Danbury – Noah Dickerson left the yard in the fifth inning for a grand slam, which ended up being the difference in a 7-6 win over the Ocean State Waves on Wednesday.

After Danbury starting pitcher Derek Duffy sat down the Waves in order in the top of the first inning, third basemen Nick Lorusso helped give Danbury the lead, leaving the park with a solo home run. The following half inning, Ocean State tied it from a long home run from Casey Dana.

The score remained tied until the fourth inning, where each team would exchange a lone run, on an RBI from Waves’ John Cristino and another home run for Danbury catcher Sonny Ulliana. Ulliana, who learned that he would be competing in the home run derby in Vermont, hit his eighth home run of the summer.

After a scoreless top of the fifth inning, Danbury would load the bases for right fielder Noah Dickerson. He would not miss his pitch, sending it over the short right field wall for a grand slam and a sudden four run lead.

Danbury would tack on an additional run to make it 7-2 going into the top of the ninth inning. However, Allegretti and Ryan Bryggman would struggle, making it 7-5 with no one out, forcing manager Josh Parrow to bring in closer Eli Oliphant. With an inherited runner on, Oliphant would walk his first batter, putting two on with no one out. After a sacrifice bunt putting runners on second and third with one out, Oliphant would surrender an RBI groundout to Garrett Hodges, bringing up Xavier Vargas. After walking the first basemen, Oliphant got Elijah Dunham to groundout to shortstop to finish the victory.

The win goes to Christian Allegretti while the save goes to Oliphant. The win keeps Danbury in contention for the final playoff spot in the NECBL Southern Division.

“We’re trying to find our way back into the playoff picture,” said Parrow. “It’s going to take a lot of focus and guys like Eli Oliphant and Noah Dickerson to pick us up tonight. Those types of things keep us focus to help us make a postseason run.”

The win is Danbury’s second in a row. They look to make it three in a row Thursday evening when they host the Sanford Mainers at 6:30.