By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – The Bristol Central baseball team remained undefeated after its city series showdown against Bristol Eastern on Friday night, dropping three runs in the second inning and then five more in the fifth before ending the affair early with two additional tallies in the sixth as the Rams secured a 10-0 victory to move to 12-0 on the campaign.
The mercy rule saw the game finish in the bottom of the sixth stanza.
Eastern (3-8) dropped in five hits but Central (six hits) was able to put several more runners on base during game play as walks and hit batters simply caught up with the Lancers in the end.
“It’s been a story all year for us,” said Eastern coach Steve Gaudet. “We put too many guys on base with walks and hit batters. That’s kind of been our MO this year when we’ve had games like this. It was 5-5 [in hits]. We didn’t make those errors until late. We’ve got to do all the little things [and] we don’t have a team that we can afford to not do the little things. We’ve got to make sure that we’re making teams beat us by swinging the bats and putting the ball into play. We didn’t do that tonight.”
Central pitcher Nate Pirog was huge on the big stage, allowing five hits, striking out 10 while walking just one over a complete game effort.
“I just support the team, do what I’ve got to do,” said Pirog. “And I did what I had to do and they did the hitting [behind me]. That’s all.”
In the bottom of the first, Central’ Anthony Santilli drew a walk with one away and then stole second to get into scoring position.
But off a Rocco Spirito groundout, Eastern got out of the frame unharmed.
Meanwhile, Pirog was flawless over his first two innings, fanning four and keeping Eastern batters off balanced.
“He’s been doing that all year,” said Central coach Bunty Ray of Pirog. “It wasn’t like anything that was new. Every start he’s had this year, he’s kept us in the game, and he’s actually done even more than that. His ERA is very low [and] we do the job behind him defensively.”
Central’s Aiden Lopez walked with one gone in the second, advanced a base via a steal while Christian Stafford nabbed a base-on-balls to put runners on first and second.
A wild pitch advanced both runners into scoring position and Mike Allan drilled a one-hopper to right – clearing the bases – as Central drew first blood, leading 2-0.
Allan swiped second and later came home when Joe Gratta’s nubber snuck into right field, making it a 3-0 contest through two.
In Eastern’s portion of the third, the squad finally put something together.
Kyle Babin reached base when he eked out a hit to third base and when Gabe White’s offering to third died in the thick grass, two runners were on with two away.
Connor Cyr ended up grounding out to second to end the half frame with the Rams still leading by three.
“They made some good pitches, and we didn’t make good swings,” said Gaudet. “It’s as simple as that. When we’ve got guys in scoring position, we’ve got to have someone step up and come up with a big hit or at least put the ball in play and put the pressure on the defense. Tonight, we didn’t do that.”
Pirog was doing an impressive job painting the outside corner on Eastern batters, working extremely quickly.
Any jams Pirog faced, he worked his way out of those very quickly including the fourth inning.
“I credit Pirog,” said Gaudet. “He pitched a great game, kept us off balanced, quick pitched, mixed pitches well, and threw strikes. He threw strikes, pounded the zone, [and] credit to him. He made us swing the bats and we didn’t.”
“Good job by their pitcher.”
But with one away in Eastern’s fourth, Ryan Maglio popped a single to center and Jose Feliciano nearly dropped another to left but Lopez tracked it down for a huge second out.
Pirog fanned Rio Fernandez for his eighth K and the 3-0 push carried into the bottom of the fourth.
After Central was retired in order in the bottom of the frame, Pirog zipped strikeout nine and 10 against Eastern as the Rams were cruising.
And Eastern pitcher Mike Roalf was doing an excellent job dealing, allowing just the two hits and retiring seven straight before starting the fifth frame.
“I’ll give Roalf some credit in the middle innings,” said Ray. “We had a hard time.”
Allan then went 2-for-2 as he snuck out an infield hit to short to open the fifth.
A steal, Central’s fifth of the affair, and then a wild pitch saw the speedy Allan reach third base without the benefit of an out.
“Today, we saw some opportunities where we could run a little bit,” said Ray of his squad’s aggressive approach on the bases. “We put guys in scoring position and once we got guys on first [base, we moved them].”
Gratta was then plunked by a pitch, putting runners on the corners, before stealing second as two were in scoring position.
Santilli drew a walk to load the bases for Kuzniar but Roalf fanned him for the first out.
However, Roalf hit Spirito with a pitch as Allan was forced home, making it a 4-0 affair.
Ryan Ring fell via strikes, but Lopez walked, sending Gretta home, as Central secured a 5-0 push.
Noah Gatti came in to throw for the Lancers as the bases were still juiced.
And a wild pitch plated Santilli as another runner scored without the benefit of a hit, making it 6-0.
Declan Schenck replaced Gatti on the mound and off a wild pitch, Spirito scored to push the deficit to 7-0 with two outs.
An error at third base on a Stafford offering allowed Lopez to scoot home to drag the Eastern deficit to 8-0 over the five-run fifth.
And to finally end the fifth, Feliciano made a diving catch in foul territory to rob Allan of another hit but Central was in complete control.
Eastern showed some life in the sixth frame as White singled to right and when Cyr beat out an infield single, it appeared the Kingstreeters were in business.
But White strayed away from second base a bit too far on the Cyr tally and was tagged out coming back to the bag for the first out.
Maglio earned a walk to put men on first and second, but Allan did a tremendous job snaring a Feliciano grounder, throwing it to third to tag out Maglio as the shutout remained intact.
Gretta opened the sixth with a blazing three-base hit to the gap in left and when Santilli dropped in an infield hit to deep second, the lead runner scored to make it a 9-0 game.
Kuzniar’s grounder to short was then booted to put runners on the corners and pinch hitter Jack Bellantuono ended it with an RBI single to left as Central earned a big 10-0 win to move to a perfect 12-0.
“Once I got a little cushion, I knew that I was going to be all right when I got my team behind me,” said Pirog.
NOTES…Before the varsity contest commenced, there was a special ceremony as UConn men’s basketball National Champion and Bristol Central’s own Donovan Clingan threw out the first pitch. He then posed for pictures with several Bristol Little Leaguers who were there that evening.
Photos by Herve’
Bristol City Series Baseball – CCC South Confrontation
BRISTOL CENTRAL 10, BRISTOL EASTERN 0 (6)
from Muzzy Field, Bristol
Bristol Eastern (3-8) 000 000 – 0 5 3
Bristol Central (12-0) 030 052 – 10 6 0
Battery – Bristol Central: Nate Pirog & Ryan Ring; Bristol Eastern: Mike Roalf, Noah Gatti (5), Declan Schenck (5) & Rio Fernandez.
WP: Pirog (Bristol Central); LP: Mike Roalf (Bristol Eastern)
Bristol Central Hitting
2B – None
3B – Joe Gratta
HR – None
Bristol Eastern Hitting
2B – None
3B – None
HR – None
Records: Bristol Central 12-0 overall; Bristol Eastern 3-8.
Attendance – 803 (give or take)
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