Is Killingly baseball peaking at right time? Here's what's happening with the young team
KILLINGLY ― The Killingly baseball team has enjoyed some great moments on the diamond during head coach Ben Desaulnier’s short tenure.
How about beating Waterford and Fitch on the same day in 2021 to win their first ECC tournament championship? How about state tournament victories against O’Brien Tech and Rocky Hill last June to reach the state quarterfinals for the first time since 2005?
Killingly displayed a little more magic this past week at Owen Bell Park in Dayville.
Powered by a big pitching performance from sophomore Dominik Kubera and some timely hitting from sophomore Ashton Goodwin, who smacked two doubles and drove in two runs, Killingly defeated ECC Division III rival Plainfield, 5-3.
Walk-off win
Killingly enjoyed a walk-off celebration the following day when Michael Fabiano’s hit brought home Lincoln Waterman in the bottom of the seventh for a 2-1 win over Wheeler.
The victory over Plainfield was Killingly’s eighth win, propelling Desaulnier’s young team into both the ECC and Class M tournaments.
“It was a great win,” Desaulnier said. “The kids are pumped. We’re talking about the difference between being done on Saturday or being done three weeks from now.”
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Desaulnier was named head coach at his alma mater after the 2019 season. He was just 21 years old and had to guide his first team through a world-wide pandemic that canceled the 2020 season.
Desaulnier made an immediate mark the following year. Playing home games on Ben Desaulnier Field, which was named in honor of his uncle, Ben, who died in an automobile accident at age 17 in 1993, Killingly went 17-2 before rolling through the ECC tournament. It was Killingly baseball’s first league championship of any kind since 1973.
Last spring, Killingly finished 14-6 but were unable to defend their ECC title, losing to Woodstock Academy in the first round. Killingly, however, bounced back with a pair of victories in the Class M tournament, which brought some solace to a senior-laden group that got upset by Tolland in the first round the previous year.
With a roster featuring only two seniors, including Ben Jax, who is the only player left that started in the ECC championship game two years ago, Desaulnier was looking to return to the state tournament this spring with a group of sophomores and freshmen.
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Mission accomplished.
Killingly, however, still experienced all of the rebuilding growing pains. There was a 2-5 start followed by winning three of four, including a win over division leading Plainfield. A mini-two-game winning streak, capped by a wild extra-inning victory over Wheeler at Dodd Stadium, got Killingly to the .500 mark at 7-7.
The euphoria didn’t last long as Killingly dropped its next three games to Stonington, Montville, and Griswold.
Against Plainfield, Desaulnier took a lineup card to the plate that featured five sophomores, Brady Zadora at catcher, Hayden Larrow at second base, Waterman at shortstop, Goodwin at third base and Kubera on the mound, and two freshmen, Joe Gould at designated hitter and Fabiano at first base. Killingly’s outfield was senior Andreas Lopez in left, junior Mason Frazer in right, and Jax in center.
“We’ve played some really good baseball and we’ve also played some shaky baseball,” Desaulnier said. “For the most part, we’ve pitched well and played good defense, which is usually the recipe for trying to advance in the tournament.”
Kubera, who allowed only four hits while striking out seven in 6.2 innings against Plainfield, and sophomore Landon Manzi, who struck out 11 in a complete game win against Wheeler, have given Killingly’s pitching rotation a great boost this spring.
“Dom was great today,” Desaulnier said after the win over Plainfield. “He didn’t really have his best stuff but he battled around it against a really good Plainfield lineup.”
With the Northeast Conference collegiate baseball tournament moving to Dutchess Stadium (Wappingers Falls, New York) this week, the ECC tournament has returned to Dodd Stadium in Norwich. The tourney begins on Tuesday (May 23) at the site of the higher seeds before moving to Dodd for the quarterfinals (Wednesday), semifinals (Thursday) and championship (Friday).
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Killingly (10-10) finished the regular season with a 5-4 victory against St. Bernard on Friday at Ben Desaulnier Field. Killingly scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth. Frazer tied it with a two-run single. Larrow then hit an RBI double for the go-ahead run. Jax scattered four hits over 6.1 innings to earn the pitching win, while Waterman got the save.
Is Killingly peaking at the right time?
“You never know what’s going to happen when you get in the tournament,” Desaulnier said. “Baseball is funny. It’s not like football or basketball where the better team usually wins. It’s one of those things where the team that’s hot at the right time wins. We just have to bring our bats. We’re in now and the pressure is off.”
This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Is Killingly baseball peaking at right time on eve of ECC tournament?
