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Quite A Rally: Baseball Team Wins Game Suspended By Darkness Following Wild Comeback

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Newtown High School's baseball team, coming off wins in its first two games, continued the season with an impressive comeback on April 3. The Nighthawks trailed visiting Fairfield Warde 9-2 before battling back to tie the score at 9-9. The game went into extra innings and, after three hours, was suspended in the bottom of the eighth inning due to darkness. It was continued a week to the day later.

Newtown won the game 10-9, in the bottom of the eighth inning, when sophomore Grayson DeFelice drove in the deciding run with a single after Todd Petersen walked and Josh Taylor was hit by a pitch.

Warde scored six runs in the third inning and three more in the fifth.

Newtown scored runs in the first and third innings before getting back into the game in the fifth. Todd Petersen had an RBI single, another run scored on a force out, a run scored on an error, Matthew Bradbury drove in another on a sacrifice fly, and Brendan Smith knocked in a run on a single. Shane Demers had a double, Sean McCleary singled, and Luke Melillo walked in Newtown's five-run inning.

Thomas Tavar stepped up to pitch in the sixth inning, and kept Warde at 9. In the bottom of the sixth, Joseph Pagett and Smith walked, and Josh Taylor doubled to score a run. The game-tying run scored on a passed ball.

“I told these guys I was proud of them today. I mean we were down 9-2 and they fought back with intensity which was good and I’m happy with,” Coach Ian Thoesen said on the day the game was suspended.

Sammy Smith scored on Taylor's single for a 1-0 lead in the first inning. It remained 1-0 into the third inning as Newtown infielders Shane Demers and Michael Cotton backed up Smith’s pitching with numerous catches and fielding plays.

Thoesen was pleased with the efforts of Tavar, who pitched three scoreless innings of relief.

“Thomas Tavar, I mean he’s only a sophomore, but he came into the game and pitched very well. Shane Demers came in as well and had a big hit," Thoesen said.

The Nighthawks fell 8-6 at Ridgefield on April 4. The Tigers jumped out to a 6-0 lead after two innings.

Jack Petersen had a double and two runs batted in, Todd Petersen had a double and an RBI, and Taylor and Demers both drove in runs. Todd Petersen had three of Newtown's ten hits.

Newtown is scheduled to host Hall of West Hartford on Friday, April 12, beginning at 4:30 pm as the Hawks continue to work toward what they hope is a successful run in the postseason.

“We’re looking for an SWC championship and we’re also looking for a state championship. This is a good group of guys and we’re excited to get ready to go. We’re going to be great, we were down 9-2 and just put up seven runs ... This team’s great. We've got a great group of guys, great chemistry, and we’re really excited for the season,” said Taylor, a junior captain.

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