DANBURY WESTERNERS 2025 YEAR IN REVIEW
Continuing our 2025 year in review, we head to Danbury to look at the Westerners' 2025 game of the year.
In 2025, the Danbury Westerners finished 21-22, finishing fourth in the South Division. The Westerners finished just a half game outside the playoff picture, closing out the regular season on an 8-3 stretch. They had a pair of All-NECBL team honorable mentions, in catcher Jack Lutte and outfielder Garrett Larsen.
Danbury’s game of the year fell on July 19, the night before the All-Star break, as they hosted the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks. It was a strong pitching matchup, with Danbury’s Kaden Hilburger and Martha’s Vineyard’s Ryan Felder, a pair of arms who finished the season with sub-four ERAs.
Following a 1-2-3 first inning, the Sharks got the scoring started in inning number two on an RBI single from designated hitter Cole Mascolo.
Martha’s Vineyard tacked on another run in the third as leadoff hitter Ryder Dykstra hit a solo home run. The homers kept on coming in the fourth with shortstop Landon Scilley, who blasted a two-run homer. Combined with dominance on the mound from Felder, it was 4-0 Martha’s Vineyard through four innings.
The Sharks tacked on another run in the fifth inning on an RBI single from right fielder Dominic Moats. The Westerners answered, however, as shortstop Gavin Donohue welcomed Shark reliever Ryan Ashford to the game with a leadoff home run, but that was all they could muster in the fifth.
Martha’s Vineyard seemingly provided the knockout blow in the top of the sixth against Danbury’s Jacob Bardwell. The scoring began with a wild pitch, followed by a two-run single from catcher Max Kaufer. When second baseman Harley Goodner drove him in on an RBI groundout, four runs had come across in the inning, and the Sharks were on top 9-1.
This is when the script flipped for the Westerners. Aidan Dowd struggled to find the strike zone for the Sharks, walking in a run. Donohue continued his strong day at the plate, hitting a two-run single to make it a 9-4 as the game headed into its final three frames.
After Teo Spadacinni set down the Sharks 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh, Danbury’s bats continued to roll after the seventh inning stretch. With two outs and two runners on, right fielder Peter Link belted a three-run homer to cut the Sharks’ lead to two.
Reliever Andrew Koshy kept the momentum rolling for the Westerners, silencing Martha’s Vineyard’s bats in the top of the eighth. After the first two runners got on for Danbury, Larsen came through with his third hit of the day, lacing a two-run double off of Andrew Abler to tie the game at nine, officially erasing what was once an eight-run deficit. Third baseman Diego Urreta kept the good times rolling, bringing Larsen home on an RBI single, giving Danbury their first lead of the night. Heading to the ninth, it was 10-9 Westerners.
Koshy closed the door on Martha’s Vineyard with little controversy, hitting a batter with two outs and nobody on before getting Scilley to fly out to end the night. After striking out four batters over two hitless innings, Koshy was credited with the win.
Donohue and Link each provided three RBI for Danbury, while Larsen led the team with three hits.
Stay tuned for the next iteration of the 2025 NECBL year in review series, releasing Tuesday, April 21.
The New England Collegiate Baseball League is a wooden bat college summer league that fields teams in all six New England states. Partially funded by Major League Baseball, the New England League started play in 1994 and has sent over 240 alumni to the Major Leagues, with nearly 30 alumni taken in the first round of the MLB Draft. For continuing coverage of the NECBL, visit NECBL.com and follow the league on X/Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
