New-look Saints Unbeaten

By Ned Griffen , Day Sports Writer

Published on 4/23/2007 by The Day

Pitching was the lone question mark for the St. Bernard High School baseball team headed into this spring, and so far its new arms have come through.

The Saints lost 19 of the 21 pitching wins from last season's Eastern Connecticut Conference Small Division champions. This year's staff has given up 14 runs thus far — seven in a season-opening win against Killingly (10-7) — and helped their team to a 6-0 start.

“I wouldn't say I was confident coming into the season,” St. Bernard coach Mike Garvie said. “I was encouraged by what I had seen in person from our kids last season and from over the summer. I knew we had kids that could step up.

“(The team) has been been very confident. They're a fairly confident crew. I've tried to explain to them that there is a difference between cockiness and confidence. I don't want them to play with cockiness.”

Junior Pat Lowery threw a three-hitter Friday with five strikeouts and five walks in the Saints' 8-3 win over Lyman Memorial, giving them sole possession of first place.

The next day, senior Grant Livingston threw a six-hitter with four strikeouts and no walks in a 7-0 win over Wheeler.

“I've been pleased with the way (sophomore) Jeff DeLucia has grown,” Garvie said. “He's given us some good innings. Patrick was fairly dominant versus Lyman. He gave up only a few hits and that was encouraging. Grant threw a good game for us Saturday. I'm very happy with where we are pitching wise.”

St. Bernard's offense has lived up to expectations. It's scored no less than seven runs a game and features two returning players from The Day's 2006 All-Area baseball team — seniors Tyler Turgeon (shortstop) and Mike Aldrich (third base).

“Mike sprained one of his fingers a couple of weeks ago, so he's been limited to the DH role,” Garvie said. “We've had some kids come in and step up to play third. Tyler has done a nice job anchoring the infield. ...One of the nice surprises has been (junior outfielder) Anthony Fassano.

“My expectations for them have been fairly high this year. I'm not afraid to face a good pitcher because I know they can hit good pitching.”

The Saints expect Aldrich to be back in the field within a week, preferably when they play host to Montville on April 30.

Road crew

• East Lyme and Old Saybrook will spend most of their spring on buses.

Neither team has played a home game this season. East Lyme's field has been unplayable due to all the rain. It hasn't helped, either, that geese have grazed on the field and left behind their droppings that are toxic.

Construction began at Old Saybrook at the end of last season with a new septic tank being placed under the outfield. It takes time for the dirt to settle, so the Rams will play all their games on the road.

Both teams have adapted well.

“It's worked out OK,” Rams coach Dennis Long said. “We're just happy that the weather has gotten better. Some of those long bus rides home on cold days can wear you out. ...Sometimes the bus rides get a little bit crazy, having to haul around the equipment every day after school; getting ready to jump on a bus. We miss a little bit of having the student body around at games, but the games are the games. I don't think it's been any real distraction on the field.”

Said East Lyme coach Jack Biggs: “We've done some long trips already (Killingly, Tourtellotte and Ellington) and still have a few long ones to go (Woodstock Academy and Putnam). We've logged some good miles so far. It's obviously taken up a lot of time, but the kids have been great about it.”

The Vikings have practiced on their own field just once but could only use the infield. The outfield was so soaked that a pop-up would sink three to four inches into the ground when it landed, Biggs said.

East Lyme hasn't had as much time to practice against live pitching, but it hasn't affected them. It fell behind Ledyard, 1-0, after the first inning Saturday, but rallied to win 3-1. The Vikings are 4-2.

“That was a very nice win,” Biggs said. “If we can get our eight, nine or 10 wins and make the state tournament — look at what Ledyard did last year. They made a nice run last year (the Colonels advanced to the Class L semis). You're playing against the best teams in the state every week in the ECC and that definitely prepares you for the tournament.”

Old Saybrook (1-6, 1-6 in the Shoreline Conference) can hold a limited practice at its field despite having had a construction fence enclose it for close to a year. It can only use the infield, so it can conduct infield practice.

“Our athletic director (Pat Burke) has been great,” Long said. “Westbrook has been great. They've given us their field for four games, and we'll throw in a couple of doubleheaders in there to save making two trips to certain schools.”

Killingly warming up

• As the weather has heated up, so has Killingly.

The Redmen have rebounded from a 1-4 start with back-to-back wins over last year's CIAC Class M runner-up (Bacon Academy) and champion (Montville). They beat Bacon on Thursday, 8-5.

Saturday, they scored nine times in the fourth inning and went on to defeat Montville, 15-7, snapping the latter's 35-game home winning streak.

The Indians hadn't lost at home since Andrew Carignan and Norwich Free Academy beat them, 4-0, on May 1, 2004.

“We we're quite pleased that we scored so many runs,” Killingly coach Dan Vogt said. “It seems that as the weather is warming up, our bats are warming up. To go down to Bacon and beat them on their own field, and then to go beat Montville on their field, we've beaten two of the best teams in the (Medium Division).”

Killingly leads the Medium Division with a 2-0 record. And don't let their overall record fool you — the Redmen began the season with a difficult schedule. They lost to St. Bernard, last year's Class S semifinalist, Waterford (3-2, April 10), Fitch (2-0, April 13) and newcomer Lyman Memorial (8-5, April 14), which won the Charter Oak Conference in its final season.

“We've just been playing great teams to start the season,” Vogt said. “(The 1-4 start) was a matter of playing some quality programs and losing close games. We knew that was going to help us and will help us now that we're in division play.

“I thought the Bacon game was the big game. We came in 1-4 and we're losing by a run coming into the seventh inning. We were able to come back and win the game. The coming back and beating Montville, the kids felt pretty confident.”

Regional