By Michael Letendre  

BRISTOL – Bristol Eastern’s baseball squad was bested by Platt on Monday afternoon, falling by a 12-2 final in six innings from Clem J. Roy Field on the campus of Bristol Eastern High School.

The Panthers are now 3-5 overall while the Lancers dropped to 2-5.

Frankly, Platt hit the ball hard all game and added slick pitching – a good combination for sure that led to doom and demise for the Kingstreers.

Eastern’s Ryan Maglio earned the start on the hill and walked the bases full in the first frame with one out but nearly got out of the jam.

But he ended up yielding a three-run double to right by Dylan Link – propelling the Panthers to a 3-0 edge.

However, the Lancers had a couple responses over the next two innings to almost draw even.

Eastern’s Gabe White led off the bottom of the first with a single to left, stole second, and with two outs, he scored on a single to right by Maglio to trim the deficit to 3-1.  

The first inning continued as Jose Feliciano followed with a single to left with Maglio stopping at second to put two runners on.

Caleb Molinsky then singled to center, but Maglio was gunned down at the plate to end the inning with Platt still ahead by two.

In the second stanza, the Lancers were at it again offensively.

Rio Fernandez led off with a triple to deep left and scored on a groundout to make it a 3-2 game.

However, after the three-base hit by Fernandez, the game belonged to winning pitcher Ryan Zauner.

He retired 12 batters in a row from the second through the fifth frames and in-between, the Panthers zipped up eight runs to the scoreboard.

Platt added a run in the third to go up 4-2 and then in the fifth, the visiting aggression put the game away for good.

The Panthers marched eleven batters to the plate, scoring seven times on six hits off three BE pitchers.  

With one away, Maglio gave up three singles to load the bases, and Owen Myers came in to throw.  

Myers gave up a two-run single to big Hunter Sincovic, and then an intentional walk, a run scoring single to Zauner and after a bases-loaded walk, Noah Gatti came in to pitch for Eastern.  

Gatti generated an out, but Jayden Gaither’s bases clearing double to deep left gave Platt an 11-2 lead.  

Finally, the Panthers added a run in the sixth to go up 12-2.

Platt reliever Brandon Candelora pitched a scoreless sixth, allowing just a two-out walk to Feliciano, the only Eastern baserunner since the second inning, to seal the deal as the home team fell by 10 runs.

The Lancers look to get back to the pay window on Wednesday with a trip to Meriden against Maloney.

Game time is 3:45 from Maloney High School.

Bristol Eastern Baseball – CCC South Action    

PLATT 12, BRISTOL EASTERN 2 (6)  

from Clem J. Roy Field, BEHS  

Platt (3-5)              301 071 – 12 12 1   

Bristol Eastern (2-5)        110 000 – 2 0 5  

Battery: Platt – Ryan Zauner, Brandon Candelora (6) & Hunter Sincovic; Bristol Eastern: Ryan Maglio, Owen Myers (5), Noah Gatti (5) & Rio Fernandez.  

WP – Ryan Zauner (Platt); LP – Ryan Maglio (Bristol Eastern)   

Platt Batting   

2B – Dylan Link, Jayden Gaither, Ryan Zauner 

3B – Zach Baker   

HR – None  

Bristol Eastern Batting   

2B – None 

3B – Rio Fernandez  

HR – None    

Records: Platt 3-5 overall; Bristol Eastern 2-5 overall