The Greenwich American Legion Senior Cannons ended the month of June in grand fashion. Behind stellar pitching from JT Hintzen and commanding hitting from Will Solomon, Greenwich upended Darien/New Canaan 8-3 Tuesday afternoon.
“They have some good bats over there and JT (Hintzen) held them down for the most part,” Greenwich head coach Mike Abate said. “We were able to get a couple of those runs early and usually with JT that’s all she wrote. He’s been doing that all year for us.”
With the victory, Greenwich kept the good times rolling by picking up its 11th consecutive victory and moved to 13-4 overall.
Not that bad for a team that started the season slow by falling once to Norwalk, losing all three to Stamford and sliding to 2-4 on the season at one point.
“It took some time,” Abate said. “We have a couple of new faces on the team and us as a coaching staff had to understand them and tried to put them in the best possible position to have success. We were learning from each other and now we are clicking and really enjoy playing the game.”
Against New Canaan/Darien, Greenwich did most of its damage in the third and fourth innings. Already leading 1-0, Greenwich scored four times in the third inning.
With one out, Billy O’Malley started things off with a walk. During Will Solomon’s at bat, O’Malley was able to advance to second base due to a wild pitch. That came back to haunt New Canaan/Darien, as Solomon unloaded on the ball and drove it well over the head of the left fielder for a stand-up triple and easily plated O’Malley for the 2-0 lead.
“I felt great at the plate today,” Solomon said. “The last few games I kind of simplified things and have been able to hit the ball solidly and it feels nice.”
After Jason Capozza drew another walk and immediately stole second, a fielder’s choice by Colin Kelly plated Solomon and advanced Capozza 90 feet away from scoring. Up next was was Chris Frantz and he reached first the hard way, as he was plunked by a pitch. Devin McGrath was able to reach first, scoring Capozza and giving Greenwich a 4-0 lead.
Mike Genaro scored the fifth run of the game for Greenwich when he laced a single to center that scored Frantz from second.
“It feels really good,” Genaro said. “It feels really good when you’re winning and it give you a reason to come out here every day. Not that you really need one because nothing’s better than baseball in the summer, but it’s been fun. The bats are coming alive and the pitching has been great. You can’t ask for much more than that.”
The Cannons added three more runs in the top of the fourth inning. After Alex Loparco led things off with a walk, a single by O’Malley moved Loparco to second and that’s as far as he needed to go, as Solomon came up next and yet again uncorked a monster shot over the center fielder’s head to plate Loparco and move O’Malley to third.
“This game was supposed to be played at Darien High and I think he would have had three homers today if we played there,” Abate said. “They were all shots. We moved him into the No. 3 spot early in the season and he’s been phenomenal. He does a great job behind the plate as catcher commanding the pitchers. He’s a great catcher and great hitter.”
“Both my hits were two strike counts and I was just trying to shorten up,” Solomon said. “I got him solid and was able to drive the ball deep in the outfield. That felt nice. Every game JT pitches in, he seems to go seven innings and it is great when you can help him out by giving him some support.”
With one out, Kelly hit a broken bat roller to first for the RBI force out that drove home O’Malley and moved Solomon to third. Solomon didn’t stay at third long, as an error by the New Canaan/Darien shortstop during Frantz’s at bat drove the Greenwich catcher home for the eighth run of the game.
“Our bats have really been coming alive lately,” Loparco said. “Everybody is playing with confidence and this was our 11th victory in a row, so it’s easy to see that we can play with confidence. Everybody is confident at the plate and once the hits start going, it gets contagious.”
That was more than enough for Hintzen on the mound, as the Greenwich starting pitcher went the distance and only gave up three runs on the day. In fact, Hintzen kept the opposition off the scoreboard until the sixth inning.
“JT has been our work horse all year,” Abate said. “We know that all we have to do is manufacture a couple of runs to put ourselves in contention to win the game. That’s how good he’s been for us all year.”
With the win, Abate and the Cannons moved to 13-4 on the season and are back to being in familiar territory as one of the top teams in Zone 4.
“It feels great right now,” Loparco said. “We were struggling a little bit at the beginning of the season, but now we feel confident with our at bats and our defense and pitching are great too. With our bats, we are getting better situationally and getting those big hits in scoring position. When a hitter reaches base, we usually are able to drive them in.”
After starting 2-4 overall on the season, Greenwich has ended the month of June on an 11-game winning streak, the longest winning streak under Abate’s tenure.
While the offense has been putting the numbers on the scoreboard, Abate believes that it’s the team’s pitching and defense that has really helped the Cannons fire on all cylinders.
“I think our pitching staff has done a great job,” Abate said. “We really haven’t walked people and our defense is great. Alex Loparco has been phenomenal at second base and saves a lot of runs for our pitchers by covering the ground and making the diving plays. Will behind the plate shuts down the opposition’s running game.”
Later today, weather permitting, Greenwich will be back at home to battle the same New Canaan/Darien team and then again on Thursday. From there it’s four days off before the Cannons finish out the regular season with a series against Ridgefield and Fairfield and single games against Trumbull and Wilton.
“It would be great to keep going,” Solomon said. “We have great momentum right now and it doesn’t look like we are going to let up any time soon.”
“If we keep playing like this, by throwing strikes and staying solid with our defense, I think we can be in a lot of these games,” Abate said. “I am extremely happy with the way the kids are playing. They have responded to us and are doing the little things. They are finding ways to win and getting the job done.”
