The FCIAC certainly made quite the impression last June by snatching all four semifinal berths in the 2021 CIAC Class LL Baseball Tournament which was won by Norwalk with a 1-0 victory over Westhill in the state championship game.
And that impression has not been forgotten by the voting members from the media through the first two state polls of the season.
Fairfield Warde began this season with a 4-0 start to seize the No. 1 ranking and lead a contingent of five FCIAC teams in the top six spots in the season’s second GameTimeCT Top 10 Baseball Poll which was released April 11.
Westhill, which was ranked first in the initial preseason poll released April 1, is No. 2 with a 1-1 record at the time of the most recent voting.
Amity (2-0) is ranked third and followed by FCIAC teams Greenwich (1-0), fifth-ranked Ridgefield (2-0), and Staples (2-0).
The rest of the Top 10, in order, includes Southington (1-0), East Catholic (3-0), Waterford (4-0), and Fitch (4-0).
Fairfield Warde won its first four games from April 2-9 by the combined score of 35-5. Coach Brett Conner’s Mustangs received eight first-place votes and 432 polling points to move up two spots from having been ranked third in the preseason poll.
Westhill received five first-place votes and 385 polling points. The Vikings won their opener and then there was little shame in their loss in the next game. They were simply stymied by a very strong pitching performance from a legitimate ace in Joel Barlow’s Matt Scott. The Stanford-bound Scott scattered six hits and struck out 12 Vikings in six innings in front of several scouts from the Major Leagues to lead Barlow’s Falcons to a 4-2 victory over Westhill on April 5.
Third-ranked Amity and fourth-ranked Greenwich each received one first-place vote.
Ridgefield won twice to vault up to No. 5 after not being ranked in the preseason poll. The Tigers shut out Fairfield Prep, 9-0, and followed that with a 12-2 non-conference victory over Danbury. Prep was ranked fifth while Ridgefield received the 12th most polling points in the preseason poll.
Staples won its first two games to move up from ninth in the preseason poll to No. 6 as the Wreckers are that fifth FCIAC team ranked among the top six.
Wilton and Trumbull are the two conference teams among the 17 teams statewide which received votes in the format in which voters select their respective top 15 teams and the points are tabulated on a 30-28-26-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-11-10-9-8-7 basis. Wilton (3-0) received the 15 most polling points while Trumbull (1-1) got the 26th most.
With the FCIAC having those five teams currently ranked among the top six, there are many big showdowns among them scheduled for the next few weeks.
Fairfield Warde plays all four of the other teams within a span of 13 days from April 20-May 2. The top-ranked Mustangs visit fifth-ranked Ridgefield on April 20, they host fourth-ranked Greenwich on April 25, they travel to Cubeta Stadium in Stamford on April 29 for a 7 o’clock game against second-ranked Westhill, and then they visit sixth-ranked Staples on May 2.
Staples has its games against the other three FCIAC teams currently ranked among the top five from April 14-25. Staples visits Ridgefield this Thursday (April 14), Greenwich hosts Staples on April 20, and Westhill visits Staples on April 25.
Ridgefield hosts Greenwich on May 4.
Westhill plays at Greenwich on May 11 and at Ridgefield on May 16.