DARIEN, Conn. - The image of the typical Darien High School athlete most likely involves a lacrosse stick and a collection of championship medals.
This season, however, the Blue Wave’s varsity baseball team has stolen at least a portion of the spotlight away from their lacrosse brethren.
“We’re obviously trying to put baseball back on the map a little bit here,” senior James Patton, a Wave co-captain, said. “Hopefully, a high seed in the FCIAC tournament and some wins will help us do that.”
Patton is correct on both counts.
Under first-year head coach Mike Scott, a former baseball star at DHS, the Blue Wave compiled a 14-6 record during the regular season and earned the No. 2 seed in the FCIAC tournament, just one game behind top-seeded Staples.
Once in the playoffs, Darien promptly used its formula for success — solid pitching and timely hitting — to defeat No. 7 St. Joseph, 5-1, in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, May 26.
The victory put the Wave in the semifinals, where they will face No. 3 Westhill in Saturday’s semifinals at 2 p.m. at Trumbull High School. Darien defeated Westhill, 12-2, during the regular season. No. 1 Staples will face No. 5 Trumbull at 11 a.m. in Saturday’s other semifinal.
The FCIAC championship will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday at The Ballpark at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport.
Whatever the postseason holds for Darien, it’s safe to say that Blue Wave baseball has stepped out of the immense shadow of lacrosse at DHS.
“The way I’ve always approached it is that both teams can be successful at the school,” Scott said. “We’ve had teams in the past with both lacrosse and baseball being successful at the same time, and I think the guys have seen how good the lacrosse teams has done and they want to match it. There is a sense of pride for the baseball guys to be successful on their end. They take pride in what they do on the field.”
The Blue Wave was close last season, going 12-9 overall and missing the FCIAC tournament by one game. Darien qualified for the State Class L playoffs, but was eliminated quickly with a 2-0 loss to Joel Barlow in the first round.
The 2009 outlook for the Wave was promising considering six starters were returning along with a strong pitching staff which included ace Devin Burke, a senior, junior lefthander Dave Hickey, and senior Teddy Malley.
“We missed out by one game last year but most of our guys came back this year so we knew we’d have a good shot,” Patton said. “We had good pitching last year and continue to have good pitching this year. We won our first five games, but when we got the bats going midway through the season, that’s when we really started taking off.”
Actually, the Wave began to take off before the season with the addition of Scott.
“Coach brought energy in from before the first day of tryouts and even way before that,” senior co-captain and shortstop Chris Bruno said. “All season, we’ve set out and tried to get to the playoffs.”
Patton said the transition to Scott was a smooth one.
“It was really easy, honestly. He got it in our heads real quick that we’re going to work hard and from the moment we see the field, we’re running. There’s not a moment we’re not working hard,” Patton said.
Scott not only brought energy to the team, he carried a stellar resume which included trips with two college teams, as well as a stint in the Detroit Tigers’ minor league system. After starring for the Wave, Scott graduated with the DHS Class of 1997 and went to Providence College where he helped the Friars when the Big East championship in 1999.
Providence dropped baseball after that season, as the college cut programs due to Title IX concerns.
Scott headed to UConn, where he earned Big East Player of the Year honors in Storrs, Conn. He was then drafted by the Tigers in the 23rd round in 2001 and played two years in the organization before an elbow injury ended his career.
Scott most recently coached in Fairfield County’s American Legion zone with the Darien-New Canaan co-op team.
With Scott at the helm, the Wave burst from the blocks, winning its first five games, including victories over Norwalk 9-1, Fairfield-Ludlowe 5-2, and Stamford 4-3.
“It was very important for these guys to get off to a good start,” Scott said. “We had some tough games in that early part of the schedule — a couple of extra inning games, a couple of come-from-behind victories — and that showed them that we can hang in and compete with anybody.”
“It was a good indication of what the team is capable of. It was big, especially because they fell one game short last year, and maybe there was that one game last year that they could have pulled out at the end but it slipped away. Now, they’re on the other end of that and they’re winning the games that they were used to losing.”
Darien stumbled in the middle of the schedule, dropping four of six to fall to 7-5 after the hot start. However, the Wave finished with a flourish, winning seven of its final nine games before getting Tuesday’s playoff win over St. Joseph.
“We beat some pretty good teams to start off and then we had a little bit of a slide, so there was never a point where we were comfortable,” Bruno said. “Any team can beat any team on any day in the FCIAC.”
Burke tossed a four-hitter in the 5-1 quarterfinal win, while centerfielder Kevin Sousa had the big hit — a 3-run double which broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Patton doubled in two more runs in the fifth before the Cadets avoided the shutout with a single run in the top of the seventh.
Several players starred in the win, which has been a trend this season.
“Every day’s been something different,” Scott said. “One day we get the big outing on the mound, another day we get the timely hitting, and some days it’s a big play in the field. It’s really been somebody different stepping up every single day. We give out game balls after every victory and I’ve been giving them out to all different players. It’s never one guy dominating.”
The end result has been some impressive numbers during the regular season, as Darien averaged eight runs per game and had a team batting average of .305.
The pitching staff has been equally strong, with an team ERA of 1.87 and 183 strikeouts in 142 innings. Opponents had just 93 hits off Wave pitchers.
Hickey (3-1) leads the starters with a 1.65 ERA. In 34 innings, the lefty fanned 37 batters and allowed just 24 hits and 14 walks.
Burke, who will play at Duke next season, has taken some hard-luck losses and is 1-4, but he sports a 2.17 ERA and struck out 61 in 38 and two-thirds innings.
The No. 3 starter is senior Teddy Malley, who is a perfect 5-0 with a 2.15 ERA and 23 Ks in 26 innings.
Junior Ricky Hodges has been a key out of the bullpen, going 4-1 with two saves and a minuscule 0.95 ERA in 22 innings.
At the plate, Burke leads Darien with a .459 batting average and a .560 on-base percentage. Burke is second on the team in both runs (18) and RBIs (19).
Bruno is battling a crisp .362 and leads the team in runs (27) and RBIs (20). He has also drawn 18 walks, has a .513 OBP and has 13 stolen bases.
Sousa is hitting .323 with 15 runs and 14 RBIs; Mike Alfieri is hitting .314 with 15 runs and 11 RBIs; and Malley is hitting .246 with 14 runs and 18 RBIs.
“Once we start hitting, I’m pretty confident that nobody can beat us,” Bruno said. “Our pitching is so good it’s tough for anyone to score a lot of runs against us.”
“Guys have been consistent — Chris Bruno, Teddy Malley and Devin Burke have been consistently good and they’ve solidified the top and middle of our lineup,” Scott said. “Those are the guys who they other guys are looking towards and feeding off of.”
The Blue Wave has achieved its best record in more than a decade during what has been a wild season for the FCIAC. Of the 19 teams in the conference, 15 were .500 or better and had a mathematical shot at qualifying for the league tournament with just two games remaining.
For Scott, the homecoming to the FCIAC has been an interesting trip.
“It’s incredible,” Scott said. “I haven’t been around the FCIAC in the last couple of years but I don’t think there’s ever been a year where it’s been so wide open and so even. Any team can beat anybody else. There’s no gimmees this year. It makes every single game exciting and every single game important. It’s fun to play in those types of games.”
Dave Stewart, the Sports Editor of the New Canaan (Conn.) Advertiser, is a MaxPreps.com writer and photographer. He may be reached at 203-966-9541 or at sports@ncadvertiser.com