In each of the first four games in the recently established battle for the Mayor’s Cup, the home team came out victorious by a single run. Commencing the second half of the eight editions between the two West Division teams, the Danbury Westerners flipped the script in a must-win road game against the Bristol Blues. Tussling for the lead in a back-and-forth affair, especially in the later innings, the Westerners scored two runs in the top of the 11th and Anthony Steele struck out the side in the bottom half as the Hat City topped the Clock City 7-5 at Muzzy Field.
Danbury takes a 3-2 lead in the battle for the Mayor’s Cup with the win, improving to 2-1 in extra-inning games and 13-16 on the season. Bristol slips to second in the division standings and falls under .500 to 13-14-1 with the loss.
Newly-acquired Westerner Bam Talavera made an immediate impact at second base, jumping up and snatching a single away from Jordan Peyton on the first pitch in the first. With the bases loaded in his first NECBL at-bat, Talavera grounded into an RBI fielder’s choice as Danbury drew first blood in the second. Jakobi Davis beat out Gavin Noriega’s lob to Mason Ulsh by a few feet with two away, and reading the play perfectly, Drew Wyers doubled the Westerners’ lead.
Peyton punctured Michael Szturma’s seven-inning scoreless streak with an RBI single in the third before Chaz Myers hit a game-tying sacrifice fly. Noriega doubled over Billy Gerlott’s head to put two in scoring position, yet the Danbury defense kept the game tied at two. Harrison Feinberg made a sliding catch to deny Cal Parrillo a go-ahead hit, doubling up the Bryant first baseman in the process. With the game still deadlocked in the fourth, the Westerners made the Blues’ pay for their baserunning gaffe, beginning a two-out rally after Wyers doubled on the ninth pitch of his at-bat.
Talavera subsequently gave Danbury the lead back with an opposite-field RBI single, continuing his torrid start to his debut as the Manhattan third baseman beat out the throw home. Nolan Lincoln relieved Szturma following Dixon Black’s leadoff walk in the bottom half, balking him in to tie the game at three. Pete Durocher made it all the way to third in the fifth, getting company in scoring position when Peyton walked and swiped second. Lincoln nearly escaped the jam unscathed, but Talavera bobbled the grounder, allowing Durocher to touch home for a 4-3 Bristol lead.
Lincoln caught Parrillo in a rundown three pitches later, with Javon Hernandez opting for the throw at the plate to prevent Peyton from doubling Bristol’s advantage. Starting anew following that sequence, Black singled to begin the sixth only to get caught stealing when Aiden Jolley fired a dart to second. Two four-pitch walks ignited another two-out Westerners’ rally in the seventh, knocking Peter Ostensen out of the game for Peter Phillips before Luke Boynton tied the game at four with an RBI single to left field.
Gerlott took second as the ghost runner in the 10th, nearly getting stranded there after former Westerner Jack Bowery struck out the first two batters he faced. Will Cook nearly whiffed on his prime RBI chance as his 0-1 swing whimpered short of the right field wall, but Joey Rios could not make the catch for the third out. Gerlott sped home for the 5-4 Danbury lead as a result, further firing up a Westerners’ dugout fueled by two bang-bang plays going against them in the eighth and ninth. Pinch-hitter Daniel Labrador struck out swinging with the bases loaded against Aaron Zenus, and with Peyton on second as the ghost runner in the bottom half, Noriega tied the game at five by whacking an opposite-field single.
The Bryant first baseman advanced on Parrillo’s groundout, but Steele forced the last possible inning of play after Sullivan popped out. Hayden Miller, initially entering the game as a defensive replacement, took second as the ghost runner in the 11th and nearly got thrown out at the plate two batters later. Black caught Myers’ errant throw on Hernandez’s single, and even though the Wofford third baseman made the throw to home, Danbury grabbed a 6-5 lead when the Charleston sophomore collided with Sullivan at the dish.
Feinberg nearly flew out to right field two batters later, but the ball bobbled in Durocher’s glove and fell onto the outfield grass as the Westerners collected a critical insurance run on an RBI double. Griffin Arnone entered the game as a pinch-runner and advanced to third on a wild pitch as the extra-innings runner in the bottom half, but Steele’s three strikeouts secured Danbury’s third triumph away from home.
Steele earned his third win of the summer in the extra-inning affair, striking out five in three innings of one-run ball. Brent Francisco suffered his third loss after allowing both of the Westerners’ go-ahead runs in his lone inning of work.
Danbury begins a stretch of two straight doubleheaders with a twin bill against the Keene Swamp Bats (11-18) at the Roadhouse at Rogers Park on July 13. Last summer, the Westerners swept both meetings against the Swamp Bats in their first meetings since 2019. Ryan Delorbe takes the mound in game one at 4:30 p.m. with Matt Semon on the bump for game two, which will begin 30 minutes after the first match ends. Both contests will be seven innings.
The rest of the Danbury Westerners’ 2023 schedule can be found on their website