Greg Sullivan Herald News Staff Reporter

WESTPORT – How do you make a lousy weather day something to smile about. How about a one-sided baseball win over an old rival.?

Westport sailed that course on Monday, downing Bishop Connolly 15-2 in Mayflower Athletic Conference Comprehensive baseball at drizzly, rainy and chilly Westport High School.

Westport senior Nick Collins, batting leadoff, was 4-for-4 with three runs scored and No. 2 batter Griffin Lecomte finished 3-for-5 with a triple, three runs batted in and two runs scored. The Wildcats are 5-3 overall, 4-1 Mayflower Comprehensive

“I’m expecting us to contend for the league title, make the tournament and hopefully win a couple games” Westport coach Jay Pacheco said. “It’s a good group, a great group of kids. a good group of baseball players. We’re getting better every day. ”

Winning pitcher Kyle Avilla pitched the first six innings, allowing two hits and one run (unearned). Paul Poitras (5 runs, 3 earned) pitched the first four innings for Connolly and Ryan Trudeau finished. With the rain at its hardest, Westport scored three runs in the fifth inning and seven in the sixth. The Cougars made four errors.

The loss dropped Bishop Connolly to 0-4 overall and 0-2 Mayflower Comprehensive. The Cougars scored a run in the fifth, making it a 5-1 game, and another unearned run in the seventh against reliever Kenny Ferrer.

QUALITY NOT QUANTITY: “I think we’re just trying to put things together. Depth is certainly an issue,” Pacheco said. “I have 12 guys, total. That’s it. Twelve guys on a varsity baseball team, which is less than ideal. But at the same time they’re growing together, because they’re forced to. We’re getting there.”

BUSY MAY FOR CONNOLLY: With only four games in the book at the end of April, Bishop Connolly is looking at a very busy schedule in the upcoming weeks. A plus is pretty good pitching depth, but it has its limits. “We have three more (games) this week,” Connolly coach Jay Furtado said. “We have a couple of (other) weeks coming up with four games. That’s one of the reasons I went longer than I wanted to with Trudeau in relief. I don’t have the arms to be throwing them out there.”

A BIG THUMBS DOWN: Connolly senior Zachary Mullins, whom Furtado labeled his best player, left Monday’s game with a dislocated left thumb suffered in the second inning while catching. Furtado said he put the versatile Mullins behind the plate because it was a huge hole the Cougars need to fill. “That’s the way the season’s going,” Furtado said. “He came in at the end of the inning and said, ‘Coach, I think I dislocated my thumb.’ I said, ‘On that last pitch?’ He said, ‘No, I think it was earlier.’”

AVILLA’S DAY: The Westport righthander struck out eight and walked five. “Kyle struggled a little bit, I think he would admit,” Pacheco said. “Struggled with control, but at the same time kept us in the game. When he was on, he was on. He piled up the strikeouts but the pitch count got a little high there. A few too many walks than he would like. But he got the job done on a not-so-baseball-friendly day.”

ADDITIONAL OFFENSE: For Westport, Avilla slugged an RBI double in the first inning and Adam Charest finished 2-for-5 with an RBI single. Westport scored two runs in the first and second innings and once in the fourth. … Poitras, a strong-swinging lefty, was 1-for-1 with two walks for the Cougars.

LATE WALKATHON: During the slippery-ball fifth and sixth innings, Westport benefitted from seven walks.

Email Greg Sullivan at gsullivan@heraldnews.com. Follow him @GregSullivanHN.