By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – Needing a big performance to keep its postseason chances alive, Plainville baseball stud Brennan Staubley threw a complete game gem against Bristol Eastern – helping his squad nab a huge 6-2 victory from Muzzy Field on Friday night in a CCC South encounter.
Plainville improved to 4-12 overall while Eastern fell to 5-9.
Staubley went the distance, allowing just six hits, scooping up eight strikeouts while retiring the first 10 batters he faced over an impressive performance against the surging Lancers.
“He attacked the strike zone,” said Plainville coach Lou Mandeville of Staubley. “He had them off-balanced. You could see Eastern was out in front and he did a good job on the elevated pitch too. They were tough to catch up with. He did a good job keeping them off-balanced and just attacked the strike zone.”
“It’s amazing what happens when you attack the strike zone. He was a bulldog out there today.”
The Lancers attempted a seventh inning rally and did just enough to get the tying run into the on-deck circle before Staubley shut down a bases-loaded situation with one final K.
Eastern trailed 6-0 through three innings and though the squad put some runners on base over the final four frames, the Kingstreeters just couldn’t battle back.
“We dug ourselves a big hole, kind of similar to Monday against Rocky Hill,” said Eastern coach Steve Gaudet. “We fight but, you know, I told them [after the game] we have to come ready to play right off the bat. We can’t be put in those holes. We have to make pitches and make plays.”
Plainville etched up three runs in the top of the first as its first five batters reached base safely.
Mike Ouellette (2-for-2, walk) and Mike Bakaysa posted base hits, eventually putting runners on second and third, as Staubley (3-for-4, run, RBI) came up to bat.
Staubley unleashed a deep double to the gap in right, clearing the bases, as Plainville led 2-0 early into things.
Owen Leander (two walks) and Charlie Hills – who was hit by a pitch twice over the showdown – each drew base-on-balls to load things up and with one out, Sean Egan (two RBI) drilled a slow roller to shortstop, allowing Staubley to scoot home from third, as the Blue Devils nabbed a 3-0 push just a half-inning into play.
After a scoreless first for the Lancers, Plainville went 1-2-3 in the second as Eastern starting pitcher Anthony Nocera settled down a bit.
Staubley was untouchable in the second stanza as the Blue Devils continued to lead it by three.
In the third, Plainville went for three additional runs to pad its lead.
Nocera allowed an infield hit to Staubley as the third inning commenced and when Leander earned his second walk, Owen Myers took over on the mound for the Lancers.
And Myers held the fort the rest of the way, nearly getting his teammates of the jam and pitched brilliantly – seeing just two batters over the minimum from the fourth inning on.
“He was outstanding,” said Gaudet of Myers. “He put four zeros up [on the scoreboard] from the fourth inning on. He was outstanding. A freshman coming out there and being put in that situation, it’s very impressive. I’m very happy with his performance today.”
Owens plunked Hills with a pitch – loading up the bases – but Dylan Cianci grounded to third as Eastern got the force at home for the first out.
But, in an attempt at a double play, the ball was chucked into right field as Eastern failed to get the runner at first.
Leander scored on the miscue to make it a 4-0 game.
Egan then grounded out to short, allowing Hills to come home, and when Keith Lagassey looped a single to center, Cianci scored as Plainville held a commanding 6-0 edge.
“We’ve been working hard on improving our swings and improving our approaches at the plate,” said Mandeville. “And today, it paid off.”
After a leadoff single by Staubley to open the fourth, Owens buckled down to put Plainville away – in order – as Eastern was on the verge of generating its first hit.
After retiring his first 10 batters, Staubley allowed a single to DH Jaydon Churchill (2-for-3, walk) but the chucker shutdown the rest of the side as the Blue Devils maintained its 6-0 cushion.
Owens showed poise on the hill in the fifth, eventually retiring five in a row, as the Lancers attempted to get something brewing offensively.
With one away in the fifth, Rio Fernandez smacked a shot to center for a base hit while Conor McCormick (2-for-3, run) followed suit with a single to right as Eastern had two runners on.
Connor Cyr then plunked a ball off Staubley on the hill but it bounced right to Ouellette at shortstop who got McCormick going into second for the force out.
And then with two runners in scoring position, pinch hitter Jose Feliciano got to first base via a catcher’s interference – loading things up as Eastern’s top of the order was due up.
But Staubley fanned Elliot Norris to escape the jam as Plainville maintained its 6-0 lead.
“We did swing the bat. We were just hitting the ball at people today, early on especially,” said Gaudet. “We did have some good swings. They just didn’t fall for us today.”
Myers struck out the side in the sixth, save for a Mike Ouellette infield hit, but the Lancers were still looking for their first run of the night.
Churchill walked to open the bottom of the sixth and stole second to get into scoring position.
The runner moved to third on a passed ball but Ben D’Amato grounded out to end the tilt.
Hill reached base in the seventh after getting hit by a ball from Myers but two groundouts later, Eastern was down to its final ups, still trailing by six.
McCormick kept the Lancers alive with a one-out single to right and Cyr followed with a base hit up the middle to put two on.
Cole Latko earned a full-count walk and quickly, Eastern had the bases loaded with the top of the line-up due at the plate once again.
Plainville assistant coach Ryan Raponey then made a quick visit to Staubley to settle his chucker down.
Staubley fanned Norris after the chat but Churchill delivered, smoking a two-out single to left to score McCormick, as Eastern got on the board (6-1).
A passed ball allowed Cyr to tag the dish, making it 6-2, which put the tying run for the Lancers in the on-deck circle.
But Preston Guarda struck out to end the contest as Plainville nabbed a four-run win from Muzzy Field.
“I talked to them about getting the momentum,” said Mandeville of his team. “And when you get the momentum on your side, don’t give it back. We’ve had issues early this season of not getting the momentum on our side and we have to keep climbing back and climbing back. Today, we got the momentum on our side.”
And again, Eastern was just one or two hits away from extending the game against Plainville – just like in several other losses by the Lancers over the campaign.
“That’s been the story of our season,” said Gaudet. “But listen, we’re not going to hang our heads. We’ve got two big wins prior to this loss. We’re going to go back to work. We need three more wins to get into the tournament. I think that’s definitely an accomplishable goal and something we can get done next week.”
Bristol Eastern Baseball – CCC South Showdown
PLAINVILLE 6, BRISTOL EASTERN 2
from Muzzy Field, Bristol
Plainville (4-12) 303 000 0 – 6 7 1
Bristol Eastern (5-9) 000 000 2 – 2 6 4
WP: Brennan Staubley (Plainville); LP: Anthony Nocera (Bristol Eastern).
Plainville Batting
2B – Brennan Staubley
3B – None
HR – None
Bristol Eastern Batting
2B – None
3B – None
HR – None
Records: Plainville 4-12 overall;Bristol Eastern 5-9 overall.
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