with a 9-8 record.

Sean Dardine led the team in batting average (.475) and on-base percentage (.600) and finished second on the team in hits (19) and third in runs scored (23). Stoller led the team with 25 RBIs and finished second in on-base percentage (.519), runs scored (24) and hits (19). He was also third in batting average (.442).

Wilcox was another major offensive force, finishing second in batting average (.457) and fourth in on-base percentage (.500). He led the team in hits (21), runs scored (27) and extra-base hits (9). They included two home runs and three triples, and he reached base on seven errors.

Koch had a strong season, batting .375.

Rowe led the team with a 3.80 ERA and struck out 39 batters in 24 innings. Wilcox struck out an incredible 73 batters in 30 innings and yielded just 17 hits.

In the Hawks’ win over the Thunder, centerfielder Jon Hull threw a perfect strike to nail a runner at the plate in the fifth inning and preserve the Hawks victory at Treadwell Park last week.

Down 5-4, Dardine of the Thunder rapped a clutch two-out single and moved to second on a passed ball. Koch followed with a single, but Hull’s throw to Roche at the plate nipped the sliding Dardine at home.

The Thunder raced out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Dardine walked and Koch cracked an RBI triple. Wilcox boomed an inside-the-park home run to deep right center. Stoller ripped a ball that was dropped by the right fielder and moved to second on a wild pitch. Rowe drove him home with an RBI single.

The Hawks responded with walks by Hull, Roche and Dan Gustafson. Brendan Peterson drove in Hull with a sacrifice fly to deep right field. Pitcher Reid Schmidt came on in relief and threw two shutout innings, striking out five batters. The Hawks rallied for four third-inning runs. Ryan Daignault walked and Jack Zahansky singled. Schmidt later drove in two runs with a bloop single to left center.

Gustafson came on in relief, hurling two shutout innings to get the save. Third baseman Ryan Moyer made a nice play in the final inning, snaring a grounder and throwing a strike to first base.