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Greenwich baseball stuns Warde in CIAC class LL opener, 6-3

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Greenwich High School's Devin McGrath dives back to first during the CIAC class LL opening round game against Fairfield Warde. (Paul Silverfarb photo)
Greenwich High School’s Devin McGrath dives back to first during the CIAC class LL opening round game against Fairfield Warde. (Paul Silverfarb photo)

The Greenwich High School baseball team took advance of stellar pitching from senior Michael Genaro, timely hitting from Kevin Woodring and capitalized on a few Fairfield Warde mistakes to upend the Mustangs 6-3 earlier today in the opening round of the CIAC class LL baseball tournament.

“It was a big win because we were playing really good baseball at the end of the year and lost on a tiebreaker not to get into the FCIAC,” Greenwich High School head coach Phil Tarantino said. “These seniors have committed to this program for the past four years. I was heartbroken for them not to get that opportunity. They could have quit and played in the state tournament, but that’s not this group. I am proud of them once again. They never surprise me. They play good baseball, execute and that translates to a lot of victories.”

The team’s victory didn’t come easy. In fact, Greenwich saw themselves down 2-0 after the bottom of the first inning. Genaro on the mound was throwing a lot of pitches early and gave up a key two-out, two-run double to deep center field.

“That kid put a good swing on the ball, hit the ball hard in the gap,” Genaro said. “You just have to bounce back. It’s only two runs and you have six more innings. You can’t let that bother you. I’ve had that problem a lot in the first inning this year. It happened in Wilton. It’s common territory and that’s probably not the best thing, but I was ready to settle in and finish the rest of the game.”

Instead of panic setting in, Genaro calmed down. GHS got out of the inning when the defense gunned down a runner at home. From there, Genaro was lights out and didn’t give up a run until two outs in the seventh inning.

GHS starting pitcher Michael Genaro takes control of the game during Wednesday's CIAC opener against Fairfield Warde. (Paul SIlverfarb photo)
GHS starting pitcher Michael Genaro takes control of the game during Wednesday’s CIAC opener against Fairfield Warde. (Paul SIlverfarb photo)

Tarantino said that the key of the game, in his opinion, was when Genaro had runners on first and third with no outs in the fifth inning and was able to end the frame without giving up a run. He got Zach Weinstein to pop out to short, Nick Nardone flied out to Genaro and gunned down a runner on a possible double-steal attempt at the plate to end the inning.

“Michael pitched out and they tried to steal home on the play,” Tarantino said. “I thought that was a turning point because now we were in the bottom of their lineup. He’s tough.”

“Offensively we have been struggling the second half of the year and you can’t make mistakes along the bases,” Warde head coach Mark Caron said. “We did that a couple of times today and that gave them confidence in the middle innings. [The double steal] wasn’t supposed to happen on that play. We messed it up. We just didn’t play our best baseball today. You just tip your cap to Greenwich. They played well.”

Although Greenwich trailed 2-0 lead, they were able to come back in the top of the third. Genaro helped his own cause by leading off the inning with a single. With one out, Kelly smacked a double down the right field line to put two runners in scoring position for GHS.

With two outs, Woodring stepped to the plate and unloaded a screamer over the center fielder’s head that scored both Kelly and Genaro to tie the game at 2-2.

In the top of the fifth inning, Greenwich took the lead for good when Ale Loparco beat out an infield roller for a single. Up next was Kelly and he delivered again, belting a double past the diving center fielder’s head that let Loparco easily round third and score Big Red’s third run of the game.

GHS extended the lead in the seventh inning. Marco Pastore led things off with a walk. Loparco once again used his speed to cause havoc on the Warde defense by hitting the bunt. An error by the first baseman helped Anthony Ferraro, who was running for Pastore, advance to third and Loparco took second.

Up next was Devin McGrath and he hit a roller to the infield, but Ferraro slid home safely on the play at the plate. Another solid hit by Woodring gave Big Red its fifth run of the game and a single to left center by Jason Capozza plated the third run of the frame.

“To the kid’s credit, we put pressure on them,” Tarantino said. “We hit and ran, we bunted and made them make a play. It’s tough when you put pressure on a team when the score is tied or down one. In a high school game, you have to execute the fundamental plays.”

With the victory, Greenwich will play at Darien High School tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. in the second round of the CIAC class LL baseball tournament.

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