Whalers fall to Trojans, end post-season play

WINSTED — The Tri-Town Trojans’ Connor Murray outlasted Whaler Adam Piechowski in a heated pitching battle to take the 7-1 victory and eliminate the Winsted Whalers from the playoffs on Saturday, Aug. 14.

The Whalers seemed to still have some swing left in their bats from their offensive onslaught against the Waterbury Wild in their previous outing, starting off the top of the first with consecutive line drive base hits from Zac Tuozzo and Chris Davidson. Murray was able to respond, however, and closed out the inning dropping two of Winsted’s most dangerous batters.

Piechowski, who has had a spectacular season and post-season, seemed prepared to duel with Murray throughout the afternoon, tallying two of his eight strikeouts in the first inning.

Murray worked his first strikeout of the day in the top of the second, and despite giving up a single that became a triple on an error, managed to keep things scoreless through one-and-a-half.

Piechowski added two strikeouts in the second and two more in the bottom of the third, but Winsted was unable to recover their early offensive momentum as Murray continued to match Piechowski’s efforts on the mound.

Tri-Town finally broke the offensive drought in the bottom of the fourth, when Piechowski gave up back-to-back singles and a sacrifice bunt, putting the Trojan’s in position to capitalize on a sac-fly. Tri-Town took a 1-0 lead heading into the bottom half of the fourth.

Winsted responded with a base hit from Nate Lapointe and another from Tuozzo, but Murray shut the door once again, maintaining the Trojan’s slight advantage.

Tri-Town opened things up again in the bottom of the sixth, working a walk off Piechowski to start the inning. Piechowski induced a pop out, but then coughed up a single and an RBI, a double, another run off a Winsted fielding error and an additional base hit and RBI before chalking up the second out of the inning. The Trojans pressed their offense and continued to find gaps in the infield to add another base hit and RBI, taking a strong 5-0 lead into the top of the seventh.

The Whalers’ woes continued in the bottom of the seventh, when Piechowski started the inning with another uncharacteristic walk, followed by an equally atypical Winsted fielding error. Another Trojan sacrifice fly brought their lead to six. Then an unsuccessful squeeze attempt led to a home plate steal, effectively crippling the Whalers, who were now trailing 7-0 heading into the eighth.

Winsted produced their only run of the game in the eighth off singles from Donny Crossman and Charlie Putnam and an RBI single from Joel Castillo. Murray closed out the game for the 7-1 win, tallying a total of six strikeouts on the afternoon.

The Whalers finish out their year with a record of 15-11, breaking even in the post-season with a record of 2-2.