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GREENWICH -- The Greenwich baseball team seems to be pushing allthe right buttons at all the right times this season. Add Monday's 4-3 win over New Canaan to the list of shrewd baseballmoves by the Cardinals. Kyle Ballone had been struggling at the plate and was hit for bythe designated hitter last week against Trumbull, but the big firstbaseman kept working and was hitting the ball so well at practiceover the weekend that coach Mike Mora decided to give him another shot in the lineup. Mora's hunchproved a good one as as Ballone went 2 for 2, scoring the gametying run in the fifth inning. "I love it. Kyle has been working hard," Mora said. "We have beenmoving some guys around, DH-ing some guys at different times andthe one thing is, he has stuck with it. He doesn't get down, hecomes to practice everyday and he works hard. Kyle had a greatbatting practice yesterday and I said `You're in the game.' Weevaluate everyday at practice and I couldn't be happier for himbecause the kid wants to play and he got two big hits today." The win keeps the state's No. 1 ranked team undefeated at 15-0 and13-0 in the FCIAC, but it did not come easy against a young NewCanaan team. Andrew Casali pitched a complete game for the Rams, allowing fourearned runs on six hits. New Canaan coach Mitch Hoffman knew a few little things cost his team the game, but was pleasedwith the way his starting pitcher battled. "If we played like this all year we would be winning more than weare losing," Hoffman said. "Andrew had a hell of a performance ...but it didn't go our way and against a team that is 14-0 you can'tmake a couple of mistakes and expect to win." Ryan Marks pitched one inning in relief of Casey Gaynor to pick up the win and sophomore Kyle Dunster became the all-timesingle season saves leader at Greenwich, picking up his fifth saveof the season. New Canaan (7-8, 5-8 ) got on the board first in the third inningwhen Willie Burger hit a line drive to right field that hit off the glove of a diving Taylor Olmstead , bringing home Grady Amrhein from third base with to outs. The Cardinals answered right back, scoring twice in the bottom ofthe inning. Matt Pruner walked to lead off the inning and came in to score on aRBI double by Dylan Callahan after being moved to second on a single by Ballone. Ballone was cut down at the plate on a groundball, but Olmstead hita sharp groundball between short and third to plate Callahan andgive the Cards a 2-1 lead. The Rams loaded the bases with one out in the fourth, tying thegame right back up when Casali hit a sacrifice fly to right field,scoring Daniel Rajkowski. New Canaan took the lead in the fifth when Rajkowski laid down asuicide squeeze, plating pinch runner Alexander LaPolice , who was running for Burger. Ballone led of the bottom of the fifth with a double off the rightfield fence and scored to tie the game on a groundout by Callahan. Callahan's groundball to second base with the middle infieldersplaying back is the type of fundamental baseball that Mora thinkshelps set his team apart. "We work on it everyday when we take batting practice," Mora said."We work on situational hitting, then we give them their six swingsin the cage. The kids could take it seriously or not, they do. Theybought into it, they are executing and I think they are seeing theresults and it is nice to see." Olmstead led off the bottom of the sixth with a double to leftcenter field, was sacrificed to third by Marks and came home withthe winning run when Cam Fennell hit a bloop single to centerfieldthat fell just in front of a charging Nick Cascione . "I knew I had to get him in," Fennell said. "I'm trying to makethem make a play and trying to find a gap, at least. We are prettyconfident, but we have to fight the whole game." scott.ericson@scni.com; 203-625-4458; twitter.com/greenwichsports/ GREENWICH 4, NEW CANAAN 3 NEW CANAAN 001 110 0--3 5 0 GREENWICH 002 011 X--4 6 0 Records: G -- 15-0, 13-0 FCIAC; NC -- 7-8, 5-8 FCIAC Batteries: G -- Casey Gaynor, Ryan Marks (W, 6), Kyle Dunster and Ricky Okazaki ; NC -- Andrew Casali (L) and Willie Burger. Doubles: G -- Dylan Callahan, Taylor Olmstead, Kyle Ballone ; NC -- Daniel Rajkowski. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Medium Duty Racks , Light Duty Shelving Manufacturer for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Double Deep Racking.
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