The North Haven Senior American Legion 19-U baseball team hit the field to play two games against fellow Zone 2 opponent Branford last week. Post 76 came away with split by earning a 10-0 win at Branford in the first game and then taking an 11-1 loss in the second matchup. With these results, North Haven’s record moved to 2-7 on the season.

On June 29, North Haven was on the road to face Branford and claimed a 10-0 victory versus Post 83 at Branford High School. AJ Maggiore pitched his second-straight complete game to lead North Haven to the shutout. North Haven’s offense pounded out 10 hits and drew 12 walks in the victory, keyed by a four-hit, four-RBI performance from Caleb Somma.

Maggiore tossed all seven innings and allowed no runs on just three hits and no walks to go with four strikeouts in North Haven’s lopsided win over Branford. Maggiore had recently pitched a one-hitter when North Haven notched a 2-1 win against West Haven on June 24.

North Haven scored two runs in the first inning and one run in the second inning to take an early 3-0 lead over Branford. North Haven broke the game open by plating four runs in the sixth inning and then put it away with three runs in the seventh.

In the top of the first inning, Luke Blasi, Will Sullivan, and Tyler Harger all drew walks to load the bases for North Haven. Somma followed with an RBI single that scored Blasi to give North Haven a 1-0 lead. Alexander Bauman then drew a walk that forced in Sullivan to make it 2-0.

Mike Brandt singled to lead off the second inning for North Haven. With two outs, Sullivan hit a single that scored Brandt to put North Haven up 3-0.

North Haven had solid scoring chances in the third and fourth innings, loading the bases in the fourth, but was unable to muster any runs. However, North Haven’s offense went off for a four-spot in the top of the sixth to increase its lead to 7-0.

North Haven batted around on its way to plating four runs in the sixth inning. Brandt led off with a walk and later scored on an error for the first run of the frame. Singles by Sullivan and Shaun Murray then loaded the bases again for North Haven. Signore followed by drawing a walk to bring home Daniel Boudreau and make it 5-0. Somma hit an RBI single to score Sullivan, after which Bauman worked his second bases-loaded walk of the day to force in Murray and give North Haven a 7-0 advantage.

North Haven tacked on three more runs in the top of the seventh inning. Blasi led off with a double and later scored on a groundout by Murray to make it 8-0. Following a walk by Signore, North Haven had three ducks on the pond once again, and Somma drove two of them home when he hit a single to left field that scored Sullivan and Murray to give North Haven a 10-0 cushion.

Meanwhile, Maggiore was cooking on the mound as he allowed just five baserunners all game and never allowed more than one runner to reach base in any inning. Maggiore retired Branford in order in bottom of the seventh inning, striking out the final batter of the contest to put a bow on North Haven’s 10-0 victory.

Somma went 4-for-5 with four RBI to pace North Haven’s offense. Sullivan was 2-for-4 with a walk, three runs scored, and an RBI; while Blasi went 2-for-4 with a walk, a double, two runs, and a stolen base.

Murray went 1-for-4 with a walk, two runs, and an RBI; and Brandt was 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs for North Haven. Signore drew four walks and had an RBI, and Bauman had two walks with two RBI in the victory.

The following day, North Haven hosted Branford at Bailey Road Field and took an 11-1 defeat in the game. Branford scored six runs in the second inning and three runs in the third on its way to the win.

North Haven scored its lone run of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning. Maggiore drew a walk and later scored on a groundout by Brandt to make the score 11-1. North Haven was unable to get any more runs in frame, and the game was called after five. Signore threw a scoreless inning of relief for North Haven.

North Haven will continue Zone 2 competition by playing three-game series against Orange this week from July 6 through Thursday, July 8. After that, North Haven has a three-game set with Hamden that is taking place from Saturday, June 10 to Tuesday, July 13, followed by a three-game series with Madison from Wednesday, July 14 through Saturday, July 17.