Guilford Falls To Lyman Hall In Class L Baseball Championship

GUILFORD, CT — The Guilford baseball team’s run through the CIAC Class L tournament came to an end with a 3-0 loss to Lyman Hall in the championship game Saturday afternoon at Palmer Field in Middletown.

Third-seeded Lyman Hall was led by the shutout pitching by freshman Liam Laffin and an opportunistic offense to win the program’s third overall state championship.

The eighth-seeded Grizzlies were playing in the program’s third state final. Guilford reached the final in 2023, and won a state title in 2007.

Laffin limited Guilford to two hits in seven shutout innings. He finished with eight strikeouts and retired 17 batters in a row to end the game.

Senior Lucas Deshefy took the tough-luck loss for Guilford, allowing only one earned run in six innings. He limited Lyman Hall to five hits and struck out two.

Laffin worked out of some trouble early in the game before dominating the rest of the way. He hit two batters in the first inning before getting Guilford senior co-captain Adam Copeland to ground out to end the threat.

Matthew Dinardo and Ralph Russo led off the top of the second with back-to-back singles for Guilford. With one out, Gennaro Pellegrino reached on a fielder’s choice to load the bases for the Grizzlies. Pellegrino ended up being the last player to reach base for Guilford.

Laffin worked out the jam by striking out Lucas Ametrano and getting Tanner Smith to pop out to left.

Lyman Hall scored a run in the bottom of the second to take a 1-0 lead.

Nate D’Amico led off with a single and moved to second on a groundout by Ryan Casey. Laffin walked, and Logan Michaels reached on an error on a sacrifice bunt attempt to load the bases. Will Quinn followed with a sacrifice fly to score D’Amico.

Laffin followed with an impressive inning, retiring the side on five pitches in the top of the third inning.

The Trojans scored two unearned runs with two outs in the bottom of the fourth to make it a 3-0 game.

Michaels got things going with a bloop single to left with two outs. Quinn reached on an error, and Ethan Rich followed with a single to right to drive in Michaels.

Owen Rich then drove in Quinn with a single to right to give Lyman Hall a 3-0 lead.

Laffin again followed with a statement inning by striking out the side in the top of the fifth.