Derby is NVL Baseball Champion

Sal Frosceno singles up the middle....

...and Jordan LaRue dives home with the winning run

Derby captured its first NVL championship in any sport since moving to the league with a tight 2-1 win over Wolcott in the championship game. Ray Kreiger pitched four scoreless innings to get the win after Sal Frosceno was nearly as good in giving up only a first inning run in his three innings of pitching. Frosceno could only pitch three innings because of C.I.A.C. limits on innings allowed to be pitched. Ironically, Kreiger only had 4 left himself - but that's all he needed. Kreiger was also named MVP in the Playoffs. The win was a great one for Derby and Coach Sumner Sochrin, who also claimed his first title as DHS coach. The crafty coach made several crucial decisions during the course of the very tight game that proved to be the right ones. Though Derby baseball has won several state tournament titles in baseball, this was its first league championship since winning a Housatonic League title in 1954.

This was the winning moment as Ray Kreiger struck out the last Wolcott batter with runners on second and third in the top of the seventh inning. He had also struck out the previous batter!

The win was Derby's third in two days as they won a doubleheader on Wednesday to reach the title game. They defeated Torrington 7-0 behind Kreiger's pitching and then toppled Watertown 2-1 on Frosceno's pitching when Jordan LaRue knocked in pinch runner Justin Olenoski in the bottom of the seventh for the win. In three tournament games, the Raiders gave up only two runs!

Derby had played Wolcott twice during the regular season beating them 8-1 at Ryan Field and losing 4-1 in Wolcott.

Derby is now 20-3 on the year and awaits the pairings for the state tournament which begins next week. Derby will be seeking it's first baseball state title since 1996. Derby's 20 wins already this year may be the school record. The 1996 team which won the state title had a record of  15-10, and the 1992 state title team's record was 17-8. Derby also won the state Class S title in 1977. Interestingly, Derby has played in the championship game three times - and won each one. They beat St. Joe's 3-0 in 1977, Terryville 9-7 in 1992 and Shepaug Valley 8-5 in 1996. Tom Fahy was the coach of the 1977 team and John DeFrancisco coached the 1992 and 1996 teams.

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Click here for some video highlights from the Waterbury Republican American

 Story posted on May 24, 2012