Frosceno hurls Derby past Seymour

DERBY -- Like his coach, although they each said it in different words, Derby sophomore pitcher Sal Frosceno knows his team doesn't score a lot.

It's a good thing, then, that he and Ray Kreiger have been as sharp as they have for the Red Raiders. Frosceno pitched a four-hit shutout Friday at Ryan Field in Derby's 2-0 win over Seymour.

"A couple of runs do it for us," Frosceno said. "Sooner or later, we'll start hitting."

The Red Raiders (13-1, eight wins in a row) scraped together two in the first inning, all they needed. Frosceno struck out seven, against two walks and two hit-batsmen (one of them his cousin, Frank, Seymour's second baseman).

"I'm very focused on the game and the hitters," Frosceno said, "what their strengths and weaknesses are. I look up to our ace. I kind of get it from him."

Kreiger and Frosceno have combined to allow under an earned run an inning, coach Sumner Sochrin said.

"We've struck out five times the number of guys we've walked. That's all you need," Sochrin said.

Seymour (9-5) got pretty much the same from sophomore Nick Kuzia, one of a couple of young pitchers the Wildcats have relied on with Adam Merritt unable to pitch due to injury. Kuzia didn't walk a batter, and three of Derby's four hits went no more than 80 feet.

"He's throwing strikes," Seymour coach Bob Kelo said. "With Adam being hurt, he and the (Jake) Walkinshaw kid have been a godsend. They don't throw hard, but they throw strikes."

Kuzia threw just 67 pitches. He threw a third of them in the first inning.

Dillon McMahon led off with a single to left. Frosceno bunted toward third to move him over, but the ball died in the grass and Frosceno beat it out.

A passed ball moved the runners up. Kreiger's groundout brought in McMahon, and Colin Haydu's sacrifice fly brought in Frosceno.

"The killer was the passed ball," Kelo said. "That set the whole nightmare up. We don't get the passed ball, we get a force at second, or best case a double play, popup and we're out of it."

The Red Raiders put two more runners on before Kuzia got a ground ball to end the inning. From there, he faced the minimum, and Derby never got the ball out of the infield.

"I thought we should've had a lot more runs, but that's the way it is," Sochrin said. "Beats the alternative."

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SEYMOUR 000 000 0--0 4 2

DERBY 200 000 x--2 4 0

Records: Seymour 9-5; Derby 13-1. Batteries: S--Nick Kuzia (L,

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