Ledyard — For all anyone else knew, Scott Chiasson would deliver the happy recap to his team Thursday afternoon, the team that just made the state high school baseball quarterfinals for the first time since 2006. And so the boys of Ledyard High School were gathered around their coach out in left field, when Chiasson, who threw his share of curves in his professional career, unloaded a nose-to-toes beauty.

“So,” Chiasson said, “where the hell has this been all year?”

He’s a hard marker, that Scott Chiasson. But his Colonels are in the Class M quarters now, following their 3-0 victory over No. 28 Lewis Mills at Matt Buriak Field. The No. 12 Colonels see some old friends in Friday's quarterfinals, at No. 4 Sheehan. This is the third straight year they’ve played in the postseason.

Ledyard (14-8) has yet to yield a run in the tournament. Following Kyle Haney’s 13-strikeout effort Wednesday, fellow senior Fred France delivered a three-hit shutout with six strikeouts.

“Where has this been all year? I don’t know,” France said. “I just tried to throw more strikes and it worked. This was the biggest start of my life. A lot of people asked me before the game if I was nervous, but I’ve never really been one to get nervous over baseball. Swimming? Definitely. I don’t know why. Every single time.”

France stayed afloat with Anthony Viteritto’s RBI and some charitable defense from the Spartans, who allowed Mike Bruce and Andrew Byrd to score on a passed ball and an error.

“This is the team I thought I had,” said Chiasson, in his first season as head coach after assisting former head coach Sam Kilpatrick. “This is the pitching I thought I had. And we haven’t done this all year. We’ve walked guys, got behind in the count. Ball one, ball two. The first 15 games I think we had had like five 1-2-3 innings. Painful. I was just telling them this is the team I thought would repeat in the ECC Large Division.”

And now there’s another sport at Ledyard that’s contending, joining football, basketball and wrestling.

“I think the kids may have had some doubts whether we could do this because it hasn’t happened in a while,” Chiasson said. “We’re not the football team. We’re not basketball or wrestling. We’re behind those three sports. We’re not looked at as a team that wins. We’re hoping to change that feel around Ledyard.”

This is a good start. And a win Friday would be a cause for celebration. Sheehan is a legitimate title contender. But the Colonels, who will pitch Trevor Bolduc, eliminated them last season in Wallingford.

“If we had never played Sheehan before I’d say this is house money,” Chiasson said. “Two years ago, they came here and beat us on a walkoff, opposite field home run, Last year we go to their place and nobody expected us to win. And we did. I feel like it’s a pretty even matchup, honestly. But I know they have great pitching.”

m.dimauro@theday.com

Twitter: @BCgenius