June 4, 2021
By Paul Silverfarb
Through hard work, determination, and getting some top-level senior leadership, the Greenwich High School baseball team has been able to rebound from its FCIAC championship game and is having quite the run so far in the CIAC class LL tournament.
After cruising through the FCIAC tournament as the top seed, Big Red fell to Fairfield Warde High School 9-0 in the title game. Instead of seeing the season spiral out of control, the Cardinals rebounded in a big way, beating Cheshire High School and Newtown High School to advance to the class LL quarterfinals tomorrow.
“It’s been phenomenal,” said GHS head coach Adrian Arango. “We’ve been able to hit all our goals so far this year, with the one exception of losing in the FCIAC finals last week. The boys have responded well to that. Sometimes there’s a hangover effect from those kinds of losses when you make a title game and lose a tough game. I told the boys that we still have a lot to play for and still win a state championship. We have come out the last two games, against two very good programs, and played really well. It was all about surviving and advancing to Saturday.”
On Tuesday, Greenwich hosted Newtown and came away with the thrilling 6-5 victory. With both teams scoring two runs each in the first inning, the Cards scored once in the third and fourth inning and broke a 5-5 tie with a run in the seventh to walk it off.
Nathan Jones started for Big Red and threw four innings of six-hit baseball, giving up three runs and struck out three. Tommy Healey came in and kept Newtown off the scoreboard to record the final four outs.
At the plate, Christian Mingione finished with two hits and a run, while teammate John Zola also grabbed two hits that included a triple. Justin Lynch and Felipe Echeto also picked up doubles to help Big Red pull out the victory.
Against Cheshire a day earlier, Greenwich used a seven-run third inning to put the game out of reach. Big Red also scored twice in the first and once in the second. Leading the way on the mound was Ryan Perez, who dominated by going 4-for-4 with two runs scored and four runs batted in. Not to be outdone was Tyler Cusimano, who went 2-for-3 with a double and two runs scored.
“I am really proud of my team for the way they responded to that FCIAC championship game against Warde,” Arango said. “I think it helps when you have such a great group of seniors like we have. We have 13 of them. With that group of seniors, they want to keep it going.”
When Greenwich High School traveled to Fairfield Warde with the FCIAC regular season title on the time, they knocked their starting pitcher, who has only given up one run all season, out of the game in the fourth inning en route to a 10-3 victory. Grabbing the No. 1 seed in the FCIAC tournament, Big Red blanked Danbury High School 4-0 and thumped Ridgefield High School 26-11 to advance to the FCIAC title game against Fairfield Warde.
Warde’s Zachery Broderick was able to exact revenge on the Cardinals in the title game, throwing a complete-game shutout in Fairfield’s 9-0 victory.
“He just shut us down,” said Arango. “He was just phenomenal and that’s a credit to him for coming back and wanting the ball. We had a feeling that we would see him again and sure enough he was lights out.”
And it turns out there will be a rubber match against the Mustangs and the Cardinals. On Saturday, Big Red will host Fairfield Warde in the CIAC class LL quarterfinals.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Arango said. “They are a great team and are extremely well-coached. Brett Conner does a great job. They play hard and our kids are going to be ready for the test. There’s going to be a lot of electricity in this game. We went to their home field and made a statement there. They lost two games all year and they were close, but we went up there and put that game away early.
However Arango said that you could tell that Warde had a different mindset last Friday for the FCIAC championship game.
“They scored early and their pitcher threw zeros. So far they won the more important one. I would gladly trade the FCIAC regular season title for the FCIAC title, but now we play them a third time and this time it’s to see who moves on to the semis at States. Saturday is going to be fun. What better setting than the two best teams in the FCIAC playing against each other. It’s good for the league. This league has six of the eight teams competing in the quarterfinals. I am very proud of the players and coaches in the FCIAC.”
Unfortunately for Greenwich, they will be competing against Warde without their ace. Miles Langhorne, who will be playing at Vanderbilt University next season, was on fire against Cheshire High School in the class LL opener, striking out five and walking one, but was pulled with two outs in the second inning with tightness in his throwing arm.
Arango said that his top pitcher is fine and there’s nothing structurally wrong. However, he’s going to sit out Saturday’s game.
“We all feel horrible for Miles,” Arango said. “It hasn’t been easy for Miles all year. He’s been a team player and really stepped up for us. Every time he takes the ball, we know we’re going to be in a good position, but it’s tough. There are Major League Baseball scouts all around him and that’s a lot of pressure on a 17-year-old kid. I know he feels bad that he can’t help us out on Saturday. We are going to pick Miles up. He’s a captain and a leader.”
But for Big Red it’s next man up, the same mentality that they’ve had since the first day of practice.
“I told them the first day of practice that everybody needs to know that when your name is called, I expect you to get the job done,” Arango said. “And so many guys have answered the call for us in so many different situations.”
