By Michael Letendre  

BRISTOL – In a city series baseball game in Bristol, all the big stars usually come out to shine. 

And for Bristol Central, that star was Frank Spirito as the pitcher was simply outstanding against Eastern – collecting 13 strikeouts while allowing just three hits – as the Rams defeated the Lancers 8-1 from Muzzy Field in Bristol on Monday night. 

Central ended the regular season at 9-11, sweeping the Lancers, while Eastern fell to 7-11 with a couple games to go. 

Spirito had a no-hitter going through 5.1 innings and only allowed three late singles over another remarkable performance. 

“He was unbelievable,” said Central coach Bunty Ray of Spirito. “He’s been unbelievable down the stretch. He’s now starting to realize how to pitch. Him and [assistant] coach [Mitch] Rossi are on the same page. His development over the year is ridiculous. He’s not only just throwing fastballs. He’s throwing breaking balls, changeups, [and] he’s using two seamers. He’s starting to command all his pitches.” 

“I can’t say enough about what he’s done with Mitch. Mitch was one of my best and now Frank is heading in that direction as well.”  

Eastern had runners on base in four of the seven innings but was only able to cobble together the lone run. 

On the flip side, Central had 10 hits from the third inning on after Eastern starter Ryan Maglio (3-4 on the season) allowed just one run on four hits through four tough frames of work. 

“They put the ball in play,” said Eastern coach Steve Gaudet of Central. “We had a slip in left field [on a double by Central’s JT Clark] and they bleed us to death a little bit with some well-placed hits.” 

Spirito threw a flawless first inning, racking up two Ks, while Maglio went 1-2-3 as well as the contest quickly moved into the second stanza. 

Opening the top of the second, Spirito had thrown three consecutive strikeouts but Ben D’Amato walked to put Eastern’s first runner on base. 

But the crafty chucker ended up fanning the side as the game remained a scoreless affair.  

Central went three up and three down in the bottom of the second off strong pitching by Maglio as neither team had generated a hit to that point of the showdown. 

The Central chucker remained in a groove, tallying strikeout six and seven in the third frame, before the Rams finally got the game’s first hit. 

With one away in the bottom of the third, Zach Vanasse cracked a grounder up the middle that was stopped – with no real chance to get the hustling runner going to first base – as Central had a man on. 

Mike Allan (2-for-3) grounded out to third for a fielder’s choice before Eastern’s Conor McCormick made a slick diving catch in centerfield to snuff out the drive. 

Spirito threw to just one over the minimum – fanning eight along the way – as the chucker was coasting through four innings of the scoreless stalemate. 

“He’s a good pitcher,” said Gaudet of Spirito. “He pitched very well. He did an outstanding job.” 

In the bottom of the fourth, Central finally added a run to the scoreboard. 

Clark (2-for-3, walk) dropped a slicing double to left to start the rally and then the runner scored via two wild pitches as the home team etched up a 1-0 push through four – seizing the momentum of the game. 

“It was getting frustrating over there, just the bad at-bats, one after another” said Ray about earlier in the game. “I knew it would just take a couple baserunners and maybe something else and I think when we scored that first run, you could just see everyone [breathe]. Credit [Maglio]. He was keeping us off-balanced but it was just going to take something [to get us going].”  

Spirito (1-for-2, walk) helped his own cause with a sharp single between shortstop and third base while Aiden Lopez (2-for-3) singled as well, putting two on. 

But Kuzniar grounded out to short as Eastern keep it a 1-0 game heading into the top of the fifth frame. L

D’Amato walked for the second time to open the fifth and Gabe White came in to pinch run. 

White stole second to get into scoring position but Maglio struck out looking, three players then attempted to field Rio Fernandez’s pop-up behind first base – caught by Kuzniar – and Spirito nabbed strikeout number 10 as Central was cruising. 

“When Eastern put the ball in play, to our credit for the most part, we made most of” the plays said Ray. “Spirito did a great job.”  

Allan slapped out a one-out base hit to left in the bottom of the fifth, stealing second, as Central was about to break the game open. 

Christian Stafford then sent a flair to right, putting runners on the corners, and from there, Anthony Santilli simply put the ball into play. 

It was booted at shortstop, allowing Allan to scoot home, and off a base hit by Clark, Stafford scored and quickly, it was a 3-0 contest as Gaudet went to Owen Myers on the hill. 

A double steal put two runners in scoring position and Ryan Ring’s tally to left produced another run – making it 4-0 – while Spirito was intentionally walked to load things up for the force. 

Lopez then added an RBI single to the till as Central’s cushion reached 5-0, all with just one out. 

And when Kuzniar grounded out to second, Ring came home to score – making it a 6-0 contest as Central had batted around. 

“That big inning really, really gave us confidence we needed down the stretch,” said Ray.  

With one gone in the sixth, Eastern finally broke Spirito’s no-no with an infield hit from McCormick that died in the grass going towards third base as the Kingstreeters finally showed some offensive life. 

Jaydon Churchill then dropped a ball into center for a hit and quickly, Eastern had men on the corners with one gone. 

McCormick later scored on a wild pitch as Eastern chopped the deficit to 6-1 through six. 

To open Central’s portion of the sixth, Allan hustled out an infield hit and made it to second via a steal. 

Stafford reached first on a fielding error at second in an attempt to possibly double-up Allan at first but the ball was bobbled and both runners were safe. 

Clark later walked and the lead runner scored off Ring’s grounder to short – pushing Central’s lead out to 7-1. 

Another wild pitch led to a run, making it an 8-1 game, and Caleb Molinsky came into pitch for the Lancers with the bases juiced and two outs but got the final out of the sixth. 

To end the contest for the Lancers, Jose Feliciano was plunked by a pitch by Spirito and Kamden Laprise pinch ran for the hitter. 

Kyle Babin then unleashed an infield hit to third base as two were on for Eastern but Spirito ended the game with K number 13 and off one final groundout, Central picked up a big 8-1 triumph to end regular season play.  

“We’ve played a lot of tight games” this year said Ray. “It was nice to be able to have a little bit of a lead and breathe a little bit.” 

It was the final home game for Central seniors Zach Vanasse, JT Clark, and Bryan Capezzone.  

Playing in their last BC/BE game for Eastern was Cole Latko, Elliot Norris, Conor McCormick, and captain Jaydon Churchill. 

Bristol Eastern Baseball – City Series Showdown   

BRISTOL CENTRAL 8, BRISTOL EASTERN 1 

from Muzzy Field, Bristol  

Bristol Eastern (7-11)     000 001 0 – 1 3 3  

Bristol Central (9-11)     000 152 x – 8 10 0  

WP: Frank Spirito IV (Bristol Central); LP: Ryan Maglio (Bristol Central).  

Bristol Eastern Batting   

2B – None  

3B – None  

HR – None   

Bristol Central Batting   

2B – JT Clark  

3B – None  

HR – None  

Records: Bristol Central 9-11 overall; Bristol Eastern 7-11 

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