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Fairfield Slides Past New Hampshire

A superb pitching performance from starter Eddie Magi and a game-winning double from shortstop Nick Nardone gave Fairfield American Little League's 12-year-old All-Stars its second victory of the New England Regional. The Connecticut champions defeated Portsmouth, N.H., 3-2, on Monday night at Breen Field in Bristol.

"We didn't give [Eddie] the run support that we would like to," Fairfield manager Chris Daley said. "That was a gutty performance to hang in there."

Daley said Nardone's double in a one-run game was "huge."

Fairfield and New Hampshire are both 2-1 and tied for second place. The top four of the six teams advance to the semifinals. The regional winner advances to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.

Magi (2-0) pitched a complete game, striking out four and allowing four hits and one earned run. He used his curveball to keep the opposing batters off balance.

"Usually I like to test the hitters out with the fastball and if they hit it, I go to my curveball. Today, I went to my curveball a lot," said Magi, who threw 79 pitches, 27 of them over the last three innings. "I had lot of ground ball outs and a few strikeouts."

Fairfield jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Chris Howell hit a home run off Lucas Hartman (4 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 2 K) in the bottom of the first. But two errors in the top of the third allowed New Hampshire to take a 2-1 lead.

Nardone's double came after Billy McGrath reached on an error and moved to third on a single by Tommy Ryan. Second baseman McGrath saved a hit in the sixth, diving to make a stop on a hard-hit groundball by New Hampshire's Josh Saurman.

Fairfield returns to action at 1 p.m. Wednesday against Massachusetts.

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