By MICHAEL LETENDRE
STAFF WRITER
MERIDEN – The Bristol Central baseball team tangled with a formidable opponent in its 2015-16 debut in the form of Maloney in an CCC South Interdivisional challenge from Meriden on Saturday, April 9.
The Rams took charge of the game from the start, generating two runs in the top of the first inning and holding off a late surge by the Spartans to pick up a 3-2 victory on the road.
This game truly could have put away sooner because Central was aggressive from the onset, getting on base via walks, hit-by-pitch, and off a total of six hits – putting men on the bases over just about every inning.
But the Rams did not notch a run between the second and fifth frames, letting the defense do the work and allowing Maloney just a single run to never get a stranglehold of the game.
“We had opportunities” to score additional runs said Central coach Bunty Ray. “We had some at-bats in situations that probably could have sent the game out of reach but Maloney is a scrappy team. I told the kids every game is going to be like this. There’s no give-mes but you have to capitalize.”
However, clinging to a 2-1 edge going into the top of the sixth stanza, the game was hanging in the balance when Ray made a call to the bench.
After Noah Plantamuro slammed a double into left field and advanced to third via a wild pitch, Pahl placed a fly-ball into centerfield for the first out of the inning.
But the offering was deep enough for Plantamuro to charge home safely as the Rams snared a desperately needed insurance run off the sacrifice fly – giving Central a 3-1 push midway through the sixth frame.
“A.J. Pahl comes in in a pinch hit and how big is that?,” said Ray. “Here’s a kid’s first varsity at-bat and he has the game-winning sac fly.”
Central catcher Nick Sassu showed his usual grit, going 2-for-4 on the day while Jalen Benoit was 1-for-2, scored a run and was hit by a pitch twice.
Noah Cruz added a hit, scored a run, and eventually saved the game in his two inning stint on the mound while Jordan Banks went 1-for-2 with a base-on-balls.
Kevin White walked twice; Jaeden Rasmus came off the bench to draw four balls; and Plantamuro had that huge two-base hit to lead the offensive attack for the visitors.
Seb Grignano led the Maloney offense with a double – one of only five hits for the Spartans on the day.
That’s because ace chucker Brad Burney was pretty much untouchable over the first four innings, cutting down five of the first eight Maloney batters he faced via strikeout with all the players looking at the third strike.
Overall, Burney struck out seven, walked two, and gave up just three hits and one earned run for his first win of the year.
Cruz cleaned up in his two innings, giving up two hits, an unearned run while walking two and striking out two to end the day for Maloney.
“We felt Burney gave us the best chance to win today,” said Ray. “And Noah then came in [to finish up].”
Along with the superb pitching, defense led the Rams to the win in this one as two double plays – fueled by a 3-6-1 putout that snuffed out Maloney’s drive in the sixth – frustrated the home team.
“I thought we threw strikes,” said Ray. “We made some defensive miscues but we also made some good defensive plays. We turned some big double plays ourselves, got us out of a jam. Our outfield play in the first inning was pretty good.”
In the Central first, eight batters marched to the plate as the Rams nabbed a 2-0 lead after just a half inning of work.
Sassu opened play with a single to left and Benoit added a base hit to center via a hit and run to put two on with no outs.
Cruz bounced a grounder back to the pitcher and Sassu was tagged out at the plate for the first out of the game.
With runners on first and second, Banks punched through an RBI single to score Benoit, making it a 1-0 contest.
White followed up with a walk to load up the bags and later in the tilt, Plantamuro forced losing pitcher Max Wrobel (5.1 IP, 5 hits, 3 runs, 5 BB) into a four ball count and when Cruz touched the plate, it was a 2-0 contest in Central’s favor off the RBI walk.
With Burney fooling Maloney batters over the next three innings, Central had chances to pad its lead but ending up stranding a runner in the second frame, one more in the fourth and the Rams had the bases loaded in the fifth with just one out before a double-play ended things as Central’s cushion was still at two through four and a half innings.
“We made some base-running mistakes that cost us opportunities to probably get better offensive opportunities,” said Ray. “We hit into two big double plays. In producing situations, you’ve got to be able to drive the ball. We were defensive [and] we were up in the count. In that regard, I’m not happy but we were able to get that big run [in the sixth inning], manufacture it.”
But before getting to the sixth, Maloney chopped the deficit to one.
In the fifth, Barney yielded a lead off walk to Jeff Masticate, took second off a wild pitch, moved to third on a passed ball and scored via a single by Nick Boehler as it was a one-run contest at 2-1 entering the sixth frame.
But quickly enough, Plantamuro dropped in his double and Pahl added the sacrifice fly to push the lead to 3-1.
“Right in the middle innings, I looked at them and I said we’re not playing here to hang on,” said Ray. “We want to keep attacking and that’s what good teams do.”
Cruz came in to relieve Burney and off an infield hit by Mike Charest, Central induced a double-play ball and at the end of the inning, it was still a two run game going into the final stanza at 3-1.
The Rams went down in order in the seventh. Maloney nearly did the same as Cruz notched back-to-back Ks before a walk to Boehler started a game-ending run for the Spartans that almost tied things up.
Off the walk, Joe Gulino spiked a double down the right field line – scoring Boehler – and the deficit was chopped to to 3-2 – all with two outs on the board.
A fielding error allowed Grignano to reach base and Maloney had runners posted at first and third with the go-ahead run on first base.
But the drama was quickly quashed when Nick Palumbo flew out to Burney in right as Central held on to win it by a run, 3-2.
“Our pitchers did a good job,” said Ray. “Obviously, those walks at the end are going to kill you but we were solid when we needed to be.
The contest against Maloney was a great test to start the season for the Rams and a great indicator of the competition to come.
“All in all, for a first time out, you like to see your team battle and you know, the heart’s pounding a little bit,” said Ray. “These types of games can only help you down the stretch.”