The East Haven Senior American Legion baseball team opened up the 2017 season by playing three games against West Haven and two versus fellow Zone 2 opponent North Haven last week. After taking two of three from West Haven, the 89ers dropped both ends of their doubleheader with North Haven for an early record of 2-3.

Head Coach John Longley feels good about his club as he enters his second campaign as East Haven’s skipper. One of the things Longley is pumped up about is the addition of Nick Kraszewski, who recently completed an exceptional high school career with the Yellowjackets.

“I have a good core of kids that can all play. I move them in and out depending on who is on the mound. Our main pitchers are Mike Mancuso and Nick Kraszewski,” said Longley, whose team qualified for the State Tournament and finished 14-14 last year. “Nick is also a good hitter, which will help us a lot, too, because last year, we didn’t score a ton.”

Longley expects his athletes to see time at various spots on the diamond this summer, with the exception of Tyler Leone, who is slated to be East Haven’s regular catcher. Longley said that he likes the versatility on his squad.

“It makes it easy when I have to move guys around. My guys can play a lot of different positions and they play them well,” he said. “I don’t lose a guy off the bench if I have to make a move early in a game. We have a lot of versatility.”

The 89ers started their year with a 7-2 victory over West Haven on June 12. Mancuso earned the victory on the mound by allowing four hits to go with five strikeouts. Jake Ferrara had two hits and drove in a run, Leone had two hits and knocked home three, and Gabe Longley had two RBI. Longley’s hit came when East Haven was hanging on to a 3-2 lead. With two outs and two runners in scoring position, Longley’s base knock broke the game open.

The next day, West Haven got the better of East Haven, 11-6. The 89ers allowed nine runs in the fourth inning as West Haven took advantage of some errors by getting a few key bloop hits. Ferrara finished with four hits and a double, while Jack Zimmerman had two hits for East Haven.

In the rubber game of the series on June 16, the 89ers beat West Haven 9-2 to take the series behind a two-hit, eight strikeout performance from Kraszewski. Coach Longley called it a big win for his group, which saw Frank Longley get four hits, including two doubles, to go with five RBI, while Leone had three hits and drove in a pair of runs.

To finish off the week, East Haven lost both games of a doubleheader at North Haven on June 17. In the opener, the 89ers dropped a 2-1 decision in a game that was there for the taking. With a scoreless game through six innings, Tristan Punzo drove in a run in the top of the seventh to give the 89ers the lead. Mancuso started and pitched a phenomenal game, but reached his pitch limit, and was taken out with two outs and two runners on in the bottom half of the seventh. The next batter hit one over the head of East Haven’s second baseman on 3-2 count to plate a pair of runs and give North Haven the 2-1 victory.

“That was a tough one to swallow, but both teams played great defense. We each had one timely hit, but they scored two runs on theirs, and we scored one on ours,” Coach Longley said. “It was a tough loss for the team. It was tough coming back after the first game to get started in the second.”

North Haven followed up the walk-off win by shutting out Eats Haven 4-0 in the nightcap. Mark Smith had a double and two walks, Leone hit a double, and Gabe Longley had one hit for East Haven.

With the first week of the season complete, Coach Longley and the 89ers are excited to work together throughout the summer and strive toward the team’s three primary goals.

“Our first goal is to make the playoffs, our second is to win our zone, and the third is to win a playoff game,” he said. “Our kids are excited to get started, and we have a couple of new additions this summer. I know our bats are going to come alive, and we’ll put up some wins.”