Less than two weeks after playing one of the most exciting games of the regular-season, the Wilton and Norwalk baseball teams meet again today, Tuesday, May 26, in a higher-profile contest: The Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference quarterfinals.
The game, which takes place at City Hall (or Malmquist) Field in Norwalk, can be heard live on HAN Radio and is also available for purchase as a live video stream through NFHS. The HAN Network will have live coverage of the FCIAC baseball semifinals and finals.
Norwalk (15-5 overall, 14-4 FCIAC) is seeded fourth and Wilton (15-5, 13-5) is seeded fifth in the eight-team conference playoff field. The winner of today's game advances to face either top-seed Darien or eighth-seed Stamford in the FCIAC semifinals on Wednesday at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport. Those games, along with the championship will also be carried live by HAN with video and online radio, which plays on WiltonBulletin.com and at HANRadio.com.
When the teams met at City Hall Field on May 15, Norwalk came away with a 4-3 win in eight innings. The winning run in that game scored on a Wilton throwing error.
That victory turned out to be significant, as it ultimately gave Norwalk the fourth seed (and a home game) in the opening round of the playoffs.
For most of the regular season, the Warriors appeared headed for a top-four seed and a home game in the FCIAC quarterfinals. Behind the pitching of J.T. Morin, Jackson Ward and Trevor Blond, Wilton got off to a 10-1 start, which featured an eight-game winning streak.
But the Warriors then took a detour, losing four of their next six games, including a three-game losing streak to three of the FCIAC's other top teams (Darien, New Canaan and Norwalk).
Wilton regrouped, though, winning its final three-regular season games to clinch a conference playoff berth.
Norwalk, meanwhile, won 15 of its first 18 games before ending the regular-season with losses to Staples and Darien last week.
Both teams are expected to pitch their aces today, with Morin starting for Wilton and Mike Gonzalez taking the mound for Norwalk.
The game coverage is part of the Hersam Acorn Network’s teaming with the NFHS Network to add live video to HANRadio.com, southwestern Connecticut’s leader in live high school sports coverage. HAN is the only home for live Connecticut high school baseball this year. HAN's schedule of playoff baseball, lacrosse and softball can be found here.
The live sporting events and archived videos are available for a subscription fee, which varies based on how long you want access to Hersam Acorn’s content on the NFHS Network. Part of the subscription fee will benefit the ongoing operations of the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference (FCIAC), its member schools and student athletes.
HAN Radio and HAN Video are part of Hersam Acorn’s HAN Network of websites, newspapers, audio, video, advertising and more. Much of HAN’s daily news and sports programming is broadcast live on video. You can watch the videos or check out the daily schedule at HANRadio.com/livestream/.