West Hartford’s Hall High School traveled to West Haven on Wednesday for a second round game in the Class LL baseball tournament.

By Paul Palmer

Hall scored single runs in the first, second, fourth, sixth, and seventh innings to back Joe Dooley’s complete game effort as the Warriors beat West Haven 5-1 to advance to the quarterfinals of the Class LL state baseball tournament.

The Warriors used a walk to Dooley, and singles by Drew Seidman and Tommy LaSpada to take the lead in the top of the first. In the second, first baseman Will Gaumer tripled and came in to score later in the inning when Alex Ciafone rapped into a double play.

On the mound, Dooley threw 19 first pitch strikes, struck out four, and scattered six hits over seven innings for the win.  Hall won for the second time in two days after knocking off Enfield on Monday. In the fourth it was the combination of Gaumer and Ciafone once again teaming up to score a run. Gaumer – who had three hits in the game – doubled and then Ciafone followed two batters later with his own double to left to make it 3-0.

With Hall holding a 5-1 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh, West Haven threatened to close the gap. A pair of singles and a walk loaded the bases with two outs before Dooley got the final batter to fly out.

No. 11 Hall, now 16-5, will return to West Hartford to host No. 19 Westhill on Saturday with a spot in the Class LL semifinals on the line.

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