NORTH STONINGTON— The final out had been recorded 25 minutes ago in a 9-1 loss that ended a historic state tournament run, but Wheeler's baseball coaches and players were still on the diamond.
After the traditional post-game handshake with victorious Oxford in a Class S quarterfinal game played at Wheeler High, Wheeler players walked to the outfield for a players-only post-game chat. Hugs, high-fives and tears were apparent. Then the players walked to the coaches, who continued to talk and give tributes and bear hugs.
After the meetings, the players gathered around the pitcher's mound for team photos by parents and friends. The Lions didn't want it to end.
The last six months have seen as exciting a two-sport run as anyone in North Stonington had seen for decades, if ever. The boys basketball team captured the imagination of southeastern Connecticut by selling out three gyms en route to the program's first-ever ECC tourney title and state tourney semifinal berth. Now the baseball team was continuing the glory with a program-best 17 wins and a rare quarterfinal berth.
Shortstop Kyle Kessler was a key figure in both runs.
"It's been great since winter," Kessler said. "Our great run carried over from basketball. I love playing with these guys and it's sad to end. But it happens."
Wheeler's nucleus won multiple Senior Little League state championships for Stonington Little League in recent summers. But the Lions (17-7) ran into a hot team in the Wolverines,who had won six straight postseason games, including a run that ended in a Naugatuck Valley League title, after a middling 12-8 regular season.
Oxford, which is nearly 90 minutes away from North Stonington (if you don't hit any traffic), has made a summer home of southeastern Connecticut in the last few days, with the softball team eliminating Stonington Friday and the baseball team prevailing Saturday against the Lions on a brilliant morning.
"It's nice down here," said Joe Stochmal, Oxford's athletic director, who took over as head coach recently for undisclosed reasons. "We had a nice bus ride. We were fortunate enough to jump on a good team early.
"We are peaking right now. Our bats are starting to wake up and (we were) getting great pitching from our one and two today. We were clean defensively too—the old adage of pitching, defense and timely hitting came through for us."
Oxford sophom*ore Cole O'Connell used 96 pitches to scatter six hits and allow just one run in the seventh on Bradin Anderson's RBI single. The right-hander struck out five and relied on his fielders, who played errorless ball.
"It's a very good team that played like we did in the first two rounds (in wins over Northwest Catholic and Shepaug Valley)," Wheeler coach Eric Collins said. "We didn't hit any gaps with our hits today like in the first two rounds."
Oxford (18-8) left the bases loaded against Bradin Anderson in the first inning but cashed in during the second. The frame started innocently as Ian Cunningham walked and was sacrificed to second. O'Connell, batting ninth, followed with an RBI single. After a walk, Tyler Bergoden hit a two-run single for a 3-0 lead.
Two more hits and a forceout made it 4-0 before Izaiah Collazo's two-run double pushed the lead to 6-0 and knocked out Anderson.
Reliever James Main was more effective, striking out six and allowing four hits in 5 1/3 innings. But Oxford tacked on three more runs, which in itself would have been enough on Saturday.
Collins has no regrets. The Lions were one of the more successful ECC teams, finishing second in ECC Division IV to Lyman Memorial and reaching the ECC Division II tourney semifinals. Wheeler last reached the state quarters in 1992 and hasn't won two state tourney games since long before that.
Collins wasn't surprised his players were in no hurry to leave. Kessler, a .400 hitter and possible All-State pick headed to Mitchell College, Sean Bergel, Bradin Anderson, Jon Anderson and Wyatt Elliott are Wheeler's five graduating seniors.
"That's the way these kids are— they love to play and take pride in their games," Collins said. "They didn't want to leave practices either, staying around for more work. These seniors have left the bar very high for future teams to follow. Many played as freshmen when they won three games. They doubled that as sophom*ores and won 13 last year and now 17.
"Teams that Wheeler never would beat— like St. Bernard, Lyman, Stonington, Killingly and Ledyard— we started beating them," Collins said. "Games that were almost always losses for Wheeler were now anybody's game. I cannot say enough about these kids and this town that I love coaching in."
