Fairfield American’s Little League season ends with regional loss to Toms River East

BRISTOL - — Fairfield American has been a regular in Little League regional tournaments in Bristol over the past 12 years, representing Connecticut eight times, including this year.

But the run ended Wednesday night, when the Connecticut state champion lost to Toms River East, the New Jersey champion, 3-1 in the Metro Region semifinal game at Breen Field.

Toms River East will play Massapequa Coast (N.Y.) Friday at 7 p.m. in the regional final with a trip to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., on the line.

This is the first year of the Metro Region, which encompasses New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

“I thought we came out a little tight tonight, taking nothing away from Toms River,” Fairfield American manager Matt Lawlor said. “We made some errors we don’t usually make. My pitcher Will [Ryan] was great. He battled. We just couldn’t get a key hit when we needed it.”

Fairfield attempted a rally in the top of the sixth when Logan Macchia, Toms River’s starting pitcher, left the game with two outs after he reached the pitch count of 85. Pinch hitter Will Hathaway singled to right and went to second on a wild pitch where he was tagged out in a close play. The play was reviewed, he was called out and the game ended.

Drew Kane had a solo home run and a single to lead Fairfield.

In the bottom of the first inning, Macchia hit a two-run home run over the center field fence to drive in two runs and put give Toms River the early 2-0.

On the mound, Macchia got out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the second. Brooks Fonseca reached on an error, Hudson Kofoed was hit by a pitch and Max Mulhall singled for Fairfield. Macchia got Trip Keyes to fly out to right and the defense held the Fairfield runners in place as Macchia struck out the next two batters.

“We’ve seen him do this before – coming into this game, playing Connecticut, who is an unbelievable baseball team – we were a little nervous to play them and we needed five strong innings from Logan today and he gave us even more than that,” New Jersey manager Mike Mendes said. “He hasn’t hit a home run in a few games but he hit a number of them prior to this and that was a huge jolt for our team.”

Kane led off the top of the third with a solo home run over the center field fence to cut Toms Rivers’ lead to 2-1. Toms River got the next two outs and there was a close play at first involving Fonseca but after a review by the umpires, it was determined he was out at first and the inning ended.

Toms River picked up another run in the bottom of the third when Michael Mendes reached on an error, moved to second on a single by Brady Gilken and third on a fielders choice then scored on a wild pitch.

Fairfield American advanced to the Little League World Series in 2010, 2012 and 2017. Toms River East has been to the World Series four times and represented the Mid-Atlantic region last year after two teams were allowed to advance from each region due to the lack of international teams playing because of COVID-19.

Both New Jersey and Connecticut teams lost to Massapequa (N.Y.), with Fairfield American falling 7-5 on Monday to New York in a game plagued by rain delays, and Toms River losing on Saturday.

Lori Riley can be reached at lriley@courant.com.