Coming into its May 11 contest at home versus Oronoque foe Cross, the East Haven baseball team had suffered two big losses earlier in the week and still needed three more wins to qualify for state tournament action. The Yellowjackets took their first step towards postseason play with a 5-3 win behind clutch hitting and pitching from senior starting pitcher Mike Anastasio, who hit a two-run single and threw a complete game in which he struck out six.

"I just kept my head up out there," Anastasio said. "Just stayed positive and kept battling."

Anastasio's upbeat attitude was put to the test early as Cross grabbed two quick runs on three hits and a hit batsman to take a 2-0 advantage. Anastasio rebounded by getting the next three batters out with two of them on strikeouts.

The Yellowjackets' offense did their part to get back in the game in the home half of the first when junior Stephen Perricone got an RBI ground-out to cut the deficit in half, and then two batters later, junior Nick Savalli hit a single to center field to tie the contest.

After getting Cross out on four batters in the second, East Haven (6-10, 5-2 SCC Oronoque) capitalized via some small ball intertwined with some timely hitting. After sophomore Bryon Kucharski drew a lead-off walk, junior Jon Criscio bunted safely and freshman John Kikosicki bunted for an out, yet advanced the runners. Sophomore Nick Lamberti then used some power to grab the lead with and RBI single and Anastasio then helped East Haven pad its lead with a two-out, two-run single to help the Yellowjackets to a 5-2 lead.

The middle three innings were characterized by a complete change of offensive pace. After getting Cross to go down 1-2-3 in the third, East Haven was held scoreless despite two-out singles from Kucharski and Criscio.

Following Cross being blanked in the top of the fourth frame on only one hit, both clubs exchanged 1-2-3 innings in the bottom of the fourth and top of the fifth. East Haven had a scoring threat in the fifth when senior Dom Musto and Savalli both singled with one out. After both runners advanced on a wild pitch, the Yellowjackets had bases loaded with one down following a walk to Kucharski, yet could not grab any insurance as they were out of the inning on the next two batters.

Cross began to show signs of revitalization in the sixth when it grabbed an early run with one out to cut the East Haven lead to 5-3, but Anastasio kept his composure on the mound by only allowing a walk and getting two batters to pop out to escape from the jam.

After another 1-2-3 inning from East Haven in the sixth, the Governors tried to take the lead with bases full and one out, although Anastasio grabbed his sixth strikeout and retired the following out to close the door on the contest and seal the victory for East Haven.

"We had a few key hits today," Head Coach Butch Johnson said. "Mike didn't have the best stuff out there, but came out of it. All of our upcoming games are winnable, but we just have to tighten up our defense."