Fairfield, CT — The Fairfield Warde and Staples baseball teams did not need to look far for a quality opponent to fill one if its five non-league games on opening day for the CIAC high school baseball season Saturday. Both programs annually schedule tough teams from across the state but figured there was not much better either could do than play each other in a rematch of last year’s Class LL championship game to start off the 2024 season. “This is the right way to open the season,” Staples coach Jack McFarland said. “Travelling to Waterford, it’s nice to do one of those trips but we don’t need to do five of them. This is the earliest we ever started in March, so, let's get it going one vs. two. We get to see their best two pitchers, they get to see our guys, it is great.” Defending Class LL champion Warde, ranked No. 1 in the Preseason GameTimeCT Top 10 Baseball Poll, got a strong pitching performance from Louisville commit Austin Howard to defeat No. 2 ranked Staples 5-0. “Jack likes to play against competitive teams and so do I, so what better way to start the season,” Warde coach Brett Conner said. “It’s a great day, lots of fans came out to watch and I hope our guys put on a good show for them.” Warde has won back-to-back FCIAC and CIAC Class LL championships. Howard, a junior and one of the GameTimeCT 25 Players to Watch, allowed just two hits over five innings of work, striking out four and not allowing a run. “Came out focused, dominated, that’s about it,” Howard said. “This was a good rematch, especially at home. Think we played pretty well, played good defense, had good hitting and pitching was phenomenal.” Senior Carson Swaim, who will serve as the Mustangs No. 2 starter this season, came on in relief and struck out three over two innings for the save. For Warde, Jimmy Dobbs hit a solo home run and was 2-for-3, Kyle Justo went 2-for-2 with two runs scored, Grady Schopps was 3-for-3 with two runs and a RBI and Mickey Galvin was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs. Staples junior Kai Nee, a Duke commit, started for the Wreckers, throwing 3.2 innings, allowing one run on four hits and striking out four. Player of the Game Austin Howard, Warde: The junior right-hander was on point through the first five innings, coming out after throwing 83 pitches. Quotable “(Howard) gives everything he has for this program and he is just a joy to watch,” Conner said. “He goes out and competes for the program. He’s a heck of a kid and a heck of a ballplayer.” Warde 5, Staples 0 Staples 000 000 0—0 2 0 Warde 010 202 X—5 12 0 Batteries: W—Austin Howard (W), Carson Swaim (S, 5) and Kieran Shea. S—Kai Nee (L), Nick Porzio (4), Noah Saed (6) and Jake Goldshore https://www.ctinsider.com/gametimect/baseball/article/no-1-fairfield-warde-beats-no-2-staples-ct-19377163.php