Times Correspondent

STAMFORD — It may have been a groundball, but it looked majestic to the Westhill bench as a Steve Rivera bouncer back to the pitcher allowed the winning run to scamper home in the bottom of the seventh inning.

The Vikings T.J. Hickey went the distance, allowing five hits, as Westhill slipped past the visiting Wilton Warriors, 3-2, on Tuesday afternoon.

Westhill is now 14-4 overall and 12-4 in FCIAC.

"The first inning, I really didn't have it, but I settled down and was able to get my pitches across the plate and it all worked out," said Hickey. "In the beginning of the game, it was fastball, fastball, fastball (because) my slider was dropping out before the plate, I was dropping my elbow a little, but I straightened that out."

Wilton's Austin Gambee matched Hickey zero for zero after he struggled in the opening frame. The sophomore only gave up three hits against the usually potent Viking offense, but had issues with his control walking seven and hitting a batter.

Westhill coach D.J. Mulvaney said he was happy with his team's resiliency in overcoming their offensive drought.

"You have to tip your cap to the kid on the mound," said Mulvaney. "He did a really good job, he pitched to contact and let his fielders' field for him. But good teams find ways to win, good teams manufacture runs. They don't always need hits to win."

Gambee was able to pitch out of trouble in each of the three innings leading up to the Vikings turn at bat in the bottom of the seventh.

However, his Houdini act finally wore out.

Westhill's Sean Moynihan got things started with a single up the middle. Moynihan, who had knee surgery during the off-season, then stole second and took third on a sacrifice fly.

Moynihan had wanted to do something to kick start the offense and felt if he got on his teammates would come through.

"Today, we were getting people on base, but we weren't really capitalizing. I knew we had to come through in that inning and it was up to me to start it off," said Moynihan.

Gambee walked David Fogel and gave Bobby Migliazza an intentional pass to load the bases, setting up a force at all bases. Then, the Vikings Rivera sent a hard chopper back to the mound but Gambee's throw to the plate was late and Moynihan scored from third for the Westhill victory.

"I just wanted to hit it hard and, hopefully, get it through to the outfield, but fortunately the kid bobbled it and we scored," said Rivera.

Wilton's Jared Wyman and Steve Marino each had two hits. The Warriors are now 8-8 in the FCIAC and 8-10 overall with Trumbull and Bassick left on their schedule. They still have a chance to still qualify for the FCIAC championships.

Wilton coach Tim Eagen said his team lost because of the failure to do the fundamental things.

"It may be difficult right now, but we have to use this as a learning experience," Eagen said. "In games like this against good veteran teams, it's the little things, failing to make the throw and not getting the bunt down with a runner in scoring position, those are the things you have to do against good pitching. The big thing for us is we don't have time to feel sorry for ourselves because we have Trumbull tomorrow night."

The game looked initially like it would be a high scoring. Wilton opened the scoring with a single, a fielder's choice and double by Wyman that plated one run. A ground out and an error gave the Warriors a 2-0 advantage.

The Vikings struck right back in the bottom of the first. Gambee walked Sean Mullins and Fogel before Migliazza slapped a double into the gap in left center to tie the score at two.

From there, the pitchers settled into an old fashioned pitchers duel. The Vikings had chances, wasting two walks in the fourth and a two-out double by Fogel in the fifth. Then, Westhill got the lead run to third with two out in the sixth but a diving catch by Wilton's Matt Baird in left field ended the threat.

Wilton had an opportunity in the top of the fifth when a double and an error put the go-ahead run in scoring position. Hickey dug in retiring the next three batters including two strike outs.

"T.J.'s got a ton of guts, there is no two ways around it," said Mulvaney. "I think in the first inning, he hasn't pitched since last Wednesday, so I think he just had to get into the swing of things and get a feel for the ball. He just had to get through the first inning and then once he got comfortable again he was able to throw his fastball and slider for strikes."

Westhill finishes the regular season with Greenwich and Staples as they prepare for the FCIAC play-offs.