By Michael Letendre
NEW BRITAIN – Seven innings wasn’t enough to decide the contest between the Bristol Eastern and New Britain High School baseball squads on Wednesday afternoon.
And in the extra frame affair, the Hurricanes were able to tally the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth as the Lancers fell by a 2-1 score in a CCC interdivisional showdown from Beehive Field.
In the decisive eighth, reliever Caleb Molinsky was on the mound for Eastern, having come in with two outs in the seventh when starter Ryan Maglio was forced to leave the game due to the pitch count.
In that fateful eighth frame, New Britain’s Will Estronza led off with a two strike single up the middle.
And then with Estronza running on the pitch, Israel Gonzalez singled to right center via a hit-and-run, putting runners on first and third.
Tyler Czeremcha was then intentionally walked by Molinsky to load the bases, setting up a possible force play.
However, Jomar Rodriquez earned a base-on-balls to force in the winning run, propelling the home team to the one-run triumph.
The Lancers fell to 3-7 at the halfway mark of the season while the Hurricanes improved to 3-9.
The game was a tremendous pitcher’s duel between Maglio and New Britain’s Alex Heidel.
Both had to leave the game prior to the eighth inning when they reached the pitch count limit.
Maglio was strong despite the no-decision, putting together one of his best efforts to date.
He pitched the first 6.2 innings, allowing just two singles, one run, struck out 12 while walking four over one heck of an effort.
Heidel pitched seven innings, allowing two hits, one run, striking out 10, while walking four as the starters went to a 1-1 stalemate before exiting the fray.
New Britain scored a run in the first when Estronza walked with one out, stole second, and scored following two wild pitches to make it a 1-0 game.
Eastern had chances early to score but could not find the right combination to add a run to the scoreboard.
In the first inning, following a hit batter and a walk with two outs, Czeremcha – New Britain’s catcher – picked off the runner at second base to end the frame.
Then in the second, Eastern’s Jose Feliciano lined a single to left to start the inning for the visitor’s first hit, followed by a walk.
An infield error loaded the bases with one out but Heidel generated a strikeout and groundout to end the threat.
Again, in the third tilt, the Lancers were on the move but could not strike paydirt.
Eastern had two on with two away when Heidel generated a big strikeout to end the inning.
After a scoreless first four innings, the Kingstreeters were finally able to draw even in the fifth.
Ben D’Amato led off with a one-out triple to right to start the rally.
The right fielder attempted a diving catch on D’Amato’s liner but the ball bounced and skipped by the fielder and the junior was off to third base.
Pinch runner Brayden Schenck later scored on a groundout to second by Maglio as the contest remained a 1-1 affair into the eighth and final inning before New Britain shut the door on the showdown with a late run.
Notes…There was a pitch count discrepancy between the two programs that day, concerning Heidel. Eastern’s official scorekeeper, a fellow whose been at the helm of the statistics at BEHS since the 1970s (his name rhymes with Tim See-tro and he’s an icon in terms of what he does behind the scenes for the program), had the pitch count for Heidel at 102 – nearly at the scholastic pitching limit. But New Britain’s stats crew said his pitch count was only at 92, forcing the umpires to split the difference and call it 97. That decision allowed the pitcher to stay in the game and eventually retire Eastern’s side in order in the seventh…Eastern did not make an error in the game as its pitching and defense did a tremendous job that afternoon…The showdown was the 51st meeting between the schools. The Lancers hold a significant edge in series play at 37-14 overall.
Bristol Eastern Baseball – CCC Interdivisional Tilt
NEW BRITAIN 2, BRISTOL EASTERN 1 (8)
from Beehive Field, New Britain
Bristol Eastern (3-7) 000 010 00 – 1 2 0
New Britain (3-9) 100 000 01 – 2 4 1
Battery – Bristol Eastern: Ryan Maglio, Caleb Molinsky (7) & Rio Fernandez;
New Britain: Alex Heidel, Tyler Czeremcha (8) & Czeremcha, Donavan Campbell (8).
WP: Czeremcha (New Britain); LP: Molinsky (Bristol Eastern)
Bristol Eastern Hitting
2B – None
3B – Ben D’Amato
HR – None
New Britain Hitting
2B – None
3B – None
HR – None
Records: New Britain 3-9 overall; Bristol Eastern 3-7.
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