Rams Surrender 18 Runs in Loss to Ridgefield

The New Canaan High School baseball team ended the first half of the season with an 18-4 loss to Ridgefield at Mead Park on Wednesday afternoon.

It was the fifth loss in a row for the Rams, who "showed no heart, no emotion and no desire," according to Coach Mitch Hoffman.

He summed up the effort by saying, "We stunk, period."

Ridgefield got a run in its first at-bat on a lead-off walk by starter Tom Krieger, who pitched just two innings.

After the walk, Spencer Judge rapped a single, putting runners on first and third. Dan Zarnik, who went the distance on the mound for Ridgefield, followed wth an RBI single.

The Rams (4-6) tied the game in the bottom of the inning on an error—the only one of the day by the sure-handed Tigers.

In the top of the second, Ridgefield scored seven runs on six hits and two walks. There were two doubles among the six hits, the first of them by Judge, who drilled a blast of a tree in dead center-field near the fence. It would have gone out had the tree not been there.

Catcher Tom Payne followed with a double off the same tree, and another single gave the Tigers an 8-1 lead after 1 1/2 innings.

Peter Meadows relieved Krieger to start the third inning and allowed a run. The Tigers were up 9-1 before the Rams could make a dent in the lead in the bottom of the inning. Alex Freeman hit a solid double to right-center. After a walk to Jeff Spindel, Alex Farina singled home a run and Nick Bamatter scored two with the second double of the inning as the Rams pulled within 5.

Neither the Tigers nor the Rams could score over the next two innings, but in the sixth inning, Payne drove in a run with a double and Mark Giles scored Payne with a single.

Ridgefield put away the game with its second seven-run inning of the day in the seventh.

"This was our best game of the year,"  Tigers coach Tony Wilmot said. "We were good in all phases, pitching, hitting and on defense and for the entire game."

Ridgefield scored its 18 runs on 21 hits, helped by four New Canaan errors. Zarnik scattered six hits on a windy day.

"The wind didn't bother me once I settled in because I felt I had good stuff today," Zarnik said.

Ridgefield (6-3) rebounded from a 21-3 loss to Trumbull in its previous game.

"This was the game we hadn't played all year," Wilmot said.

The sentiment in the New Canaan dugout was just the opposite, and Hoffman minced no words.

"We played like a bunch of third-graders," he said.

The Rams have another tough game on tap Thursday when they host defending two-time FCIAC champion Staples.