If there's a discernible trend four games into the Danbury Westerners' rain-ravaged season -- other than rain, of course -- it's that the team may be able to hang its hat on starting pitching. Four games in, each Danbury starter has pitched at least five innings without allowing more than two earned runs. The latest, SUNY Oneonta lefthander Steven Ascher, kept the streak intact with six scoreless frames in a 5-2 win over the Holyoke Blue Sox Tuesday at Rogers Park that was -- you guessed it -- delayed 50 minutes for rain. Surprising, too, is the Rogers Park homerless streak, which now stands at 18 innings after withstanding Tuesday's only real threat: a sixth-inning missile off the bat of Westerners first baseman Alex Tuccio (2-for-3, double, RBI) that struck halfway up the center-field fence 360 feet from home. Ascher, the lone Division III player on the Westerners' roster, retired the final 10 batters he faced and struck out five of the last six before he was replaced by Cornell righty Roberto Suppa. The Westerners grabbed a 2-0 lead off Holyoke southpaw Anthony Gomez in the fourth inning on RBI singles from Tuccio and catcher Connor David. The Blue Sox were hitless from the third inning through the eight, finally breaking through against Danbury lefty Steven Green with a pair of RBI groundouts.

Casey Smith, a three-time all-state and all-FCIAC selection in basketball at Danbury High, has decided to transfer to Fairfield. The Hawks went 23-9 and lost to Vanderbilt in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.

Breaking news, tweeted Westerners manager Jamie Shevchik Tuesday night, after the team had a game rained out for the fourth time on the young season, this one in Keene, N.H. Danbury Westerners finish the regular season undefeated 1-0. On Wednesday, the rain finally let up but frustrations grew, as the Laconia Muskrats struck for four two-out runs in the ninth inning to beat the Westerners, 6-2, spoiling the team's fourth attempt at a home opener in front of 591. Though mostly confined to the batting cages for the past week, the Westerners failed to take advantage of the generous dimensions of their home park, scratching out a pair of early runs and mustering just five hits, none beyond the sixth inning. Three Danbury relievers combined to allow one run over the next three innings, with righty Neil Fryer striking out four over two scoreless frames. [...] it was with lefty Steven Green on the hill in the ninth when things came unraveled, the Muskrats' winning rally ignited by a looping, two-run single to right by Jordan Lee that former Masuk High star and current UConn Husky Jon Testani nearly snared with a diving attempt. The damage was minimized when Testani threw home to nab the potential go-ahead run, and Fryer, the third Danbury pitcher of the inning, ended the threat with a punchout. Danbury centerfielder Zachary Blanden led off the home half of the first with a double to the gap in right-center and came around on Johnny Caputo's RBI groundout.