When the Greenwich High School varsity baseball team hosted defending FCIAC Tournament champion Fairfield Ludlowe on April 17th, the matchup featured two future Division I pitchers, with Ryan Johnson taking the mound for the Cardinals and Reid Stanton getting the start for the Falcons.

A pair of aces on the mound led to a classic pitcher’s duel, as Johnson and Stanton each displayed their arsenal of pitchers on their way to holding the opposing lineup at bay. Fairfield Ludlowe, however, earned its fifth consecutive victory, scoring two unearned runs to edge host Greenwich, 2-1, in an early-season FCIAC game.

Johnson, a right-hander, who will continue his baseball career at Villanova University, allowed five hits in six innings, while striking out five batters. He issued only one walk and did not allow an earned run for the Cardinals, whose record stands at 2-5 through seven games. Greenwich lost to Hamden in its season-opener, 13-8, defeated Joel Barlow, 10-1, then dropped a tough 8-7 decision to Staples on the road.

After losing to Ludlowe, the Cardinals rebounded with a 6-3 victory over non-conference foe St. Bernard on April 18th, then was shutout at home versus St. Joseph, 7-0, today (April 20). Having played only two conference games so far, Greenwich is optimistic it can make its mark in the always ultra-competitive FCIAC and state – especially with a pitching staff that has plenty of potential.

Greenwich head coach Adrian Arango credited Johnson for his stellar performance against Ludlowe, one of the top teams in the FCIAC.

“He was amazing, he’s been a diamond in the rough waiting to explode for three years,” Arango said of Johnson. “He’s been with us on varsity since sophomore year and he was great today. He matched pitch-for-pitch – two DI commits going at it, throwing the ball well, dominating out there. He pitched with fire and purpose, he was as good as he’s going to be.”

The Cardinals and the Falcons each finished the game with five hits and committed two errors. Ludlowe scored one unearned run in the first inning and added an unearned run in the third to take a 2-0 lead.

“As I told the team out there, you’re going to win that game 99 out of 100 times,” Arango said of the Cardinals’ home game versus the Falcons. “But when you go up against a good team with a really good pitcher, the defending FCIAC champions, one or two mistakes is going to be the difference and that was the difference.”

Stanton, also a right-hander, yielded one earned run in six innings with six strikeouts. Ludlowe’s ace, who has committed to the University of Cincinnati, did not walk a batter and 71 of his 89 pitchers were strikes. Johnson was also a strike thrower in this matchup. Forty nine of his 77 pitchers were for strikes and he walked only one batter.

“Command in the zone, when you throw as hard as he does and you can command the zone – that’s something that he worked on from last year to this year,” Arango said of Johnson. “Today, he was a strike throwing machine, if he pitches like that, he’s going to be tough to beat when he’s on the mound. Those kinds of performances and efforts are what we expect from our pitching staff.”

Against Fairfield Ludlowe in this April 17th home game, senior shortstop/captain Luke Tocci, junior third baseman Will Conte, junior Luke Wells and junior outfielder Ray Petrone each had hits for GHS. Wells went 2 for 3 and Petrone drove the Cardinals’ lone run.

Senior second baseman Elof Kwan went 2 for 4, junior center fielder Cole Stotler had one hit and one run scored, senior infielder Dylan Davis also had a hit and a run scored and junior outfielder Ryan Frame had a hit and drew a walk.

Throughout the game, Greenwich exhibited solid defensive play, with its outfielders making impressive catches in several innings.

“We have a bunch of guys out there who can run, we’ve got center fielders,” Arango noted. “When you put a center fielder on the corners, they’re going to track balls down. They make every play, so our pitchers are confident. They know they are going to make the plays.”

“We have a good infield too,” Arango continued. “Outside of a few hiccups in the first inning we pretty much made every play the whole time. We’re getting there, we’re on the precipice of what I think can be a really good season.”

Trailing 2-0, the Cardinals closed to within 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning. Wells reached first on a bunt single off Stanton. Tarantino reached on an infield error, then stole second. Petrone then delivered a pinch-hit infield single up the middle, scoring Wells and cutting Ludlowe’s lead to 2-1.

“They are going to be tough to beat, they won it last year, they have a nucleus of that team back,” Arango said of Ludlowe. “We hope to see them at Cubeta (Stadium) or sometime during FCIAC play during the tournament.”

Greenwich’s impressive starting pitching staff includes Johnson, junior Luke Langhorne, senior Brayden Shockley and Tocci. James Mora, a senior, also a starter on the mound, is recovering from an injury and Greenwich hopes to have him back in action later on this season.

Baxter Conte, Tocci and Zych are the Cardinals’ senior captains. Against Ludlowe, junior Jake Natale, a right-hander, pitched one inning of scoreless relief, striking out one batter.

“Our captains are phenomenal kids, great students, great captains, great kids in the community and great teammates,” Arango noted. “They want to win, they’re hungry. When it’s your last season, you want to go out there and do your best to win. They’re setting the tone for next year and for the following group.  They’ve done a great job of getting us ready.”

The Cardinals have 11 seniors on their 2026 roster.

“Four or five of those seniors have been with us since they were sophomores,” Arango said. “We had a really good season two years ago with them.”

In Greenwich’s 6-3 win against visiting St. Bernard on April 18th, Shockley allowed four hits in four innings of work and posted five strikeouts. He did not allow an earned run in this non-conference matchup in Greenwich’s second win of the season.

Tocci pitched three innings of scoreless relief for the win, yielding only one hit. At the plate, Tocci was 2 for 3 with a walk, Petrone, who caught, had a walk, one RBI and one run scored, Conte scored a run, Johnson had a hit and senior first baseman Brayden Senft had one hit and one RBI for the Cardinals.

Langhorne also scored a run, Wells was 1 for 2 with an RBI, a walk and a run scored and Zych scored a run in the winning effort.

Up next for Greenwich is a game against host Wilton on Wednesday (April 22nd) at 4:15 p.m.

For even more pictures from Greenwich’s home game against Fairfield Ludlowe, please visit: https://www.06878photography.com/fciac-baseball-greenwich-high-school-vs-fairfield-ludlowe-high-school-april-17th-2026