When the spring season started, Head Coach Butch Johnson knew that the East Haven baseball team would feature some solid pitching, although he wasn’t sure of what his offense would deliver with so many new starters in the mix. Coach Johnson was pleasantly surprised with how his sluggers joined forces with the pitchers to help the Yellowjackets produce a quality campaign in 2019. East Haven finished with an overall record of 11-11 in a year that saw the squad win a share of the SCC Hammonasset Division title, earn berth in the SCC Tournament, and clinch a spot in the Class L State Tournament.

“We had a lot of seniors, but they were a lot of first-year players. We were looking just to get eight wins [to qualify for states], because we had to play Fairfield Prep, Notre Dame, North Haven, and Waterford, so we had a loaded schedule for a bunch of kids starting for the first time,” Coach Johnson said. “Instead, we got to 11 wins, because they played better than we thought. Overall, they stepped up.”

East Haven posted a record of 6-2 in SCC Hammonasset play to finish in a tie with Notre Dame-West Haven for the division title. Notre Dame earned the higher seed in the SCC Tournament as a result of taking both games against the Yellowjackets during the regular season. As the No. 7 seed in SCCs, East Haven lost a 2-1 decision against No. 2 seed Amity in the quarterfinal round.

“Two things we were proud of amongst other things was we were co-champs of the Hammonasset, and we made the SCC Tournament and lost 2-1 to Amity, who is a perennial powerhouse,” said Johnson. “Even though we lost, it was a very good game. If we play anybody else that day, we might have won, but it was just a great game.”

East Haven’s pitching staff featured senior captains Nate Furino and Jack Kabel, along with sophomore Nick Furino. The trio formed a solid starting rotation for the Yellowjackets.

“Any time they went out, whether they won or lost, they kept us in the game. They were able to make big pitches and keep the score down,” Johnson said. “We knew when those three were throwing, for the most part they’d keep the other team to about three runs. If we could keep the other teams down, we felt we could win.”

Nick Furino finished with the best record among the three pitchers by notching a mark of 5-1 this spring. The sophomore’s quality performance has Coach Johnson feeling eager to see what Furino can accomplish as a junior.

“He’s been so consistent. He’s going to be our go-to guy next year,” said Johnson of Furino. “If we can get another five or six wins again out of him, and the other kids fill in with a few, we’ll get those 10 wins or so, and it’ll be another good year. He’s a leader, because he’s established himself as one of our better players.”

Offensively, Nate Furino finished the season with a .461 batting average and was named East Haven’s Most Valuable Player. Furino also earned All-SCC Hammonasset Division honors, made the All-State First Team, and was a New Haven Register All-Area First Team selection.

Kabel and fellow senior Hunter Santana also garnered All-Hammonasset accolades for the Easties. Senior Giro Esposito earned the No ‘I’ in Team Award from the Southern Connecticut Diamond Club. Senior Fred Mascola was presented with East Haven’s Sportsmanship Award, while seniors Robert Garcia and Matt Lisko were co-recipients of the Coaches’ Award.

East Haven’s offense produced plenty of runs this season. Junior Jake Marquardt hit three homers, Lisko and Garcia had plenty of big hits while alternating at designated hitter, plus Santana, Esposito, and senior captain Steve Mingione showed some pop at the plate.

In the field, the Yellowjackets supported their pitchers by making some great grabs with the glove throughout the campaign.

“For the most part, we played pretty good defense,” Coach Johnson said. “Midway through the year, we put [junior Kaymond] Quattlebaum in centerfield, and he caught everything. He’s so quick that he took away a lot of base hits. Anything hit into the gap, he would track it.”

East Haven’s season came to a close when the 20th-seeded Yellowjackets took a 7-2 loss against No. 13 seed Guilford in the first round of the Class L State Tournament. That game marked the final time that the team’s 11 seniors took the field for East Haven. With a fresh wave of starters stepping in next year, Coach Johnson hopes that his new group will pick up right where this one left off.

“I think it sends a message because, if you look at the kids coming up next year, we only have three returning starters. Look what Giro, Hunter, Robert, and Matt did. The confidence they came out with, they needed to wait their turn, but they were good,” said Johnson. “Next year is going to be the same thing. They need to think ‘I’m a starter now,’ and play with that same confidence. I think you’re going to see better play out of younger kids.”

From the Sidelines

The East Haven baseball team’s roster consisted of senior captains Nate Furino, Steve Mingione, and Jack Kabel; fellow seniors Robert Garcia, Gianni Mumford, Matt Lisko, Ronald Jones, Fred Mascola, Hunter Santana, Giro Esposito, and Mike Gaudioso; juniors Mike Streeto, Kaymond Quattlebaum, Ryan Howard, Ryan Gold, Jake Marquardt, Mike O’Connor, Brian Kenyon, and Noah Danz; sophomores Jake Cillo, Darius Morrison, Nick Furino, Trey Garea, CJ Lombardi, Alec Madureira, Zachary Sayers, and Andrew Viora; plus freshmen Ethan Roach, Kyle Miller, David Riccio, and Marcello Proto.

Head Coach Butch Johnson was assisted by Dan Gleason, Gary Brasile, and Fran Belevich.

The Yellowjackets won 11 games during the regular season, recording two victories versus Lyman Hall (14-4 and 5-3), Branford (8-3 and 11-1), Fairfield Prep (3-2 and 8-0), and Law (10-1 and 10-3), along with one win over Shelton (6-3), Foran (3-2), and West Haven (2-1).

East Haven lost two games against North Haven (11-4 and 6-5) and Notre Dame-West Haven (10-4 and 8-7) and also took defeats to Waterford (14-6), Norwalk (11-5), Foran (12-2), Shelton (2-1), and Coginchaug (3-1) this year.