
Avon’s Matt Boone and Jeremy Zarwanski celebrate after the Falcons beat North Haven to earn a berth in the state semifinals for the first time since 1968.
AVON, June 4 – The Avon High baseball team hasn’t let the doubt creep in. That would have been easy after losing five straight to end the regular season and dropping seven of the final eight contests to finish their first season in the Central Connecticut Conference with a 10-10 record.
“These guys are good,” Avon’s second-year coach Jon Yolles said of his Falcons on Saturday afternoon. “They’re really good. They battle like crazy.”
Avon junior hurler Justin Olson scattered five hits and struck out eight to lift No. 23 Avon into the semifinals of a CIAC state tournament for the first time in 48 years with a 7-4 win over No. 31 North Haven on Saturday in a Class L quarterfinal contest at Buckingham Field.
Avon (13-10) will face No. 11 Notre Dame-West Haven (17-9) in the Class L semifinals on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. at Middletown’s Palmer Field. It’s the first semifinal appearance for the Falcons since 1968 when Avon beat Washington High – now Shepaug Valley – by an 8-0 score in the Class C tournament, which is now referred to as the Class S tournament. Avon went on to beat Cromwell, 3-1 for its most recent state championship.
Avon joined the CCC this year after spending 30 years in the North Central Connecticut Conference. “We knew being in the CCC could help us make a deep run in the states,” Olson said.
Four of Avon’s final seven losses were by one run. One was by two runs. “We played eight games in 14 days,” Yolles said. “It was a tough stretch.”
It’s been a good stretch for Avon this past week with three consecutive wins in the state tournament – the most since winning three straight to capture the 1968 state title.
On Tuesday, the Falcons beat No. 10 New London, 7-2, with Olson and reliever Will Boone limiting the Whalers to just five hits. Avon followed that up a day later with an 8-6 win over No. 7 Masuk-Monroe, taking advantage of three wild pitches to help erase a three-run lead. Outstanding relief pitching from Kyle Emery and Olson (two innings) helped boost the Falcons.
Saturday, Avon played their first postseason game of the season at home, grabbing a 7-1 lead after three innings.
Olson, now 6-1 on the year, struggled a bit in the first two innings but a six-run lead calmed down the senior hurler. “I was struggling and was throwing everything high,” he said. “I was trying to overthrow but once we got the lead, I was able to settle down and pump strikes. I was able to let the defense make plays behind me. (Offensively), we did a great job hitting.”
In the second inning, Avon tied the game at 1-1 on a bases-loaded single from Kyle Emery. With two outs, Ian McDonald had a RBI single to give Avon a 2-1 lead. That was followed by Olson’s two-RBI single to left field for a 4-1 Falcon lead.
In the third inning, Jeremy Zarwanski scored on an error while Matt Boone and Brendan Dyer each had RBI singles to boost the Falcon lead to 7-1.

Avon shortstop Chris Jacobs (11) makes a catch in shallow left field in front of teammate Kyle Emery in the sixth inning of Saturday’s win over North Haven.
North Haven (10-13), which eliminated No. 2 Berlin in eight innings and No. 15 Fitch earlier in the tournament, received a RBI triple from Peyton Farina in the top of the fourth inning to trim the lead to 7-2. Two errors on a single play later in the inning allowed another two runs to cross the plate and cut the lead to 7-4.
But in the last three innings, Olson was particularly sharp. He continued to get ahead of most North Haven batters. He struck out three and gave up just one hit, a double that just glanced off the glove of an Avon outfielder Andrew LeDuc, who ran a long way to have a shot at the ball.
In the seventh, North Haven had runners on second and third base with one out. Dominic Onofrio beat out an infield single to reach first base. He moved to second when Giovanni Torres reached on an error. Both runners moved up to base on a wild pitch.
But Olson struck out C.J. Somma and got Brendan Clark to ground out to the shortstop to end the game. Olson pitched his second complete game of the season. He went all seven innings in a 2-0 win over Glastonbury on April 25, striking out seven.
“Justin battled the first few innings and then he just relaxed,” Yolles said. “He didn’t want me to take him out. He just relaxed and started throwing the ball beautifully. We gave him a few extra outs, but he hung in there for us.”
Olson also got the job done at the plate. He was one of three Falcons with two hits, going 2-for-3 with two RBI. LeDuc and Matt Boone also had two hits each.
Avon 7, North Haven 4
At Avon
North Haven (10-13) 010 300 0 – 4-5-2
Avon (13-10) 043 000 x – 7-8-2
Brendan Clark, Preston Young (3) and Michal DeRosa; Justin Olson and Jeremy Zarwanski; WP: Olson (6-1); LP: Clark; 2B: Vin Annastase (NH), 3B: Joe Ireland (NH)
Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the editor and founder of The Collinsville Press. He is an award-winning writer and has been covering sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 30 years.


High School
2025 NCCC Winter Tournaments

High School
2025 CCC Winter Tournaments

Avon Baseball
June 5, 2016 at 9:20 am
Olson is a junior