The Ridgefield Thunderbirds are rounding third and heading home as they completed a three-game sweep of Stratford this weekend. They will play a three-game series against Westport this week, which will conclude their regular season and determine their seeding for the Fairfield County Baseball League Playoffs, which starts August 4th.
Daniel Furneri led the offense with two hits for Ridgefield on Saturday night down in Stratford as the Thunderbirds won 4-2. Alex Hanna and Johnny Briody had RBI's in the decisive third inning as the away team put 3 runs on the board. Luke Barrientos pitched four solid innings and Jack Gonzalez's sixth-inning RBI provided the insurance run needed to close the game out.
On Sunday, Ridgefield hosted Stratford for a twin-bill at Governor's Park. Ben Brewster went 6 1/3 innings and Nick Cullinan closed out the 6-2 victory in the first game. Tied 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth, Briody worked a one-out walk, stole second, and scored on a huge Sean Livingstone two out line drive to right field. Luke Barrientos and Justin Leonard both doubled to push a total of four runs across the plate in the decisive sixth.
In the second game, young Will Hanna took the ball on the mound for the locals. He pitched four shutout innings, which were complemented by Nick Cullinan's three shutout innings, as The Thunderbirds swept the series with 3-0 one-hit shutout. Ridgefield's defensive play was crisp throughout the weekend series. Justin Keller had some web-gems in left field.
Ridgefield will host Westport this week on Tuesday and Thursday night. Games are at 5:30 at Governor's Park. Bring a chair, as the bleachers are closed for the summer.
R