New Canaan Scores and Standings, June 23

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New Canaan's Curtis Loop was one of five local players to advance to the quarterfinals of the 109th Connecticut Amateur Championship on at Rolling Hills Country Club in Wilton.

Loop, who earned All-Big East honors this past season after transferring from California,  ousted Ellinton Ridge's K.J. Camera in the first round, 5 and 4, then defeated Race Brook's Matt Dziubina in the afternoon, 3-2.

Loop, who was a part of three high school state championship teams at New Canaan, won the state junior amateur championship in 2007.

Defending champion Bernie D'Amato won a pair of close matches to also reach the quarterfinals.

The 20-year-old junior-to-be at Princeton, who plays out of Wheeler Park in Bridgeport, held off Jeff Hogan of Watertown in his morning round, 2 & 1, then slipped past Ryan Leahy of Orange Hills in the second round, 1-up.

Last year, D'Amato whipped Nick Taylor of Heritage Village in the final, 8 and 6. He is looking to become the first repeat winner in the Amateur since Will Strickler, who currently plays on the PGA Tour, in 2007-2008.

Wilton's John Murphy, the medalist in qualifying with a 36-hole total of 4-under par 138, was ousted by Tom McCarthy of Twins Hills in the second round, 2 & 1. Murphy cruised into the second round with a 7 & 5 rout of Richter Park's Chet Hrostek.

Two-down after nine, Murphy won Nos. 10 and 11 to get the match back to all square, but he could never get the lead and McCarthy closed things out with a par on No. 17 after birdieing the 16th to regain his two-hole advantage.

Joining Loop and D'Amato in the round of eight was the Country Club of Darien's Devon O'rourke, who survived a marathon day of golf in which was required to play 40 holes.

O'rourke needed three extra holes to outlast first-round leader Branden Chicorka of River Valley in the first round, then eliminated John Jackopsic of Gillett Ridge in 19 holes in the second round.

Other local players reaching the quarterfinals were 2006 Amateur champion Tommy McDonagh of Shorehaven and Greg Reilly, also of the Country Club of Darien

The quarterfinals and semifinals are set for Thursday, followed by the 36-hole final on Friday at Rolling Hills.

McDonagh survived a tight first-round match against Brian Ahern of Wamponoag (1-up) before closing out Norwich's Christopher Delucia in the second round, 4 & 3.

A former standout at St. Luke's, McDonagh will be a fifth-year senior at Penn State in the fall. In 2006 at the age of 17, he became the youngest winner in the history of the Connecticut Amateur. Current PGA Tour member J.J.  Henry was 19 when he captured the first of his three Amateur crowns.

McDonagh will meet D'Amato in the quarterfinals on Thursday morning at 8:10 a.m. in a battle of former champions.  Reilly will face McCarthy at 8 a.m.,O'rourke battles Matt Smith of Quinnatisset at 8:20 and Loop takes on Yale's Sam Bernstein at 8:30 p.m. .

Reilly won a pair of close matches, defeating Ben Hunter of Sterling Farms in the morning, 3 and 2, and edging Greenwich's David Pastiore in the afternoon, 1-up. Pastiore, who plays out of the eClub of Faifield, advanced with a 6 & 4 decision over Peter Ballo of Woodway.

Casali homers as Vanderbilt stays alive at CWS

New Canaan's Curt Casali and the Vanderbilt baseball team will get to stick around Omaha for at least a couple more days.

Casali belted a solo home run Wednesday as the Commodores stayed alive at the College World Series with a 5-1 victory over North Carolina.

Vanderbilt will get another crack at Florida on Friday, but will need to beat the Gators twice to advance to next week's two-out-of-three championship series. Florida defeated Vanderbilt 3-1 earlier in the tournament.

Casali's homer gave the Commodores a 5-0 lead in the third inning. He went 1-for-4 and is 2-for-11 in the tournament with two RBI.  

New Canaan ace Alex Farina earns All-FCIAC honors

New Canaan ace Alex Farina has been named to the All-FCIAC baseball team. Farina had a spectacular season for the Rams, going 9-2 with a 0.72 ERA , He allowed only seven earned runs in 82 innings while walking just 11 and striking out 89.

All together, five members of New Canaan's team were honored by the FCIAC. Pitcher Peter Meadows,  infielders Willie Burger and Andrew Casali and outfielder Cameron Armstrong all were named all-FCIAC East.

After winning seven games last season, the Rams arguably were the FCIAC's biggest surprise in 2011, finishing 18-7 and reaching the semifinals of the CIAC Class L state tournament.

WEDNESDAY'S SCHEDULE

American Legion Baseball

Norwalk Jr. vs. Darien/NC Jr, 5:30 p.m., at City Hall Annex

Ridgefield Sr. vs. Darien/NC Sr., 5:30 p.m., at Darien High School

THURSDAY'S SCHEDULE

American Legion Baseball

Darien/NC Jr. vs. Ridgefield Jr., 5:30 p.m., at Darien High School

Darien/NC Sr. vs. Fairfield Sr., 5:30 p.m., at Tunxis Hill, Fairfield  

 AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL STANDINGS