For nearly half a century with the same man at the helm, the Haddam-Killingworth baseball team has been one of the more decorated programs in the state backed by a litany of regular season wins, Shoreline Conference crowns, and state championship game appearances, but that last piece of hardware in the form of a state crown eluded it. Yet now, the Cougars have checked off that final box on the wish list and have their day at the summit.

Following a 16-4 regular season and semifinal berth in the Shoreline Conference Tournament, the Cougars entered the Class S State Tournament as the No. 3 seed. H-K first blanked 30th-ranked East Hampton 8-0 on May 30 in the opening round before edging out No. 14 Immaculate 4-3 in the second round on May 31 at home. Then, in the quarterfinals, the Cougars struck down another Shoreline rival in No. 6 Old Lyme, 6-3, as hosts on June 3 prior to a 4-0 victory over 10th-seeded Lyman Memorial to return to the state final for the first time since the 2014 season.

In that championship clash on June 9 at Palmer Field in Middletown, H-K–which was making its sixth state championship game appearance–faced off with No. 4 Coventry (19-5 entering the game) and grasped the program’s first-ever state title with a 6-2 victory.

Head Coach Mark Brookes, who ranks second in the state in all-time coaching victories with 743, has served as the program’s patriarch–starting out 46 years ago as the squad’s first and only skipper–and can now add the moniker of state-championship coach to his plethora of accolades.

“I have always felt that it was a successful season whenever we reached a state final,” said Brookes. “When I first started coaching, my goal was to be a consistent winner, and I felt like we did that even without a state title. Yet over the years, people began to ask me if I would ever get it, so much so to the point where if we got back to a state final, I felt it would be nice to win it to end all the questions.”

The Cougars (who finished 22-5 overall in 2023) faced an early 2-0 deficit after two innings of action before rattling off six unanswered runs. Senior pitcher Callen Powers, who also made the All-State Team, struck out nine Coventry batters in six frames of work before junior Blake Kamoen came on in relief for the seventh to shut the door and send H-K into a celebratory frenzy.

“We knew Coventry was an extremely well-coached and competitive group that swings the bats well and strings together great at-bats,” said Powers. “My main focus was to get swings and compete with their hitters. After they went ahead 2-0, my approach was to keep my composure and keep the ball down. The next four innings, we were able to battle with their pitcher and get our own runs across, which helped me on the mound. To bring home a state title is exactly how we wanted to finish out the year. We have such an awesome group of guys that meshed really well together on the field. This win is for Coach Brookes and the entire H-K family. They’ve done so much for every person on the team and it’s their win just as much as it is ours.”

The Patriots drew first blood in a contest that was delayed about an hour due to rain, thanks to a wild pitch in the first inning prior to striking with an RBI base knock the following frame to go ahead two.

“It was a great night,” Brookes said. “The rain delay did not help us; it became a question if we would play the game, but we were assured the game would start. We got there a little before 6 p.m. [for what was an 8 p.m. first pitch] and the kids were sitting around, and it showed in those early innings. We weren’t playing the way we were during the season. Then, they relaxed and did what we do best and answered the call. We also relied on our pitching the rest of the way.”

Yet from there, the tide began to turn, as H-K was opportunistic and took advantage of Coventry’s defensive miscues. In the bottom half of the second, the Cougars put up a four-spot of runs thanks in large part to two errors by Coventry, and then junior Luke Mauri laced a two-RBI double.

“Winning a state title means a lot and the night was unforgettable,” said Mauri. “It was huge for the team and, most importantly, Coach Brookes. I could tell a lot of our guys were nervous while playing in front of the crowd. But once we all remembered what we were there for that was when I saw we were winning that game.”

In the fourth inning, Coventry committed its fifth error of the evening with two outs to extend H-K’s lead. Sophomore Todd Butler made sure the Patriots paid dearly for their misfire when he launched a two-run homer to close the door for any chance of a Coventry comeback. From there, the Cougars’ defense and arms held down the fort and lead to lock up the crown.

“We knew Coventry was aggressive, so we still wanted to take advantage of their mistakes without speed and had some timely hitting,” said Brookes. “Luke Mauri had a couple of big hits, and [senior] Dylan Coon had a fly ball that ended up as a double to lead off the inning. They have been so resilient all season, and they don’t seem to be bothered by a small deficit.”

In the semifinals on June 6 earlier in the week, H-K punched its ticket to the state final with a 4-0 blanking of No. 10 Lyman Memorial at Sage Park in Berlin. Senior William Gordon notched 13 strikeouts, plus Coon and senior Jackson Pray each collected two RBIs.

Following a fast and perfect 13-0 start, the Cougars stumbled a bit as the calendar turned to May by finishing the regular season with a 3-4 stretch entering the postseason. Brookes noted that H-K crashed the batting cages and did not emphasize simply making contact with the ball, but rather proper trajectory with it to increase offensive output and not seemingly give opponents automatic outs.

“During that little setback in early May, we came to the conclusion that we were hitting too many fly balls,” said Brookes. “In two of our losses, we hit 14 and 16 fly-ball outs. We had to learn how to hit the ball down more. We actually assessed penalties in batting practice for every fly ball hit. We just focused on what we had to do in order to win close games.”

The 2023 H-K baseball team roster was comprised of seniors Joe Giaccone, Powers, Pray, Coon, William Gordon; juniors of Ryan Erskine, Riley Gordon, Alexander Blade, Kamoen, Luke Mauri, Dyson Fawcett; sophomores in Evan Aubin, Colton Merola, Todd Butler, Maxwell Selmer, Matt Shea, Sawyer DiMatteo, Liam Christopher, Brody Mitchill, Roman Nappi, Soren Tassmer; and freshmen of Chase Bruno, Michael Bredefeld, Andrew Chadwick, Kyle Czarkowski, Owen Miner, Owen Mitchell, Garrett Mitchill, Nathan Mulhall, and Jake Wolfradt.

Brookes was assisted this spring by Varsity Assistant Coach Josh Cofield and JV Coach Andrew Mead.

To see more photos from the H-K baseball team’s victory in the state final, visit our gallery at: https://www.zip06.com/photo-galleries/20230620/haddam-killingworth-baseball-class-s-championship/

2023 Haddam-Killingworth Baseball Team Regular Season Results

April 3: H-K 3, Cromwell 0

April 5: H-K 10, North Branford 5

April 7: H-K 7, Morgan 1

April 10: H-K 3, Valley Regional 2

April 12: H-K 7, East Hampton 1

April 14: H-K 1, Old Saybrook 0

April 18: H-K 10, Portland 4

April 20: H-K 4, Coginchaug 2

April 22: H-K 7, East Granby 4

April 24: H-K 9, Old Lyme 5

April 26: H-K 9, Hale-Ray 0

April 27: H-K 15, Westbrook 0

May 1: H-K 3, Cromwell 2

May 3: North Branford 5, H-K 1

May 5: Morgan 3, H-K 2

May 8: Valley Regional 9, H-K 0

May 10: H-K 14, East Hampton 2

May 13: H-K 2, SMSA 0

May 15: Middletown 6, H-K 2

May 17: H-K 6, Ellington 5

May 22: Shoreline Conference Tournament quarterfinal: H-K 5, Morgan 0

May 23: Shoreline Conference Tournament semifinal: North Branford 2, H-K 0