By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – When the Bristol Eastern baseball squad started its season off at 0-7, a run to the state tournament did not seem to be in the cards.
However, that group of athletes, along with their coach, never gave up on a chance at the playoffs.
And now, winners of four in a row and five of their last six games, the Lancers punched its state tournament ticket and it’s a brand new season for the program after finishing up at 7-13.
“This team is so gritty,” said Eastern coach Steve Gaudet after his squad defeated Bristol Central on Thursday evening. “Think about where we were. We were 0-7 and we could have folded up shop easily. We played some tough teams [in] East Catholic and Southington. And we came back and won seven of our last 13 games to get us to the tournament. And there were games we were down in that we won. And that’s just [Andrew] Lozier and all these seniors on this team. They’re just gritty, tough kids that keep fighting and don’t give up until the end.”
It fact, Eastern won those four games to finish the campaign by a total of seven runs.
After a 11-0 loss to East Catholic on May 17, the top squad in the state, the Lancers pulled together and made its postseason aspirations a reality.
It started with a 5-3 win against Lewis Mills on May 19 and then two days later, in a wild and wooly affair versus Plainville, Eastern earned an amazing 11-10 come from behind win to knock off the Blue Devils – avenging its 11-10 loss at Plainville back on April 24.
And then in back-to-back challenges, Eastern beat East Hartford (6-3) in another game they trailed in on May 26 and then on May 27 – in front of a packed house – the Lancers foiled the Rams, 3-2, to finish at 7-13 – going 7-6 over their final 13 games.
“It feels great,” said Eastern senior Andrew Lozier of qualifying for the postseason. “I said it at the beginning of the year, we’re dogs. Those kids fight. We fight to the end. We’re Lancers. That’s what we did and we prevailed.”
The senior core of Trevor Nohilly, Ryan Fradette, Gabe Bartolome, Tyler Stickels, Brayden Moore, Logan Schenck, Nate Ouellette, the injured Alex Canzellarini, and captains Tyler Martin, Dylan Woodsome, and Lozier all helped make this possible – playing for each other and for themselves as Eastern earned a spot in the Class L tournament bracket.
“Like I said, these kids, I’ve never been prouder of a team in basketball, baseball or in any sport I’ve coached,” said Gaudet. “To not give up, to keep fighting the whole time, to do whatever I’ve asked them to do and to just push through. That’s what they did all season.”
The Lancers drew the No. 29 seed in the Class L field and will square off against No. 4 Woodstock Academy from the Charles Bentley Athletic Complex on June 1 at 3:30 p.m.
In winning that final contest, Eastern got to stay away from top ranked opponents such as Daniel Hand (16-1), second rated CCC South foe Berlin (17-3) and No. 3 Masuk of Monroe (14-3).
Bristol Central (9-6) is also in the Class L mix, grabbing the 16th seed and will be staying home for first round play.
It’s a regular season rematch as the Rams will battle No. 17 Farmington.
Central defeated the River Hawks by a 20-1 final back on April 17.
The winner of that game either plays Hand or No. 32 Bunnell of Stratford (5-12) on Wednesday.
“I hope they do well in the tournament because they deserve it because of all they’ve been through,” said Gaudet of Central.
