By Andy Hutchison

WESTPORT — Pitcher Kai Nee was dominant from start to finish, striking out 15 and allowing only two hits and walking two as the Staples baseball team blanked visiting Newtown 7-0 in the Class LL State Tournament quarterfinals Saturday.

Staples, the No. 19 seed, moves on to face No. 2 Fairfield Warde in Tuesday’s semifinals at a site and time to be determined.

“He was pounding the zone,” Staples Coach Jack McFarland said of the lefty.

Nee threw 114 pitches, reaching the pitch limit, and would have had to be removed from the game if he did not retire the last batter he faced. A strikeout ended it.

The Wreckers scored two runs in each of the first two innings and added three in the fourth. Newtown committed four errors and a balk led to another run; six of the Staples runs were unearned.

Staples did muster six hits, all singles. Leadoff batter Jules Cicero had two of them, drove in a run and scored twice. No. 2 hitter Jack Farnen singled twice and scored a pair of runs. No. 3 hitter Cooper Brundige had a hit, two RBIs and scored twice. No. 5 batter Luke Oakley had a hit and drove in a run.

Staples was aggressive on the bases with a pair of hit-and-run singles, coupled with two throwing errors leading to the scoring damage in the fourth.

But Staples would have gotten by with just one run thanks to Nee’s dominance.

“It felt good,” said Nee, who mixed a fastball, curve and changeup.

Advancing this far in the playoffs is perhaps a bit of a surprise for the Wreckers, who had graduated seven starters and a trio of starting pitchers.

“The kids understand the standard here,” said McFarland, adding that teammates have worked hard.

“It’s been a great run. I love playing with the boys. Every game counts — every game could be the last,” Nee said.

(Game schedules are subject to change; click for the latest updates.) 

Andy Hutchison has been covering school sports — including Staples athletics — as well as news and feature stories in Fairfield County, since the 1990s.