Woodland baseball gains first win

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Kyle Georgia got his first win of the season after going five innings and allowing one run on four hits. He also tallied three hits and three RBI in Woodland's first win of the season.
Kyle Georgia got his first win of the season after going five innings and allowing one run on four hits. He also tallied three hits and three RBI in Woodland's first win of the season.

BEACON FALLS — Winless after three games is not a predicament the Woodland baseball squad has experienced recently. But it’s exactly what the Hawks were after three, tight losses during the opening week of the season. The Black and Gold reversed that trend Monday, though, with a convincing, 12-3 thumping of Wilby for their first win of the year.

Four Hawks posted multiple-hit performances, led by senior pitcher Kyle Georgia’s three base knocks and three RBIs, and every starter reached base at least once. Georgia also paced Woodland with his second straight solid start on the mound, going five innings while allowing just four hits and one run.

Georgia took the hard-luck loss in last Wednesday’s opener at Ansonia, giving up just one earned run and striking out eight in a 2-1 defeat.

“I felt a lot more comfortable,” Georgia said after the Wilby win. “We finally have no distractions going on, so I feel that since we have our full team and we’re focused, that always helps.”

The Hawks tallied just four hits in the loss at Ansonia but rebounded with nine knocks against both Derby and East Catholic. Pitching and defense hurt Woodland in those losses, though, as the Hawks surrendered a seven-run second inning to Derby in a 7-5 loss before committing three errors in the seventh inning to hand East Catholic a 4-2 win Friday.

Monday’s offensive showing was Woodland’s most prolific yet, totaling 13 hits over six innings.

“We put the bats on the ball,” senior first baseman Mike Diurno said. “Everybody swung the bats well. Everybody was up there swinging.”

Woodland wasted no time putting the Wildcats in a hole. Junior catcher Jack DeBiase and Georgia hit one-out singles in the first and later scored on a hit by Diurno and a squeeze bunt by junior second baseman Mike Hardy to make it 2-0 after the first.

Junior designated hitter Anthony Pacileo, senior center fielder Ryan Genua and DeBiase all reached consecutively in the second inning and scored to give Georgia a 5-0 cushion with which to work.

Georgia cruised on the hill, his lone miscue a solo home run by Ricky Roman to lead off the fourth. Otherwise, Woodland’s ace faced little trouble all afternoon.

The Hawks answered the homer in the bottom of the fourth with four more runs, the last driven in by junior shortstop Ryan Mariotti, who picked up his first two hits of the season.

Diurno and Georgia feel the offensive explosion Monday might lead the way to success for the rest of the season.

“I think we could have been 3-0 easily, but we had a couple tough breaks here and there,” Diurno said. “We knew we were going to get the W [Monday], and we should do better the rest of the season. We had to find our lineup and get our pitching settled. Now we have our full team, and we know who’s where and who’s doing what.”

“We’re going to take it one game at a time, but we’re looking to win every game,” Georgia added. “Our season starts over this week.”

Monday’s win was the 100th in program history. The Hawks were scheduled to host St. Paul Wednesday before meeting Torrington Friday.

Monday’s win was the 100th in program history. The Hawks defeated St. Paul, 13-5, on Wednesday, and will travel to Torrington Friday.