NORWALK — A baseball team will take luck wherever it can find it.
In what was the exception rather than the rule, the wind was forcefully blowing out to left field Wednesday at Norwalk’s Callahan Complex artificial turf baseball diamond.
And the Norwalk baseball team made the most of this generous turn of fortune.
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The Bears clubbed a trio of homers over the tall left fence on their way to a 13-3 triumph in five innings over Trinity Catholic High School.
“Normally the wind is always blowing in strong from left field,” said Norwalk’s veteran coach, Pete Tucci. “We played Wilton last Wednesday and each team hit four homers. Then against Westhill last Tuesday (a 12-7 Westhill win) the wind was gale force and more homers resulted. Today, the wind was our friend.”
Indeed. Kyle Gordon led off the second inning with a solo homer. Keegan Agostino had a two-run homer in the third. And designated hitter Gavin Kee added a two-run blast in Norwalk’s five-run fifth inning to close out the 10-run mercy-rule victory.
The win was the perfect tonic for Norwalk High, which entered Wednesday at 1-5 overall (1-3 FCIAC) despite opening the season with four of the six contests at home.
“We have hit the ball well. We’ve been in nearly every game until the late innings,” Norwalk coach Tucci said. “We’ve been doing silly things to give them away. Walks have hurt. Our defense has hurt us. It’s good to get this win. Hopefully we can go forward from here.”
Norwalk led 6-2 after three innings and was charged with only one error.
The early advantage allowed Norwalk senior right-hander Mike Boyian to settle in. Boyian struck out eight and walked five in a complete-game, 94-pitch performance to earn the victory.
“I focused on throwing strikes, and the solid defense behind me made the plays. I tried to keep my pitches low to give our defense grounders,” Boyian said. “The guys giving me an early lead made it easier. We finally played in true baseball weather today.”
Boyian helped his own cause by ripping two doubles and an RBI groundout for three RBIs while scoring twice.
“Mike just started pitching for us this season. As a senior leader he stepped up and volunteered,” Tucci said, as the baseball pitch count rules have teams searching for pitching depth.
Norwalk also drew seven walks and had one hit batsman in four innings against Trinity Catholic right-hander Will Garofalo. The Bears drew five more walks while batting around to close out the win.
TRINITY CATHOLIC HOT AND COLD
The loss left Trinity Catholic and first-year baseball coach Angelo Tsingerliotis at 3-4 overall and 1-3 in the FCIAC.
The Crusaders have defeated Hillhouse (20-7), Ridgefield (15-8) and Platt Tech on the road last Tuesday (10-6).
They have lost at Stamford (17-2), at St. Joseph (10-0), to Staples (13-0) and at Norwalk (13-3).
In the third and fourth innings Wednesday, Trinity Catholic was on the verge of getting out of trouble, but finding that third out was elusive.
Nico Morse had two hits and Anthony Possidento, doubled while Rocky Cuscuna and Emmett Donoghue each drew two walks for the Crusaders.
