Branford Downs Law in Baseball Season Opener, 3-2

Behind an eleven strikeout, three hit, pitching performance from senior co-captain, southpaw Jeff Stoddard, the Branford High School baseball team captured its season opener with a 3-2 win over Jonathan Law on Wednesday at Branford High School.

Ranked 11th in the state in some pre-season polls, Branford placed three runs on the board in the bottom of the third inning. Second baseman Mark Canzanella led off the inning with a walk, which was followed by a sacrifice bunt from the bat of right fielder Mike DiStasio. The fielding attempt  from Jonathan Law's pitcher Max Nowicki was bobbled for an error and gave Branford two men on base with no one out. 

The error proved costly as the Hornets next batter, lead-off hitter Nick Dummar hit a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Canzanella, giving Branford an early 1-0 lead. Following a steal of second base by DiStasio, center fielder Connor Moriarty laced a single to right center field, allowing DiStasio to cross home plate safely and place the Branford lead at 2-0. It appeared that Nowicki would get out of the inning without further damage; he walked three consecutive batters -- Stoddard, catcher Alec Jannotta, and left fielder Sam Krazewski -- all with two outs, forcing in the third run of the inning.

Meanwhile, Stoddard cruised along on the pitching mound for Branford. The southpaw did not allow a hit through the first three innings and failed to let a Jonathan Law batter reach second base until the sixth inning.  The senior left the game after the sixth, giving up only three hits, striking out 11 and walking two over 82 pitches thrown. 

The visiting Lawmen would not go away without a fight however. 

With one out, the pinch hitting tandem of Jake Souley, Dennis Russell, and Drew DeRubeis reached base safely on a walk, a single and a walk, respectively, off of Branford relief pitcher Zac Cast. 

Hornets' baseball coach, George Dummar called on another relief pitcher, this time in the form of senior Mark Benevento, to stymie any rally. With two outs in the seventh inning, leadoff hitter, Sean Cameron took an 0-1 pitch to straight-away centerfield for a two run single and slicing the Branford lead to one, 3-2.  Benevento got right fielder Dave DeRubeis to ground out to second base to end the game handing Stoddard his first win while picking up his first save on the young season.

"Jeff (Stoddard) was at the top of his game today from the get go," said Hornets' coach George Dummar. "He kept us in the game throughout. We struggled a bit offensively but we hit the ball hard. Today, being the first time out in a game which counts towards our win-loss record, I am happy with our team's performance."