Greenwich baseball beats Warde, now 1 win from undefeated regular season

If the Greenwich baseball team is starting to feel the pressure of being undefeated this late in the season, it definitely isn't showing it.

Judging from the relaxed demeanor the Cardinals displayed during a 2-0 victory over Fairfield Warde Wednesday afternoon, they're focused on winning a championship or two.

Greenwich's record -- now 19-0 overall and 17-0 in the FCIAC -- is just a small part of the equation.

"Winning the FCIAC and the state is the most important thing because that was our goal at the beginning of the year," said junior Taylor Olmstead, who doubled and scored Greenwich's second run in the sixth. "It's great to go 20-0 if we get there. But we'd really like to make a mark in FCIACs and states this year."

Greenwich simply does whatever it takes to win, sometimes no more than that.

Wednesday afternoon's game was a perfect example as the Cardinals used four different pitchers to shut down Warde's offense, put together another sound effort with the gloves, and scratched out two tough runs despite struggling to make solid contact against senior right-hander Shane Goven, who allowed just five hits through six innings.

"Today we came out a little slow, but we play hard and we know what we have to do to win," Olmstead said. "We're 19-0 and we know everyone is going to play us tough and play well against us. We know we have to work hard every game if we expect to win."

Senior right-hander Dylan Callahan, junior lefty Ryan Marks and sophomores J.T. Hintzen and Kyle Dunster combined to allow just four hits while walking just one to earn the pitcher-by-committee victory.

The Cardinals scored the only run they would need in the second on an infield error and a two-out RBI-single by junior catcher Ricky Okazaki.

"Today we were lacking the put-away hit," Greenwich head coach Mike Mora said. "But fortunately our pitchers threw strikes and we made the plays. That's really what's kept us in all our games this year."

The only thing that stands between Greenwich and its first perfect regular season since 1996 is a road victory against Danbury on Friday. The Cardinals will take the same approach for that one as they have for the first 19.

"We're trying to take one game at a time," Mora said. "Instead of trying to go catch a record, let's go win this one. If that happens, everything will take care of itself."

Beating Greenwich was Warde's last chance to reach the FCIAC playoffs. With that hope now gone, the Mustangs (11-8 overall, 9-8 FCIAC) will turn their attention elsewhere.

"We have to focus on the state tournament now," Warde head coach Mark Caron said. "We can be a dangerous team. Our lineup is a lot better than what we showed today. If we can get our bats going, we can beat anybody."

Goven (1-4) certainly gave the Mustangs every chance to post the upset. Goven allowed just two hits over the first five innings, and one of those came on a swinging bunt by the speedy Callahan to lead off the game.

He ended up allowing five hits and two runs, one earned, over six innings with five strikeouts and one walk.

"This was his best performance of the year," Caron said. "It's tough to top that. He only gave up one earned run in six innings against the best team in the state. If not for some shaky defense -- the Mustangs made three infield errors -- the Cardinals would have had a much tougher time scoring runs.

"They have great pitching and they play great defense and they capitalized on our mistakes," Caron said. "That's what a great team does."