Fairfield American Bound For Bristol

At four inches shy of five feet, Nate Klein is the smallest player on the Fairfield American 12-year-old All-Star squad.

His teammates affectionately call him Mini-Me or Munchkin, yet the pint-sized right fielder hit a very large home run Sunday that will live in the annals of Fairfield Little League baseball.

Klein's two-run shot over the center-field fence in the bottom of the fourth inning clinched a state championship for Fairfield American, which finished off Madison, 11-1, at Bridgeport's Blackham School to advance to the New England Regionals in Bristol.

"I didn't know if it was gone," Klein said. "I had my grandparents here, my cousins, so it felt pretty good. I was just trying to get a base hit."

Klein did better than that, picking an excellent time to come through with his first homer of the postseason. His long ball, one of three hit by his team in the fourth, gave Fairfield American a 10-run cushion, automatically ending the  contest because of the mercy rule.

Klein's power display surprised - if not shocked - his teammates.

"I didn't think he could hit it that far," said winning pitcher Jack Quinn, who also went deep in the fourth, when Fairfield American erupted for six runs. "But Mini-Me has awesome power."

"That was the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life, a walk-off home run to win the states," added Nick Nardone, who started the barrage in the fourth with a three-run blast to left that landed on the opposite field.

Fairfield American, which improved to 15-0 in the postseason, is the first team from district two to represent  Connecticut in the New England Regionals since 1996. However, this marks the first appearance in the regionals for any  team from Fairfield.

"That's really special for the town and these boys," coach Chris Daley said.  "It's a special group of boys. We won the states as 11's last year and went undefeated, so we knew we had a special group, but the competition just gets tougher at 12 years old and these boys just took care of business right along." 
 
Fairfield American opens against Rhode Island on Friday at 8:15 p.m. at the Bart Giamatti Little League Complex.

"Our team is really good," Nardone added.  "I hope we can go far, but I'm just really psyched to win this game."

Quinn allowed just two hits over four innings with two walks and eight strikeouts in  a gutty performance as he battled  a number of deep counts. Andrew Fitzgerald had both hits off Quinn, including a solo homer in the top of the fourth. 

"We're going all the way -- road to Williamsport," Quinn said. "Rock on."

Noted for its potent offense, Fairfield American actually played "small ball" early, parleying two errors, three stolen bases and just two hits into four runs in the second.

Patrick O'Leary's RBI single produced the first run before Eddie Magi drove in a run on a fielder's choice. Billy McGrath stole home to make it 3-0 before Magi scored on a wild pitch.

Fairfield American stole a run in the third, when Klein, who doubled with one out, raced home from third on a catcher's overthrow.

"When the first couple hitters can't come through, our bottom of the order is always there and always gets base hits and brings the whole team up," Nardone said. "Everyone just hits all around."

As if on queue, the offense erupted in the fourth, as Nardone and Quinn crushed back-to-back homers, with Quinn drilling a shot well over the fence in right. After Connor Daley's single, Klein ended the contest.

It marked the second time in as many days that Fairfield American completed a game  early. In the opener of the two-out-of three championship series on Saturday, Fairfield American defeated Madison, 15-4, also in four frames.

"Jack held us in it and the lineup exploded again," Daley added. "They're great hitters."