In the afternoon of Wednesday, April 8, the South Windsor Bobcats travelled west to take on the Avon Falcons.
The ‘Cats have won their first two contests of the season, 15-1 and 9-0 against Wethersfield and Bristol Central respectively, while the Falcons dropped their opening game to Wethersfield 12-3.
Senior Brayden Edwards led off the game with a base hit up the middle, before stealing second. Junior Bennet Durbois walked soon after to put two on with no out. Both runners swiped the next base after a passed ball.
Sophomore Tyler Poland followed with a walk to load the bases. A passed ball to senior Jaiden Morales brought in Edwards and advanced Durbois and Poland. Morales lined a ball into center that was deep enough to bring in Durbois on the sacrifice fly. After the top of the first, the Bobcats led 2-0.
Morales took the mound for the visitors for his first start of the season. A walk would be the one scuff to Morales’ first inning as he quickly retired the frame.
Junior Camden Lewie notched his first hit in the top of the second but would be left on first as the inning soon came to a close.
A leadoff single in the bottom of the second looked to be a chance for Avon, but Morales bunkered down and got a hard hit groundball to Durbois at short, who flipped to Braydon Falco at second, before firing to Lewie to turn the double play. Morales capped off the inning with a nasty pitch for a strike out.
Morales would soar through the third just as he had the previous two, once again capping it off with a strikeout to keep Avon silent through three.
Senior Daltin Harrison singled in the fourth and advanced to second on an error. Harrison would get to third on a passed ball, before scoring on a ball hit by Falco. The junior would get over to third but would end the inning without getting the final 90 feet home.
An error and a base hit on the first two pitches of the fourth put quick pressure onto Morales. A five pitch walk to the ensuing hitter would do him no help.
A pop-up to right field seemed to be a sure out, but through some tough conditions, the ball would tail away and drop, bringing in two runners and putting two in scoring position with one out. Next came a base hit to tie the game.
Avon had a chance to take their first lead with runners on the corners, but a ground ball back to Morales, who made a good throw to his catcher, Aiden Jackson, nagged the runner at the plate to preserve the tie. Morales soon ended the inning but the damage was done and the ‘Cats needed to escape the potential looming upset.
That necessary run support would come from the leadoff man in the top of the fifth. Edwards stepped to the plate and found himself with a 2-2 count. The payoff pitch came over the plate and would find nothing but barrel. Edwards launched it deep into right field and over the fence for a solo blast. The Central Connecticut State commit broke the tie and delivered his first career home run.
Durbois followed with a walk and then stole second. A passed ball moved him to third where he’d soon score after Poland’s hit to left. Morales got on with a walk and came in to score with Poland on a base hit from Falco.
Falco soon came home on a passed ball. Lewie added his second hit of the game to move senior Ryan Hubbard to third. Edwards came up for the second time in the inning and brought Hubbard in to score after an error by the second basemen. By the end of the inning, the ‘Cats led 10-3.
Freshman Colin LeDoux came in for the fifth and made quick work of the Falcons to send them down in order.
Hubbard notched a base hit to score a run in the sixth, before freshman Torin Edwards came in to score soon after and bring the lead to 12-3.
LeDoux made quick work once again of the Falcons in the bottom of the sixth to mark another successful relief outing for the young pitcher.
Senior Brandon Gudauskas came in to close the game in the seventh and would do just that. An error would be the only base runner of the final inning as Gudasukas got three strike outs to finish off the game.
After blasting his first career home run, Edwards spoke to The Prowl, saying “Awesome to start the year 3-0. Pitchers did a great job attacking the zone. It felt good to go yard and I think it’s just a tribute to the hard work throughout the offseason.”
Morales had a strong first start on the mound and had some big hits at the plate. The senior praised the team effort after the game, saying “Great win. I felt good off the mound and the team played good defense all around. I’m excited to see the pitching from out rotation further into the season.”
South Windsor now sits at 3-0 and are winning by an average of over 10 runs a game. With a big showdown on Friday at Berlin, the ‘Cats will look to finish the first week undefeated and with another big win under their belt.
