Danbury News

Danbury baseball pounds Ridgefield 9-2 to back ace Dickerson

With FCIAC rival Ridgefield visiting Monday, Danbury coach Shaun Ratchford got his own boost from Duncan.

"We took a page from Duncan," Ratchford said. "Throw strikes. Throw low strikes and get ground balls. In high school that doesn't always work. But the kids have bought into that. Our starters have finished every game but one."

With No. 1 pitcher Steve Dickerson on the mound, who was responsible for that one unfinished outing on opening day, the Duncan approach worked like a charm. Backed by the Hatters' most complete performance of 2011, the senior righty needed just 75 pitches to finish off the Tigers in a 9-2 rout, allowing just two hits and one walk while striking out four.

As his teammates pounded on Tigers junior Patrick Molyneaux in their first look at a lefthanded starter, Dickerson's plan was to pound away at the strike zone, of which he executed soundly.

"You keep the ball low, you throw strikes, you're going to win -- case closed," the 3-1 Dickerson said. "So that's all I try to do. Keep it low. Keep in and away. A good mix. Pitch smart. And having good defense, that really helps, too.

The Danbury offense didn't hurt either, sending Molyneaux packing with two outs in the bottom of the third inning having surrendered nine of the Hatters' 15 hits and six runs, five of which were earned.

The backbreaking rally came in the bottom of the second, though, when the Hatters (6-2) burst open a 1-1 deadlock with four runs on five hits.

Danbury catcher Austin Calitro grounded to third to start the frame, but a misread liner to left field that flew over Tigers senior Kevin Walters' head gave Garron Negron a double to begin the damage. Rocky Fermin then walked, setting up a stretch of four consecutive RBI-netting at-bats for the Hatters.

From there, Dickerson got even more economical against a young and anxious Tigers squad, as his teammates widened their lead against hard-throwing righty reliever Bradley Rosenfield.

"Once you get ahead, then it becomes easier to swing the bats so the kids were able to get good counts," Ratchford said. "We encourage the kids to get two swings. We want to have more swings than the other team."

Facing the big deficit, no one on the Tigers (3-5) could answer coach Tony Wilmot's call for a momentum shifting moment.

"You need someone to stop the bleeding," Wilmot said. "When they're chipping away -- and they've been playing very good ball -- you need someone to come up with the big pitch or the big at-bat, and we didn't do that. And they did."

Given a day off from second base, Danbury designated hitter Leudy Betancourt both set the table and cleared it from the Hatters' leadoff spot, singling in each of the first three innings and driving in a pair. Shortstop Robbie Meerman was 2-for-4 with two RBI, and Calitro, Chris DelDebbio, B.J. Nimer and Cory Dean each drove in one.

Molyneaux (1-2) was the victim of what both coaches saw as some tough luck, with many of the Hatters' early hits finding holes instead of gloves.

Ridgefield right fielder Daniel Lake delivered the Tigers' first run in the second with a soaring double to left, scoring first baseman Chris McClelland from first. McClelland produced the second run with a fourth inning sac fly that plated Mike DeVivo, who had tripled for the only other hit off Dickerson.

RIDGEFIELD 010 100 0 -- 2 2 1

DANBURY 141 111 X -- 9 15 0

Records: Ridgefield 3-5, Danbury 6-2.

Batteries: R -- Patrick Molyneaux (L, 1-2), Bradley Rosenfield and Eric Jones; D -- Steve Dickerson (W, 3-1) and Austin Calitro. SO: R -- Molyneaux 3, Rosenfield; D -- Dickerson 4. BB: R -- Molyneaux, Rosenfield 2; D -- Dickerson.

2B: R -- Daniel Lake; D -- Garron Negron, B.J. Nimer. 3B: R -- Mike DeVivo. RBI: R -- Lake, McClelland. D -- Leudy Betancourt 2, Robbie Meerman 2, Calitro, J.P. Dennehy, Chris DelDebbio, B.J. Nimer, Cory Dean.

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