Despite giving up a 3-0 lead in the top of the sixth inning, the Fairfield Ludlowe baseball team did not get down. Instead, the Falcons came right back in the bottom half of the inning full of energy, battling back to defeat Darien 7-4 in the CIAC Class L state tournament opening round on Wednesday.
Ludlowe will now face Rockville at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday at Kiwanis Field in Fairfield.
The game was resumed with the Falcons leading 1-0 after it was suspended on Tuesday afternoon in the second inning following two rain delays.
Trailing 4-3 on their home field, captain and catcher Rob Ferrera hit the first pitch from Darien relief pitcher Dave Hickey, who will play at Yale next season, over the left field fence to tie the game. Later in the inning freshman Mike Kochiss hit a two-out single to give Ludlowe the lead back at 5-4. The No. 8 seed Ludlowe (19-5) would score two more insurance runs, but would not need them, as Alex Capiozello shut down 25th-seeded Darien (8-13) in order in the seventh inning.
With the victory, Ludlowe advances into the second round of the Class L tournament for the fourth straight season.
"Survive and advance," Ludlowe coach Keith O'Rourke said. "This was a screwy game. It took a hour to play one inning of baseball and a hour and ten minutes to play six innings today. My concern was the lack of consistency with our routines."
The game resumed in the bottom of the second inning with Ludlowe leading 1-0 and a runner, Alex Wright, on first base for the Falcons. Darien pitcher Ricky Hodges remained in the game after starting on Tuesday. With one out, Nick Rossomondo delivered a two-run single to increase the lead to 3-0.
Rossomondo, who will play at Division I Long Island next season, had three hits in the game and continued to be the catalyst for the Falcons. He is hitting nearly .400 this season as the team's lead-off hitter.
Hodges, who will play at Virginia Tech next season, shut down the Falcons from there, leaving the door open for a Blue Wave comeback. He did not allow another hit, retiring 11 straight, with five strikeouts before being relieved by Hickey in the sixth.
Ludlowe, meanwhile, switched pitchers, starting Taylor Brown, who was the winning pitcher in the FCIAC title game, in the third, in relief of Steve Guasco who pitched two scoreless innings. Brown rolled into the sixth allowing just one hit and then hit the first two batters of the inning to put two on with no outs. Both runners advanced on stolen bases, but Brown got a pop out of the next batter. However, Darien's John Gardner struck with a two-run single and Dan Pidgeon later hit a RBI triple to give Darien the lead.
But then Ferrara hit the home run and Ludlowe overcame the scare.
"They hit, if their bats stay hot they are going to be a dangerous team," said Darien coach Mike Scott.
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