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Defense Sparks Mariners to County Title

It's too bad ESPN cameras were not rolling at the championship game for the Fairfield County Men's Senior Baseball League because the Fairfield Mariners turned several plays that would have been "web gems." Defense and pitching came up big for the Mariners as they swept the best-of-three series to win the title over the Monroe Top Hats, 5-0.

Monroe threatened throughout with runners in scoring position, but the Fairfield defense stopped them cold. Left fielder Jon Wilson made a leaping, snow-cone catch in the tip of his glove in the top of the fourth. On the next play, second baseman Sean Malay made a diving stop up the middle and flipped the ball from the ground to the shortstop for the out. In the top of the sixth, Wilson went airborne to make a diving catch in foul territory. It has been a great month for Wilson, whose wife gave birth to a daughter last week.

"I'm on cloud nine right now," Wilson said. "In the championship game you put everything on the line, so [on the dive] I'm like, 'Maybe a separated shoulder, but I can heal in the off-season.'"

The Mariners took the lead early: Rob Ayala ripped a two-run double in the bottom of the first and scored when Billy Bardes reached on an error by the right fielder. The score hit 3-0 when Wilson did damage with his bat, too, lacing a two-run double to the right-center field gap. Rich Lee was solid in 5 1/3 innings, getting out of several jams thanks to the defense. Joe Petka and Eric Grgurich closed the game out in relief.

"These guys are a great group of guys," Wilson said. "We don't just play baseball together. We all hang out together. There's a lot of chemistry and camaraderie."

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