By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – Bristol Central baseball’s super sophomore Oscar Kuzniar was the man of the afternoon when the Rams took on Plainville in a CCC South entanglement in Bristol on Saturday.
The chucker threw six innings of three-hit, scoreless ball as the Rams broke a three-game losing streak, snaring a 6-0 victory over the Blue Devils.
Kuzniar struck out 11, allowed just a couple free passes, and only faced one batter over the minimum from the third to the sixth innings.
“It was unbelievable,” said Central coach Bunty Ray of Kuzniar. “What a great performance. That’s the kind of performance you want. He got ahead of hitters, was able to use multiple pitches for strikes, he was able to get some ground balls, and we played well defensively behind him. And that’s you want.”
“If your pitcher is throwing strikes, in rhythm and you’re playing great defense, you know what happens? Everything picks up.”
Central moved to 3-7 overall at the halfway point of its season while Plainville fell to 2-9 but got a good performance out of starting pitcher Sean Egan.
He allowed three runs on five hits, fanning a couple along the way.
“He kept us in the game,” said Plainville coach Lou Mandeville of Egan. “It was 3-0. He battled. His breaking stuff was pretty good today. Early on, he didn’t get ahead of hitters. That cost him but once he started to get ahead of hitters and getting them off-balanced a little bit more, you know, I thought he pitched well.”
With one out in the top of the first, MJ Bakaysa walked on four balls while Brennan Staubley reached via error to put two on.
But Kuzniar fanned Charlie Hills and then got Owen Leander to pop out in foul territory to Central catcher Ryan Ring (2-for-3, two RBI) to end the threat.
“Unfortunately, we’re having a little trouble driving in runners with two outs, even just runners in scoring position,” said Mandeville. “We’re having a little trouble putting crooked numbers up [on the scoreboard]. But we’ll keep working at it. It’s all you can do.”
Central went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the first as the Blue Devils got back at it in the second.
Plainville’s Tyler Durling smoked a one-out single to center but Kuzniar struck out the side to keep things scoreless.
To open the bottom of second, Frank Spirito (2-for-3, run) canned a double to the gap in right as Central was looking to score.
And Ring made that happen as he slammed an RBI single down the third base line – plating Spirito – as the Rams snared a 1-0 edge.
Santilli’s groundout to short saw Ring move to second base while Kuzniar walked to put two on.
And then Zach Vanasse placed a perfect ball just by the Plainville third basemen – in fair territory for a single – as Ring scored from second and a 2-0 lead followed.
Kuzniar put the Plainville lineup down in order in the third inning as the chucker tallied strikeout number six to end the half-frame.
Central’s Christian Stafford walked to open the third but was erased by a grounder to first by the returning JT Clark.
Clark quickly swiped second and third to get into scoring position and Ring nabbed his second straight RBI single, dropping the ball into left, as Central led 3-0 through three completed frames.
“Everybody got something,” said Ray of the offense. “I thought Ring set the tone early with his big two-out hit. I thought Frank was able to drive the ball. We’ve been real anemic offensively so anything you can do to get runs, it just makes the defense and pitching much easier.”
“And we’re not an explosive team by any means. We were very opportunist today.”
The dogs were barking on the first base side of the field to open the fourth inning as Hills jabbed a single to right to leadoff but a 6-4-3 double play – spread headed by Mike Allan at shortstop, snuffed out the rally.
Egan drew a two-out base-on-balls for Plainville, moving to second on a wild pitch.
But Kuzniar got Durling looking at strike three as Central maintained its 3-0 cushion.
Santilli singled on to open the bottom of the fourth inning but a 5-4-3 double play saw Egan and Plainville get out of a huge jam.
“He competed,” said Mandeville of Egan. “He kept us in and gave us a chance.”
Plainville went down in order in the fifth as did Central but the home team carried that 3-0 push into the sixth stanza before opening the game up.
Staubley slapped out a one-out base hit to left – sandwiched around Kuzniar strikeouts 10 and 11 – while the runner was thrown out trying to steal third off a slick throw by Ring and tag by Stafford to end the inning.
Plainville had a new battery in the bottom of the frame as Jacob Lagassey took over on the hill and Tate Stevens came in to catch.
Spirito dropped in his second hit of the game, a single to the gap in right, as Central was looking to pad its lead with one gone.
With two outs, Santilli unleashed another single, scoring pinch runner Bryan Capezzone, to make it a 4-0 game.
Kuzniar followed with a fly ball to right which was misplayed as the miscue allowed Santilli to score to give Central a 5-0 edge.
And then pinch hitter Jack Bellantuono smoked a double to the gap left to plate one final run as the Rams etched up a 6-0 cushion through six.
“You have to give Central credit,” said Mandeville. “They played well today. And [Kuzniar] attacked the strike zone. When that happens, it’s tough to win a ball game.”
Spirito mopped up in the seventh, striking out two, as Central secured its third win of the season behind the 6-0 final.
“That was a clean game,” said Ray. “It was very good for us.”
Bristol Central Baseball – CCC South Showdown
BRISTOL CENTRAL 6, PLAINVILLE 0
from Bristol Central High School
Plainville (2-9) 000 000 0 – 0 3 2
Bristol Central (3-7) 021 003 x – 6 9 1
WP: Oscar Kuzniar (Bristol Central); LP: Sean Egan (Plainville)
Plainville Batting
2B – None
3B – None
HR – None
Bristol Central Batting
2B – Frank Spirito, Jack Bellantuono
3B – None
HR – None
Records: Bristol Central 3-7 overall; Plainville 2-9
