Berlin Baseball Rides The Strong Pitching of Jared Gallagher for Win Over Fermi

This article written and reported by Tim Jensen and Rick Volk

Berlin sent 10 men to the plate in the first inning, tallying four runs on five hits and an error, and never looked back in defeating Fermi 6-1 in CCC baseball action Wednesday in Enfield.

Sophomore lefthander Jared Gallagher pitched masterfully for the Redcoats, allowing just three hits and walking one while striking out six in a complete game effort.

"He threw strikes, which is the name of the game," Berlin head coach Leo Veleas said. "We jumped out early which helped us; it's easier to pitch when you've got a nice lead." 

Daren Grabowski led off the game with a double, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored an out later on a Mitch Williams single. Singles by Kyle Naples and Dante Vasi loaded the bases, and Dave Condon drove home Williams with a sacrifice fly. Jordan Zima cracked a run-scoring single, a walk to Jeff Sylvester re-loaded the bases, then a miscue in the Fermi infield on Alec Norton's grounder plated Vasi.

Fermi had a scoring chance in the second, but Chris Giottonini was thrown out at the plate by Grabowski on Dan Brunetti's fly ball to center field. The Redcoats then tacked on two more runs in the third on a wild pitch and an outfield error.

Gallagher cruised through the middle portion of the game, retiring eight consecutive Falcons from the third through the fifth.

Alex Zachary, who had singled earlier in the contest, crushed an opposite-field home run to left-center leading off the Fermi sixth. In the seventh, Brunetti singled and stole second with one out, but Gallagher struck out the final two batters to nail down the victory.

Naples had three of Berlin's 13 hits off Fermi pitcher Greg Kraucunas, who worked his way out of jams in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings to keep the score respectable. Grabowski, Williams, Vasi and Zima had two hits apiece.

Berlin (7-4) seeks to wrap up a state tournament berth Friday at Plainville at 7 p.m. Fermi (6-6), which needs two more victories to qualify for postseason play, travels to Rockville Friday at 3:45 p.m.

BERLIN

• Daren Grabowski cf 5-1-2 
  
• Greg Konowski lf 4-0-1
  
• Mitch Williams 3b 4-1-2
  
• Kyle Naples ss 5-1-2
  
• Dante Vasi lb 4-1-2
  
• Dave Condon rf 2-1-1
  
• Jordan Zima c 4-0-2
  
• Jeff Sylvester eh 2-1-0
  
• Alec Norton 2b 2-0-0
  
• 2B: Grabowski
  
• RBI: Williams, Condon, Zima
  
• BB: Konowski, Williams, Condon, Sylvester 2, Norton 2
  
• SF: Condon · Jared Gallagher (W,2-2), 7IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER 5K 1BB