NEWTOWN, CT — Down to their final three outs the Masuk High Panthers rallied to defeat Newtown 7-2 at Fairfield Hills on Friday night.
The Panthers got stellar relief pitching from Justin Feinstein (four-and-two-thirds shutout frames) who picked up the win. Feinstein entered the game in the second inning with Masuk trailing 2-1 and a runner on base. He escaped the frame and went on to strike out six batters, including fanning the side in the fourth.
Masuk got its first run of the game when Chris Welch bunted for a hit and drove in Quinn McGuire.
Chris Cascella and Colin Hope both blasted long triples, but were left stranded in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively, as Masuk continued to trail by a run.
The seventh inning rally began when Welch was hit by a pitch and Evan Alderman singled through the left side. Hope bunted and reached on an error loading the bases with no outs. The Panthers continued to reach base and, after tying the game on an infield single by Jackson Zylick, went ahead on Feinstein’s sacrifice fly to right.
McGuire followed with a two-run single up the middle for a 5-2 lead. Cascella added an RBI double and Dan Curtin blooped a single to right to drive in the last run.
“We’re very proud of them,” Masuk Coach Brian Hourigan said following this comeback win.
Masuk was mostly shut down by pitcher Dhilan Amin (11 strikeouts) before finally knocking him out of the game in the final frame.
“It was a really good baseball game. The score doesn’t reflect how good a baseball game it was,” Hourigan said.
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