By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – The Bristol Eastern baseball team finally got back to the pay window on Wednesday afternoon.
After going bankrupt over three straight games, the Lancers collected handsomely against Middletown – posting a 10-3 victory against the Blue Dragons from Clem J. Roy Field on the campus of BEHS.
With the win, the Kingstreeters moved to 4-9 overall while Middletown fell to 9-6.
The Lancers scooped up 11 hits over the tilt compared to just five for the visiting aggression.
And Eastern’s top-three in the batting order were responsible for over half of those tallies.
Gabe White led the attack with three hits while Connor Cyr and Ben D’Amato each added two hits.
Ryan Maglio pitched the first six innings for Eastern and threw extremely well.
He allowed just three hits and one earned run while striking out eight to earn the win.
And once Eastern grabbed the edge in the fray, there was no turning back.
The Lancers scored twice in the first inning and added four runs in the second stanza to post a big 6-0 cushion.
In the first, White led off with an infield single, promptly stealing second.
Cyr followed with a base hit through the left side of the infield to put runners on the corners.
D’Amato then singled to the right side of the field to score White, making it a 1-0 affair.
Jose Feliciano later drove in Cyr with a single to left as Eastern took a quick 2-0 lead through one inning of play.
One frame later, Eastern went back on the attack.
With two outs, White singled to right and Cyr and D’Amato both walked as the bases were loaded.
Maglio lined a base hit to center to score White, Feliciano walked to force in Cyr, and then Mason Harris lined a single to right to score D’Amato and Maglio, propelling Eastern to a 6-0 push.
Maglio, after yielding two hits in the first inning, retired eight straight batters through the third inning.
Defensively, Eastern catcher Rio Fernandez, White at shortstop and Jed Sutula at second base all had strong games in the field to lead the program.
In the Middletown fourth, the visitors loaded the bases with two outs following two walks and an infield error.
But when Maglio generated the last out of the frame on a pop-up to second, the Blue Dragons could not put a dent on the scoreboard.
Then, in the Middletown fifth with two away, the visitors cobbled something together.
An error and a walk put two runners on, and Caleb Reed’s double scored the duo to trim the deficit to 6-2.
However, in the bottom of the fifth, Eastern put another four-spot on the board to ice the showdown.
Following a walk, a single to center by Kyle Babin, and an error on White’s grounder, Eastern had the bases loaded with no one out.
Cyr then doubled to left center to score two runs and D’Amato followed with his own two-base hit to right center to notch a couple more to help the Lancers secure a 10-2 lead.
Maglio pitched through the sixth, reaching the pitch limit, before Declan Schenck threw the seventh frame, allowing the final Middletown run to close out the 10-3 victory for the home team.
Eastern is back in action this Friday evening to square off against Plainville in the one and only showdown between the local programs this year.
The game takes place at Plainville’s High School baseball diamond starting at 6 p.m.
NOTES…The game against Middletown was Eastern’s 1,250th contest in program history. The Lancers have won just over .600 of those game since becoming a team in 1960…The Kingstreeters are 14-5 all-time against Middletown.
Bristol Eastern Baseball – CCC South Action
BRISTOL EASTERN 10, MIDDLETOWN 3
from Clem J. Roy Field, BEHS
Middletown (9-6) 000 020 1 – 3 5 1
Bristol Eastern (4-9) 240 040 x – 10 11 2
Battery: Middletown – Corey Turcotte, Travis Newman (3) & AJ Quinn; Bristol Eastern – Ryan Maglio, Declan Schenck (7) & Rio Fernandez.
WP: Ryan Maglio (Bristol Eastern); LP: Corey Turcotte (Middletown).
Middletown Batting
2B – Tyler Powell, AJ Quinn, Caleb Reed
3B – Eric Wilson
HR – None
Bristol Eastern Batting
2B – Connor Cyr, Ben D’Amato
3B – None
HR – None
Records: Bristol Eastern 4-9 overall; Middletown 9-6.
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