Morton vs. Bullard Havens, Saturday, April 6, 3:30 p.m.
Ortiz, Crosby freeze out Naugy
NAUGATUCK, April 4 -- Jose Ortiz allowed only four hits and
struck out 16 to lead Crosby to a 5-2 win against Naugatuck
in the NVL opener for both teams Thursday night.
Yes, Thursday night. A night game on April 4.
Ortiz walked only three batters in seven innings.
"Ortiz threw nothing but fastballs and overpowered every
single one of us," said Naugatuck coach Tom Deller. "He was
blowing it by everyone right from the start."
Ortiz didn't throw many innings in the preseason, but
that didn't deter him, and neither did the 30-degree
temperatures.
"Jose insisted on wearing short sleeves," said Crosby
coach Dave Ieronimo. "He said he can't pitch with long
sleeves. All week I tried to convince him to wear a
sweatshirt. I kept checking the weather report and it kind
of worried me. But I don't think I will try to convince him
anymore. He can wear whatever he wants to from now on."
All but five of Ortiz's pitches were fastballs.
"Our catcher, Joe Boucher, called all of the pitches,"
Ieronimo said. "I left it all up to Joe. But it was easy to
put the 1 (sign for a fastball) down every time. Every time
Jose left the mound, I asked him how he felt and he said he
felt great. He was very composed."
Rain washes out season openers
It was almost too good to be true -- which usually
means it isn't.
Despite April 3 temperatures that were pushing 75
degrees late in the morning, many of Wednesday's
scholastic baseball openers were postponed by rain
when a narrow but powerful front barreled through the
state in mid-afternoon. Most of the games that were
played were shortened by the storm.
Among the dates that were postponed was the Bullard
Havens-Joel Barlow game in Redding, where major
draft prospect Charlie Morton of Barlow was
scheduled to pitch.
The heavy rain and high winds left Barlow with
a parking full of disappointed Major League scouts,
including Matt Merullo of the World Champion Arizona
Diamondbacks and Greg Morhardt of the Mets.
Cincinnati had sent two scouts to the event.
Morton's first start of the season has been
rescheduled for Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
Highlighting the few games that were played in the
state Wednesday was a no-hitter by Suffield
Academy's James Cramphin, who after Salisbury's Mark
Rosen is considered the top prep prospect in
Connecticut. Cramphin, a resident of Simsbury, struck out 14 in a 20-0 win over
Williston-Northampton.
2002 CONNECTICUT BASEBALL SCOREBOARD
April 4
Barlow 19, Bassick 0
Stratford 10, Trinity 3
Law 18, Platt Tech 3
Trumbull 3, Bunnell 2 (11)
Hamden 9, McMahon 1
Staples 6, Weston 0
Danbury 7, New Milford 6
Bulkeley 12, Hartford Public 4
Sport Sciences 15, Weaver 5
Immaculate 15, Abbott Tech 1
East Catholic 8, Simsbury 5
Hand 4, Morgan 3
ND-West Haven 12, Foran 5
North Branford 5, East Haven 4
Parish Hill 12, Windham Tech 3
Plainville 8, East Hartford 0
St. Paul 9, Goodwin Tech 1
FCIAC New Canaan 6, Darien 2 NL
SWC
Masuk 2, Notre Dame-Ffld. 0 NL
Brookfield 8, New Fairfield 7 NL
Newtown 4, Pomperaug 3 NL
Also keep an eye on: Holy Cross, Windsor
Locks, Nonnewaug, Hamden, Masuk, Rockville.
Records are from last season; First-place votes in
parenthesis.
Voting panel: Dave Agostino, Conn. Post; Jason
Christley, New London Day; Ray Curren, Elm City
Newspapers; Bob Freimuth, Plainville High; Lou
Kessler, Notre Dame-West Haven; Hal Levy, Shoreline
Newspapers; Joe Morelli, New Haven Register; Bill
Mrowka, Cheshire High; Phil Orbe, Montville High;
Paul Raccio, Hyde Magnet; Dave Ruden, Stamford Advocate;
Jim Stout, Danbury News-Times; Bob Studley, St.
Joseph High; Ken Walker, Foran High.
Voting panel: Dave
Agostino, Conn. Post; Gary Bunko, Hartford
Courant; Sherman Cain, Manchester J-I; Jason
Christley, New London Day; Scott Ferrari, N.H.
Register; Robert Harding, Hometown Newspapers; Ned
Griffen, Register; Bo Kolinsky, Courant; Hal Levy, Shoreline Newspapers; Ken Lipshez, New Britain
Herald; Paul Nichols, Middletown Press; Dave Ruden,
Stamford Advocate; Jim Stout, Danbury News-Times.
MSG Tri-state Basketball Poll
(updated March 18)
1
Rice NY 27-2
2
St. Anthony NJ
24-2
3
Amityville LI
24-2
4
Newark E. Side
29-1
5
Lincoln NY 25-5
6
All Hallows NY
18-11
7
Robeson NY 29-4
8
Neptune NJ 28-2
9
Peekskill NY 24-3
10
Mt. Vernon
NY 25-2
On the bubble:
Xaverian,
NY (18-10) St.
Raymond, NY (17-10) Molloy,
NY (21-6) Bergen
Catholic, NJ (25-6) Elizabeth,
NJ (23-4) St.
Mary's, NY (23-2) St.
Peter's, NY (24-4) St.
Patrick's, NY (21-6) Paterson
Catholic, NJ (23-3) Loughlin,
NJ (15-12)
For complete New York-New
Jersey-Connecticut coverage, read Mike Quick's weekly
reports at
MSG Network.com.
Xaverian,
NY (18-10)