This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Rams Baseball Off To Fast Start

NCHS looks to return to State Playoffs in 2013.

The New Canaan Rams Varsity baseball team opened 2013 with four impressive wins before dropping a tight game to St. Joseph’s on Wednesday. And although the 4-1 loss was the first blemish of the season, New Canaan seems primed to live up to the lofty expectations of many prognosticators, who put the Rams right at the top of the FCIAC in 2013.

The Rams are coming off a near-historic 2012 season, which saw them catch fire during the Class L State playoffs. New Canaan came in as a 24-seed after an up-and-down 10-10 regular season. The Rams then reeled off 4 consecutive victories in the tournament, and were within 4 outs of winning its first State Title in school history. Although New Canaan ultimately lost that game 6-4, the experience of their run has Head Coach Mitch Hoffman and the returning players hungry to finish the job.

Led by senior captains Casey Ouellette and Andrew Casali, New Canaan has a stacked lineup that includes power-hitting senior Brian Moran, senior 1B Henry Lavieri, and junior 3B Erik Jager. Junior Nick Cascione and sophomore Alex LaPolice will patrol the OF and figure to give the Rams key At-Bats this season.

Find out what's happening in New Canaanwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Junior SS Matthew Toth and sophomore 2B Brandon Abate give the Rams range and strength in the infield, and when paired with Ouellette behind the plate and Casali on the mound or in CF, the Rams will have one of the most impressive teams up the middle in the FCIAC.

Pitching will be a key for New Canaan this season, and Hoffman will be looking for someone to step up to replace injured starter Dan Rajkowski. Junior ace J.R. Anderson will be back to lead the staff, which in addition to Casali will also include sophomore David Giusti and junior Jeffrey Chen.

Find out what's happening in New Canaanwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Other key members of the squad include senior P/INF Grady Amrhein, junior P Luke Montgomery, senior OF’s Ned Galluzzo and Alex Curto, senior C Connor Altman, and sophomore INF Griffin Donnelly.

In New Canaan’s season opener against Harding, the Rams jumped out to a quick 9-0 lead after one inning. Lavieri led the offensive attack with 3 hits and 4 RBI’s. Toth and Galluzzo also had 3 hits, and Ouellette drove in 3 runs. Amrhein threw 5 solid innings to pick up the win, as New Canaan rolled 18-1.

The Rams also started hot against New Milford in their second game, scoring 6 runs in the 1st inning and 2 more in the 2nd en route to a 9-0 win. Brian Moran hit a towering HR and drove in 3 runs, with Cascione also homering while adding 2 RBI. Giusti struck out 5 and took a no-hitter into the 7th inning, finally settling for a two-hit, complete game shutout.

New Canaan also relied on a big inning in their 7-3 win over Trinity, scoring 5 runs in the 5th to blow the game open. Casey Ouellette drove in 2 runs in support of starter Casali, who threw 6 strong innings, striking out 5 along the way. Casali also helped his own cause with a double and 2 RBI. Nick Cascione had 2 hits, and Brian Moran and Erik Jager each chipped in with an RBI.

The Rams improved to 4-0 with a 10-2 win over Trumbull. New Canaan scored 3 runs in the 1st and added 6 more in the 3rd to blow the game wide open. Brian Moran drove in 2 runs to lead New Canaan, which also featured doubles from LaPolice, Abate and Ouellette, a triple from Cascione, and a homer from Toth. Anderson threw six strong innings, and Chen closed out the game with a perfect 7th.

There were bright spots for New Canaan in the 4-1 loss to St. Joe’s, namely Andrew Casali’s 4.1 innings of no-hit relief pitching. The senior captain dominated St. Joe’s, striking out 4 and retiring 13 of the 14 hitters he faced. Casey Ouellette had 3 hits and drove in New Canaan’s lone run of the day.

The Rams are scheduled to play at Bridgeport Central today (weather permitting) before facing Bassick at home (Monday), traveling to Danbury (Wednesday), and hosting McMahon (Friday) next week. All games are 4pm starts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?