45°
A memorable season for the Fairfield Ludlowe baseball team came to a close on Saturday afternoon with a 14-2 loss to No. 1 seed East Lyme. The Class L quarterfinals matchup was played in West Haven at Quigley Stadium. With the loss, the senior-laden Ludlowe squad's 10-game winning streak was snapped, an abrupt finale to a 20-6 season, the winningest in school history.
"I'm extremely proud of them," said head coach Keith O'Rourke following the loss. "It's the best team we have had at Fairfield Ludlowe and we've had some good teams. We won a FCIAC championship and those kids in the dugout have a reason to walk away
Ludlowe pitcher Steve Guasco, who recovered from elbow tendinitis earlier in the season to become the Falcons go-to pitcher during the final stretch of the regular season and the FCIAC tournament, started for the Falcons. East Lyme got to him early, scoring two runs in the first. With the score 2-1, East Lyme took over, scoring 10 runs in the third to put the game out of reach.
Outfielder Tom Nagy, captain and catcher Rob Ferrara and the rest of the bats went cold, while fielding mistakes finally caught up to the Falcons.
But Guasco was quick to take his fielders off the hook. "I can't say the errors hurt," he said. "They've been making plays for us all year. It's just unfortunate that in the last game you have a couple miscues, but you can't say the errors hurt."
Ludlowe won the FCIAC championship two weeks ago, defeating Greenwich.
The Falcons will return a talented team last season, but will lose a core group of seniors, including Nagy and Ferrara, who have played on three straight state tournament teams and reached the quarterfinals every season at Ludlowe. Both will head on to Division I baseball in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, with Nagy attending Fairfield and Ferrara its rival, Marist. Second baseman Nick Rossomondo will play at Division I Long Island University.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Fairfield and receive free news updates.
