By Michael Letendre
PLAINVILLE – The Bristol Eastern and Plainville baseball teams took it down to the wire in an ultra-competitive CCC South bout from Plainville High School on Friday night.
And it was seventh inning heroics by the Blue Devils that clinched the victory for the home team.
Plainville had the bases loaded in the seventh as Charlie Hills’s fielder’s choice scored Mike Bakaysa from third to notch the winning run – grabbing a huge 3-2 victory.
“We both scrapped until the end,” said Plainville coach Lou Mandeville of the two teams. “You’ve got to give Eastern credit for coming back.”
The Blue Devils moved to 7-7 overall while Eastern fell to 4-10.
In the fateful seventh stanza, as Eastern had just drawn even at 2-2, Bakaysa smoked a double to left to open things as the rally was on.
Gavin Cooke followed with a sacrifice bunt to relief pitcher Declan Schenck as Bakaysa was off to third base.
The ball went to third but the throw to get Bakaysa was not in time as the fielder’s choice put runners on the corners.
Mike Ouellette was then intentionally walked to load the bases and Eastern head coach Steve Gaudet brought in an extra infielder, leaving just two men in the outfield, as Eastern had five defenders playing around the diamond.
To end it, Hills cracked a slow grounder towards shortstop as Bakaysa beat the throw-in home to propel the Blue Devils to the one-run final.
“This is something I drill in all the time; it’s high school baseball [and] when you hit the baseball on the ground, it’s amazing what happens and the good things that do happen,” said Mandeville. “And if you came to watch the game from both sides, when we hit the baseball on the ground, good things happen for us and we made the defense make plays, made them pick it up and throw it.”
“We made them do that, they made us do it, but good things happen when you can find a hole here or there.”
Ouellette collected two hits to lead the Plainville offense while Sean Egan was excellent on the mound.
He pitched a complete game, allowing seven hits, fanned seven, and did not yield a walk while throwing 95 pitches to earn the victory.
“He pitched fantastic,” said Mandeville of Egan. “He was a bulldog today. You could see the confidence in his face. He was telling the guys in the dugout, ‘don’t worry, I’ve got you’ things like that. He’s pitched well for us all year ”
“He’s just getting better.”
Owen Myers started the contest for the Lancers but did not factor into the decision.
Declan Schenck also threw well, coming into the game during fourth inning play and pitched until the end – earning a tough loss.
“I can’t ask any more from them,” said Gaudet of his pitching duo. “I don’t know when the last time Owen’s pitched. Declan pitched the other day in relief for an inning. Those guys, they did everything. When they got themselves in trouble, they wiggled out of it. And it was effective.”
“They did a good enough job to get this win today.”
The game was filled with opportunities for both teams on the offensive end, but big defensive plays kept the score relatively in check.
The Kingstreeters were active over first inning play but nothing came of it.
Ben D’Amato and Ryan Maglio (two hits) plastered up back-to-back singles, but Eagan fanned the final batter to get Plainville up to the dish.
On the flip side, Myers wiggled out of a jam as well.
Plainville had runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the first, but Myers induced a grounder and fly-ball out, keeping things scoreless.
Eastern had a quiet second stanza while Plainville appeared to be on the verge of scoring.
An infield single by Keith Lagassey opened the inning, was sacrificed to second base and when Matt Bonney was plunked by a pitch, two runners were on.
Jayden Castro’ dropped in a high chopper to short to load the bases but Bakaysa bounced into a rare 1-2-3 double play as the teams were engrossed in a scoreless stalemate through two.
Egan retired Eastern in order in the third while the Blue Devils turned around to notch a run.
Off a strikeout by Myers on Castro, Ouellette dropped a shot to left for a base hit and when the ball was bobbled, the runner arrived at second base safely.
Hills then lofted a single to right, plating Ouellette, as Plainville surged in front 1-0.
But in the fourth, Eastern’s Jose Feliciano blasted a triple to right, sliding into third base safely, and scored on a grounder to short by Mason Harris that knotted things up at 1-1.
After Myers hit leadoff batter Bonney in the fourth, Schenck came in to pitch but Plainville was still able to net a run.
Bonney stole second and third base and scored on a Bakaysa sacrifice fly to center, making it a 2-1 game in Plainville’s favor.
Both teams were retired in the fifth inning but in the sixth, Plainville put together some big defensive plays.
Hill, at third base, made a huge diving catch on a foul ball by D’Amato that was heading away from the fielder – getting two quick outs on the board.
“We had a great practice yesterday,” said Mandeville. “We push and emphasize team baseball, offensive baseball – bunt a guy over, steal a base, sacrifice fly, [and] move them around. We got two out of three runs playing offensive baseball today. And then the play Charlie Hills made down that line, that’s a major league play right there. That was a heck of a play.”
Maglio then eked out an infield hit to put the go-ahead runner on, but nothing came of it and when Schenck hit Stevens with a ball, he managed to make it to third base before getting stranded.
It was still 2-1 going into the seventh stanza before Eastern tied the event up.
Harris beat out an infield hit to shortstop and pinch runner Mike Roalf stole second, and eventually scored with two outs on the board.
Kyle Babin sent a slow ball to Bakaysa at second base, but the defender couldn’t get the ball to first soon enough as Roalf scored to tie things up at 2-2.
“When that situation came up and I have my senior Kyle Babin coming up, he’s a nine-hitter, a little guy, you’d think you’d pinch hit for him, but that kid just fights,” said Gaudet. “He’s got such a good heart and great character. There’s was no way I would have not let him hit in that situation.”
“There’s no way I doubted him in that situation because that’s the type of kid he is. He’s just tough.”
And finally, late game offensive heroics by Hill ended the affair late in the bottom of the seventh as Plainville scooped up a 3-2 win.
“It’s been a couple [games] in a row that’s been tough for us,” said Gaudet. “But I just told the kids [after the game] that we still have a heartbeat, we still got life. We’re going to keep fighting and that’s the best part about these kids. The season has not gone the way we’ve wanted it to but I don’t have one headache [or] one kid that’s not working hard and pushing himself.”
“It sounds corny but we’re a family, we’re fighting this together and we’re trying get through all this together.”
Bristol Eastern Baseball – CCC South Action
PLAINVILLE 3, BRISTOL EASTERN 2
from Plainville
Bristol Eastern (4-10) 000 100 1 – 2 7 1
Plainville (7-7) 001 100 1 – 3 6 0
Battery: Bristol Eastern – Owen Myers, Declan Schenck (4) & Rio Fernandez. Plainville – Sean Eagan & Tate Stevens
WP: Sean Eagan (Plainville); LP: Declan Schenck (Bristol Eastern).
Bristol Eastern Batting
2B – None
3B – Jose Feliciano
HR – None
Plainville Batting
2B – Mike Ouellette, Mike Bakaysa
3B – None
HR – None
Records: Plainville 7-7 overall; Bristol Eastern 4-10 overall.
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