Burlington pitcher Derek Duffy carried the load Saturday until his Hunter teammates scored two runs in the top of the ninth inning. Then, Duffy shut the door with two of his 11 strikeouts in the bottom of the ninth to lift Burlington to a 2-0 victory and their first Tri-State League championship on Saturday afternoon at Municipal Stadium in Waterbury.
Burlington (24-3) swept Wolcott in the best-of-three Tri-State League championship series, not allowing a single run in two games.
The Hunters gave up just nine hits and struck out 28 batters in two games. Burlington won game one, 3-0, on Friday night at Fuessenich Park in Torrington.
It was a pitching duel throughout game two. Drew Rocca pitched five scoreless innings, allowing four hits and striking out five for the Scrappers (18-9) before reliever Joe Ferrucci came in for the sixth inning and had three scoreless innings of his own.
Burlington made its move with two outs in the ninth inning. Tim Krol singled over the third baseman’s head and moved to second base after teammate Steve Caruso beat out an infield ground ball. Catcher Taylor Donofrio ripped a two-out, two-run double to center field to give the Hunters a 2-0 lead. Donofrio had a two-run single in Friday night’s game that extended Burlington’s lead to three runs. Duffy, who grew up in Farmington and played five seasons at Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire, quickly shut the door in the ninth. The first batter flew out to left field and the final two batters struck out swinging.
“He is just an animal,” Burlington manager Andrew Bunger said. “I’ve coached a lot of guys but I have never seen anyone who is so like the ultimate competitor. He knows what he needs to go to shut down teams. He is hands down one of the best competitors and best pitchers I have ever seen. Duffy won the Tri-State League’s Cy Young award in 2025 as the league’s top pitcher. He didn’t get cranky with the lack of run support through eight innings. “He didn’t say two words,” Bunger said. “Some guys would get mad and say give me some help but that’s not him. He knew what his job was. Once we got him the two runs, it was over. You could see it in his eyes.” Duffy helped himself by picking off three Wolcott baserunners in the second, fifth and seventh innings. The Scrappers had just men reach base and no one got further than second base.
Burlington had a few other chances in the game.
In the fourth inning, Burlington had runners on second and third base with two outs but Rocca got a strikeout to end the inning. In the second inning, Tommaso Tullis had a lead off triple but was thrown out at home, trying to score on a deep fly ball to center field. In the eighth, Chad Lavelle had a two-out single and stole second base but the rally ended with another strikeout by Ferrucci. Krol was 3-for-4 with a double and one run scored for Burlington while Donofrio drove in two runs.
Ethan Stepputtis was 2-for-3 for Wolcott, a third-year team made up primarily of 19-to-21 year old players. There are no players left from the Wolcott squad that won a Tri-State League championship in 2014. Since the league returned to a best-of-3 final in 1987, Burlington is the first team to win a Tri-State League championship with a pair of shutout victories in the finals.
Coaches Corner:
The Burlington Hunters sweep the Wolcott Scrappers to secure their first Tri-State World Series Championship in the team’s history since joining the league in 2005.
Game 1: Burlington 3, Wolcott 0
Hunter’s Anthony Izzo and Scrapper’s Aiden Bisallion squared off on the mound in game 1. The Scrappers threatened early, getting runners to 2nd and 3rd in the top of the first thanks to two singles from Nick Sconziano and Carson Lentini. With 1 out Izzo cut down the runner at home on a comebacker and then recorded a strikeout to get out of the jam. From there both pitchers would put up zeros until in the bottom of the 6th when the Hunters would get the scoring started. Jacob Paschetto worked a lead off walk and advanced to second on a passed ball. Josue Lopez, thanks to some excellent situational hitting he learned at Becker College (RIP) got Paschetto to third off of a fielder’s choice. Tim Krol then stepped to the plate and smacked a line drive through the hole to bring Paschetto in for the lead. After a Jeff Osak Single, Taylor Donofrio delivered a 2-run single to give the Hunters two insurance runs. Izzo, who finished the day with 7 innings, 3 hits and 12 punch outs, turned the ball over to Tim Krol who slammed the door for the 6 out save while striking out 5 to secure the game 1 victory.
Game Highlights: George Zaruba was once again missing a playoff game for a wedding, the guy really loves to do the Cupid Shuffle; Andrew Bunger set a record for amount of times a batter has called time-out in one at bat; and finally Chris Rossi landed back on the IL after throwing out his arm when Papa Izzo forced him to play long-toss during pregame warmups.
Game 2: Burlington 2, Wolcott 0
In game two of the series the Hunters and Scrappers found themselves in another pitcher’s duel. This time Hunter’s Derek Duffy squared off against Scrapper’s Andrew Rocca. Both pitchers silenced the opposing offenses early. In the top of the 5th the Hunters threatened to take the lead after a Tommaso Tollis leadoff triple. In the next at bat Ty Morin sent a fly ball to center field that should have plated the go-ahead run, however, as Tollis ran home, he somehow tripped 15 feet from home plate (Dead) and was doubled up. Truly something you would have to see to believe, still don’t understand what happened. Rocca’s day ended after the 5th inning as he held the Hunter’s scoreless on 4 hits while striking out 5.
The Hunters and Scrappers would remain scoreless until the top of the 9th. With 2 outs Tim Krol reached first on a single to left field. Steve Caruso then reached on an infield single on a close play at first. Taylor Donofrio (yes that guy, who is a PO) stepped up to the plate and launched a line drive into the left-center gap scoring both Krol and Caruso to give the Hunters a 2-0 lead. Derek Duffy slammed the door in the 9th to record the complete game shutout scattering 5 hits while striking out 11 and also picked off 3 runners, has to be a Tri-State record. The series sweep secures the first Tri-State Championship for the Burlington Hunters and is also the first time a team has held their opponent scoreless in Tri-State World Series history. The Hunters want to thank their supporters (which is really Marty’s family, Team mom Yvonne, and definitely not Bunger’s wife) for a truly memorable season and look forward to running it back next summer.
Game Highlights: George Zaruba was STILL absent at this wedding, which was for his college roommate, like cmon not even family and also DID NOT answer the teams facetime call in the postgame celebration; Justin McCulloch was also absent, but WAS able to facetime the team from a boat in the post game celebration; still can’t believe Tollis fell down trying to score, we will probably never let him live this down; speaking of never letting things go, appreciate Taylor Donofrio (Mr. August Ames) for coming up with the winning double, but man, this guy will truly never let us forget it; and finally in the post game celebration after two more landed cans, the Hunters secure the greatest feat of the season going undefeated in the lot for the 2026 season.
