Unionville is trying to gain an invitation to the tournament for the first time in its history. Post 32 moved a step closer to that elusive goal by rallying from a two-run deficit to beat Southington, 3-2, in a Zone 1 battle at Fontana Field Wednesday night.

Unionville improves to 10-9 with its sixth win in the last eight games. Post 32 is four wins shy of its first state tournament berth with nine games remaining.

Unionville hurler Matt Sluzarz earned his fifth win of the season with a gutsy complete-game performance. He struck out 11 and scattered six Southington hits. Three times, Sluzarz struck out Southington batters with runners on second and third to end the inning. Southington (12-7) stranded eight runners, seven in scoring position.

"He has two great pitches with a fastball and a hard breaking pitch that freezes hitters," first-year Unionville coach Brian Doyle said.

In the third inning, Sluzarz (5-2) gave up a pair of one-out walks. Both runners moved up thanks to a double steal. But Sluzarz struck out Ben Schumacher and A.J. Garstang to end the threat. In the fifth inning, Sluzarz struck out Schumacher to end the inning with runners on second and third base.

"We've been hitting the ball well lately," said Southington first-year coach Dave Rustico. "Tonight, we were tentative. Sluzarz kept our hitters off balance and silenced the meat of our batting order."

Southington's No. 3, 4 and 5 hitters combined to go 1-for-9. Post 72 had won eight of its last nine games before losing last night.

Southington got off to a quick start in the first inning, scoring its first run on an RBI single by Kevin Thompson and adding another run on a Post 32 error. Unionville committed three errors in the first two innings.

"I told the team that we were asleep for the first two innings and that Sluzarz was the only guy competing," Doyle said. "To their credit, we rose to the occasion."

Unionville took a 3-2 lead in the fifth inning thanks to some timely hitting and two Southington errors. Joe Wichowski led off the inning with a single and moved to second on a Rory Regan single, but Wichowski was picked off second base by Schumacher.

Unionville's Bob-by Falaquera singled and Matt Pollard doubled to right field, scoring Regan from second. Falaquera advanced to third and scampered home to tie the game at 2-2 when Southington right fielder Garstung threw the ball away trying to throw home.

An RBI single from Chris Messina scored Pollard for a 3-2 Unionville lead.

Sluzarz handcuffed Southington in the fifth inning and again in the sixth.

With one out in the sixth, Southington's Mike Abt singled and moved to second on Jeff Rustico's bunt single. A double steal put runners on second and third with one out and punched up the pressure on Sluzarz.

But Sluzarz struck out John DeMello and Pat Orefice to get out of the jam. And in the final five innings, Unionville played flawless baseball.

"Usually the curveball is my out pitch," Sluzarz admitted. "But I was struggling with it early so I went with the fastball. My curves came back later in the game."

It was a defining win for Unionville, which had lost eight straight and 18 of its last 20 to Southington before beating Post 32 on June 26, 3-2. Now Unionville has won two straight from Southington.

Southington has lost six of its seven games by one run. Kevin Thompson had three of Southington's 10 stolen bases while Matt Pollard and Rory Regan had two hits each for Unionville.