By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – The city series showdown between the Bristol Central and Bristol Eastern baseball squads was another classic showdown from Muzzy Field on Tuesday night.
And this time around, only one run was needed to determine the winner.
In the bottom of the third inning, Central’s Christian Stafford scored from third base on a passed ball as the Rams rang up a 1-0 victory to move to 4-7 on the season.
Eastern fell to 3-7 over the losing effort.
Central pitcher Nate Pirog was simply tremendous, striking out six.
He threw four innings of hitless ball, allowing just two hits which came over Pirog’s final two batters as the sophomore made a tremendous accounting of himself.
And then Frank Spirito (3 IP) kept the shutout intact with six Ks of his own, allowing just two singles.
“Between Nate and Frank, it was just a gutsy performance,” said Central coach Bunty Ray. “They threw great pitches in key situations. Eastern’s hitters were aggressive early and we were able to make some plays but nothing that was overchallenging.”
On the flip side, Eastern’s Mike Roalf (3 Ks) didn’t allow much in terms of hits as Central smacked out four against the junior, tallying just a single run.
Roalf saw one batter in the sixth and was replaced by Ryan Maglio who did not skip a beat.
Maglio allowed just the one hit while fanning five in a big relief effort.
The Rams put several runners on base throughout the game, keeping the pressure on, and eventually tallied the winning run in the top of the third frame.
But it was a battle throughout as each team could have taken an early edge.
Central loaded the bases up in the top the first as Aiden Lopez smacked a single up the middle and Stafford walked with no outs.
With two gone, Ryan Ring was hit by a pitch to juice the bases but when Anthony Santilli grounded out to short, the threat was squashed.
Pirog then went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning as the contest was quickly afoot.
In the second, Central’s Zach Vanasse attempted to bunt Pirog over to second after a leadoff walk.
But Roalf chased down the ball – hit to the right side of the mound – whirled and made a quick throw to second base for the first out of the frame.
Vanasse quickly stole second but got into a rundown on a Mike Allan ground out.
Vanasse was tagged out at shortstop and when Lopez popped out in shallow centerfield, the game remained a scoreless affair.
“We had a lot of base runners,” said Ray. “I was waiting for that one key hit. Eastern’s pitchers kept making good pitches. We didn’t get strong contact with runners on. We got strong contact with guys that weren’t on base. I thought we wasted some pitches by over-swinging, maybe being a little aggressive. But this game was a matter of getting good at-bats, hitting pitches. They didn’t give in.”
“I give Eastern’s pitchers a tremendous amount of credit. They threw their pitches in their counts and when you do stuff like that, you really have to grind offensively.”
Pirog fanned two more batters in the second, totaling three for the game, as Central finally scored in the third.
For the third straight inning, Central’s leadoff batter reached base as Stafford made it to first via an error on a ground ball to third and scooted to second on a passed ball.
Stafford got to third off a JT Clark flyout to right and on another passed ball, the runner dashed home.
On the throw to the plate, Stafford tagged the dish with his hand – just beating a good tag – as Central nabbed its 1-0 push.
Moments later, Spirito dropped a flare to left to get on and advanced to second when a pickoff attempt went awry as another runner was in scoring position for the Rams.
But Maglio struck out Ring and Santilli flew out to right to end the half inning with Central up a run.
And the Rams made it nine up and nine down for Eastern as Pirog was throwing well through three.
For the fourth straight frame, Central’s leadoff batter reached base safely as Priog walked and with one out, pinch runner Bryan Capezzone took over at first base.
Allan followed with a base-on-balls to put two on but two quick outs later, Eastern was back at the plate in the 1-0 game.
Pirog was still in groove in the bottom of the fourth – tallying strikeout five and six – to keep his shutout intact.
With one out in the fifth, Spirito slammed a ball into the gap in left for a stand-up double while Joe Mauriello came in to run.
But Roalf wiggled out of the jam with a K and a flyout as the junior helped Eastern keep it a 1-0 contest.
And the Lancers finally got a hit on the board in the fifth as Maglio cracked a single to short left as Pirog’s no-hitter was broken up.
Kamden Laprise came into pinch run and when Fernandez dropped a ball into right – just landing in fair territory – the lead runner was off.
Laprise ran through second and just beat a great throw to third base.
And as the ball got away at third, rolling towards the mound, Fernandez ended up at second on the miscue as Eastern had two runners in scoring position with no one out.
Spirito then relived Pirog and the chucker buckled down.
“I wasn’t expecting him to actually go that long,” said Ray of Pirog. “The plan for him was to go early and then we’d go to Frank. But Nate was in such a rhythm, we just kept going. And obviously Frank comes in with strikeout stuff with runners in scoring position. He did his job.”
Conor McCormick had a battle against Spirito but struck out in the end, as did Jose Feliciano, while Connor Cyr grounded out to short as opportunity came and went for the Lancers.
To open the sixth, Central’s Oscar Kuzniar, singled up the middle as Roalf’s night was complete.
“Mike Roalf battled,” said Gaudet. “His first big start against Bristol Central, it was impressive. I’m very happy for him.”
Maglio then took his turn on the hill, etching up two quick strikeouts and got Lopez to bounce out to first to end the threat.
Things heated up quickly in the bottom of the tilt as Eastern’s Cole Latko reached on an error but was tagged on the arm in an attempted theft of second base.
D’Amato then sent a one-hopper to left for his first hit but Spirito struck out Jaydon Churchill to end the inning and preserve the 1-0 lead.
Stafford opened the top of the seventh with an infield hit to third base, eventually stealing second.
Spirito was then intentionally walked with one gone as Eastern rolled the dice.
Maglio cut down Ring on strikes but Santilli was plunked by a ball as the bases were loaded with two gone.
But Kuzniar struck out to end the inning as Eastern needed one run to force extra innings with batters four, five, and six due up.
“They battled all night,” said Eastern coach Steve Gaudet of his pitching. “They continued to make big pitches in big situations. We still have to limit our walks a little bit and get ahead in the count. But to come out here and give up one run and lose, you can’t be upset about that. They pitched very well.”
And after two strikeouts by Spirito, McCormick dropped a slow roller to third and there wasn’t a play to be made as the two-out infield hit gave the Lancers one final chance to knot the score.
Owen Myers drew a 2-2 count but popped out at third to end the game as Central won the event, 1-0.
“We did get to second base quite a bit and we just needed that one big hit,” said Ray. “But we got that one run and Frank took care of the rest.”
“Tip your cap to Central. They pitched very well,” said Gaudet. “We missed some opportunities but Central made pitches, they made plays. They got some big outs when they needed them.”
Bristol City Series Baseball – CCC South Showdown
BRISTOL CENTRAL 1, BRISTOL EASTERN 0
from Muzzy Field, Bristol
Bristol Central (4-7) 001 000 0 – 1 5 2
Bristol Eastern (3-7) 000 000 0 – 0 4 2
Bristol Central: Nate Pirog, Frank Spirito (5) & Ryan Ring; Bristol Eastern: Mike Roalf, Ryan Maglio (6) & Rio Fernandez.
WP: Frank Spirito (Bristol Central); LP: Mike Roalf (Bristol Eastern).
Bristol Central Batting
2B – Frank Spirito
3B – None
HR – None
Bristol Eastern Batting
2B – None
3B – None
HR – None
Records: Bristol Central 4-7; Bristol Eastern 3-7
