Whalers shut out the Waterbury Wild, 2-0

WINSTED — Starting pitcher Adam Piechowski led the Whalers baseball team in a shutout performance at Walker Field Sunday, May 30. Winsted secured a two-run lead in the middle innings and held on to claim the victory at home.

 Piechowski went straight to work, knocking down the first three in succession. The Whalers were unable to score in the bottom of the first, but Bart Marchant and Zac Tuozzo offered strong plate appearances.

In the top of the second Piechowski tallied his first, second and third strikeouts of the afternoon, keeping Waterbury hitless through two innings.

Whaler Donny Crossman worked out a walk, but was picked off for the first out of the inning. Catcher Chester Warner ran out an infield chopper for a base hit and was moved to third off a base hit fly from Dave Lumpkin that landed behind the infield. Lumpkin stole second, putting two runners in position to score.

Unfortunately, Waterbury pulled themselves out of an ugly spot, dropping the next two batters and ending the inning before Winsted could capitalize.

Neither team could produce offensively through the third, but Winsted came out in the bottom of the fourth looking very strong. Whaler Rickey Langer was walked to start the inning, and then Waterbury gave up a single on an error. Warner cracked a double, sending Langer home. Waterbury, however, was able to make the play at home to halt the would-be first run of the game.

The Whalers were clearly disappointed with the call at home and made sure there would be no questions about the next one. Lumpkin drove a hard base hit that brought in two runs to give the Whalers a 2-0 lead heading into the top of the fifth.

Lumpkin’s two-run single would prove to be the only scoring of the day, largely due to the complete game performance of Piechowski, who struck out nine through nine innings, including the strikeout that ended the game and earned the Whalers the 2-0 victory at home.

Warner produced a base hit and a double and was walked once. Lumpkin had three singles, two stolen bases and two RBIs.

The Whalers improve their season record to 3-1 while the Waterbury Wild drops to 1-3.