By Kim J. Harmon

MILFORD – People expected things were going to get a little rough for the young and inexperienced Newtown High School baseball team in 2003 … just not as rough as they have been.

The Nighthawks dropped a 19-3 decision to Jonathan Law on Monday afternoon in Milford and thus fell to 0-4 overall, 0-3 in the South-West Conference. Pete Meisel, Ron Shimko and Greg Britton collected two hits apiece while Ron Isler had one in four trips to the plate. Shimko and Mark Fracker collected RBIs.

The ‘Hawks opened the season with a 5-0 non-league loss to Joel Barlow. Isler and Matt Myslewski combined on the mound to scatter just five hits, but the defense (five errors) let the hurlers down. At the plate, Meisel had a pair of hits while Isler, Ben Bagaglio, and Peter Oggeri had one hit apiece.

The ‘Hawks followed up with a 9-3 loss to New Milford. Myslewski got roughed up on the mound, allowing nine hits and eight earned runs in the first two innings, but Pat McCarthy and Alex Dolan settled things down a bit after that, scattering two hits over the final four innings. At the plate, Meisel and Bagaglio had two hits apiece while Nick Magoulas and Ted Rocca had one hit each.

The offense got untracked last week in the Nighthawks’ first visit to Milford, but the Lawmen still came out on top, 13-6. Isler had a run-scoring double in the top of the first inning and then scored on a single by Bagaglio, but the 2-0 lead was short-lived. Law scored five times in the bottom of the frame to take the lead for good.

The ‘Hawks collected 11 hits in the game, with Fracker going 3-for-4 with three RBI, Bagaglio and McCarthy each going 2-for-3, and Isler going 2-for-4. Fracker tripled in the game while Isler and McCarthy doubled.

In the 19-3 loss on Monday afternoon, the ‘Hawks collected eight more hits. Meisel, Shimko and Britton had two hits apiece while Isler and McCarthy had one hit apiece. Shimko and Fracker drove in runs. Fracker, Myslewski and Britton took to the hill and allowed eight earned runs … only eight because the defense committed seven errors.

The ‘Hawks will be in Danbury on Friday to take on Immaculate and will travel to Bethel on Monday. A visit to Redding to take on Joel Barlow (this time it will be a league game) will follow on Wednesday.