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Avon rallies in seventh and eighth inning to beat Farmington, 6-5

Senior Connor Harris went the distance, pitching eight innings and striking out nine as Avon beat Farmington in eight innings, 6-5.

AVON, May 2 – The Avon High baseball team found a little magic on Wednesday afternoon at Buckingham Field.

The Falcons scored twice with one out in the seventh inning to tie the game and used a bases-loaded sacrifice fly from Jake Coppen in the bottom of the eighth inning to rally for an exciting 6-5 victory over Farmington.

Avon (3-7) trailed Farmington (4-6) by four runs after 2 ½ innings and erased a two-run deficit in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Avon senior pitcher Connor Harris earned his first victory of the season on the mound, going the distance. Harris (1-3) pitched eight innings, scattered eight hits, struck out nine and walked just one batter. He gave up five runs but three were unearned.

Playing their third game in three days, the Falcons rallied. Down by two runs in the seventh inning, Coppen singled with one out and scored on Kyle Zarwanski’s RBI triple to right field. Zarwanski tied the game, 5-5, when he scored on a RBI single from Connor Galiher to center field.

In the eighth inning, Miles Borenstein drew a one-out walk off Farmington reliever Josh Roth. Avon’s Will Boone drew a walk and teammate Ryan Ollestad singled to load the bases. Coppen’s sacrifice fly to center field allowed Borenstein to score and the Falcons walked off with their second win in three days.

Avon beat Bulkeley/Weaver, 20-1 in five innings on Monday at Dunkin’ Donuts Park in Hartford before dropping a 10-0 decision in five innings to South Windsor (9-1) on Tuesday evening.

Ollestad was 2-for-5 for Avon against the Indians while Doorman was 2-for-4 with one RBI and a double. Galiher drove in two runs. The nine hits in a single game was the second highest total of hits this spring for the Falcons.

Doorman had a RBI double in the fourth inning while Galiher had a RBI ground ball to shortstop as the Falcons cut the Farmington lead to one run, 4-3. The Indians led 4-0 at one point in the top of the third inning before Avon got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third on a RBI single from Borenstein.

Farmington stole seven bases in the game and was led by Jake Dunst, who was 2-for-3 with three stolen bases. Tyler Courtland was 2-for-3 while Dante Colagiovanni was was 2-for-4 for the Indians.

Avon returns to action on Friday when they travel to Simsbury (7-4) for another CCC West contest beginning at 4:30 p.m. at Memorial Field.

Avon 6, Farmington 5 (8)
At Avon
Farmington (4-6)                        202  010  00  – 5-8-3
Avon (3-7)                                     001  200  21  — 6-9-4
Zac Conrad, Josh Roth (6) and unknown; Connor Harris and Ryan Ollestad; WP: Harris (1-3); LP: Roth; 2B: Gage Doorman (A), Jake Coppen (A); 3B: Kyle Zarwanski (A)

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 40 years. He was inducted into the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.

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