Wood, Coen keep Hartford off balance as Simsbury takes series opener

Simsbury’s Jamie Coen pitched a complete game shutout, allowing just three hits in Post 84’s 7-0 win over Hartford.

SIMSBURY, July 23 – Simsbury’s Jake Wood was an all-conference catcher for Canton High this spring. But as the Simsbury American Legion baseball season progressed, Wood fell into a slump at the plate, struggling to hit curve balls.

But he has been working with Simsbury assistant coach Ed Lavoie to shorten his swing. Wood’s work paid off Wednesday with a single, double and three RBI as Post 84 won the opening game of a best-of-3 series with Hartford, 7-0 in the American Legion state tournament at Memorial Field.

Zone 1 champion Simsbury (19-6) needs one more win to advance to the Northern Division finals that begin Saturday at Muzzy Field in Bristol.

It is a four-team, double elimination event with the winner earning a bid to the state championship series in Stamford against the Southern Division champion and a berth in the Northeast Regional in Middletown. The top two teams in the state earn bids to the regional tournament.

Simsbury first baseman Jake Wood had four RBI Wednesday.

Game two against Hartford begins Thursday at 2 p.m. at Memorial Field. Game three, if necessary, begins immediately afterward at 5:30 p.m.

Simsbury had an early 1-0 lead in the third inning when Wood ripped a two-RBI single to right field to extend the lead to three runs. “I was just trying to get my bat on the ball,” Wood said.

“That was a big hit,” Simsbury coach Tom Vincent said. “It gave us a cushion.”

In the fifth inning, Wood added a two-out RBI double that scored Dakota Hunter for a 5-0 lead.

Hartford (13-11) made two crucial errors and hit a batter in the third inning that led to four unearned runs. Post 8 made three errors and left 11 men on base – a reversal of Sunday’s 3-2 win over Avon when Hartford had several key two-out hits and helped strand 15 Avon runners on base. Hartford’s game-winning hit came on a two-out double in the fourth inning.

“We had the opportunities but we couldn’t pick up the two-out hits,” Hartford coach Glynn Baron said. “We had a lot of lazy fly balls today. There is no reason we can’t compete with these guys (Simsbury). We did nothing today that resembles our style. We were bad defensively. We didn’t grind out at-bats.”

Simsbury pitcher Jamie Coen went the distance to earn the shutout. He threw 129 pitches, allowed just three hits and struck out six. It’s his first complete game of the season.

“It was great for the team,” Coen said. “We’re looking to keep going hard and getting hits. I know I have the best defense behind me.”

Simsbury had 12 hits led by Jake King (Granby), who was 3-for-5 with a double, and Jake Cassano, Andrew Girard and Wood with two hits each. Dakota Hunter, King, E.J. Lavoie and Wood each had doubles for Post 84.

Getting out to the early lead was important for Simsbury. Hartford never trailed in their previous state tournament victories over Avon and Enfield. “They are a team that feeds off (your) mistakes,” Vincent said. “They try to bunt and they love to run. We tried to get a lead to shut down their running game.”

In the third, Lavoie reached base due to a one-out error by third baseman Chris Taveras. Cassano singled and moved to third on an error. He scored on a single by Girard for a 1-0 lead. With two outs, Hunter was hit by a pitch. Wood came up and ripped a two-RBI single to left field for a 3-0 lead. Hunter moved to third on Wood’s hit and scored on a double steal when Wood got caught in a rundown between first and second and Hunter scored. Wood eventually safely got to second base.

Simsbury added two more runs in the eighth thanks to a RBI double from Lavoie and a RBI single from Girard.

NOTES: Chris Enns (2-1), who recently graduated from Canton High, is scheduled to start for Simsbury in game two. … Baron said Hartford will pitch Angel Moreno in game two and Olvic Mercedes in game three. … The top two teams from Connecticut will qualify for the Northeast Regional because Connecticut has more senior and junior legion teams than any other state in the nation. So along with host Middletown, Connecticut will have three teams in the eight-team field at the Northeast Regional at Palmer Field. … Hartford was led by outfielder Glynn Baron III, who had two singles.

Simsbury 7, Hartford 0
At Simsbury
Hartford (13-11)       000  000  000  – 0-3-3
Simsbury (19-6)       004  010  02x  – 7-12-4
Alexie Madera, Neify Delacruz-Mercedes (6) and Angel Moreno; Jamie Coen and Andrew Girard; WP: Coen (3-1); LP: Madera; 2B: Jake King (S), E.J. Lavoie (S), Dakota Hunter (S), Jake Wood (S)