Tri-State fielding top college and former pro players

Tri-State Baseball League in Connecticut still fielding teams of top college and former pro players

Copyright Peter Wallace Register-Citizen July 12, 2023

BETHLEHEM – Rolling thunder offered celestial background for much of a Tri-State Baseball League game between last year’s league finalists Sunday at Bethlehem’s Gallup Field. It was appropriate because it punctuated the Bethlehem Plowboys’ first win in three tries this summer over the two-time defending league champion Tri-Town Trojans – not to mention, the 14-1 Trojans’ first loss of the season in the Northwest Corner’s 10-team summer super league.

Tri-Town won 3-2 and 4-2 in games last month on its way to perfection, but Sunday was a different story in the league full of former and current college players and a sprinkling of former and shoulda-been pros. “It’s pretty hard,” said Matt Palombo, whose two-run double in the bottom of the eighth inning put the cap on the Plowboys’ 11-5 win. Palombo was part of Nonnewaug High School’s Class M State Champion team before joining a league of seasoned veterans and young stars like him.

Even a player like the Trojans’ Willie Yahn, a UConn baseball star with a four-year run in the Orioles’ farm system has players to look up to in this league. Evan Scribner, a pitcher who joined the Trojans this summer after his own four-year run with three major league teams (Padres, A’s and Mariners) is 10 years older than Yahn, but threw against him in a clinic. “I remember every pitch,” said Yahn, who went 4-for-5 in Sunday’s game. “I felt like I was up against a Cy Young winner.” Mike Fabiaschi is a third former pro on the Trojans, going four years in the A’s organization.

Before the start of Sunday’s game at Gallup Field, Plowboy coach Rich Revere good-naturedly agreed the collection made it seem “not quite fair.” But Sunday, in a league full of stars who are also family men with full-time jobs, often traveling relatively long distances for games, Yahn was the only one of the Trojan former pros on hand.

After the game, Plowboy Coach Revere ecstatically pronounced “We played team baseball. Everyone hit,” while Tyler Boisvert, another Nonnewaug graduate who starred at Post University, kept most of the Trojans in check. By the end of the first inning, it was 4-0 Plowboys, with Palombo providing a key two-run single. Jarrett Michaels, yet another Nonnewaug graduate, hammered a home run into the bushes past left center field in the fourth; and Palombo sealed it with his double in the eighth.

With full rosters, it’s hard to bet against Tri-Town and Bethlehem showing up for the finals again in the Tri-State playoffs scheduled for July 25-August 13, but Sunday’s thunderous outcome offers regular-season hope for the rest of the league as well. The Burlington Hunters (11-4) are a game ahead of Bethlehem (10-4) for second place in the standings after Sunday, but every other team in the league is worth watching.

Keep that in mind when you check the schedule on Tri-State’s website, tristatebaseballct.com, for free baseball you can watch this summer.