By Michael Letendre 

BRISTOL – After a slew of injuries, missed opportunities, and just plain old bad luck, the Bristol Central baseball team finally broke its losing streak on Monday evening, posting a 7-1 victory over crosstown rival Bristol Eastern from Muzzy Field. 

The Rams moved to 13-6 overall – breaking their six-game winless streak – while the Lancers fell to 5-13 with two games to play. 

And for the second straight contest against the Kingstreeters, Central’s Nate Pirog pitched his squad to the win.

Pirog’s pace on the mound was tremendous, speeding the batter’s up to an uncomfortable level, as he earned another victory behind a one run, six hit, nine strikeout, three walk complete game effort. 

“Nate’s been pitching great all year,” said Central coach Bunty Ray. “I mean his two losses, we didn’t give him any run support. When we went out and scored three [runs] for him today [in the first inning], I said, ‘wow, that’s something new.’ He lost [two] 2-1 games this year. [When] he gets three runs, he’s going to go out there and he’s going to smell blood in the water.” 

Eastern’s Ryan Maglio battled over his four innings of work, allowing six runs on five hits and four base-on-balls while hitting a couple batters along the way in drawing the loss.

Central attacked right off the bat in the first inning, seeing its first five batters reach safely for a quick 3-0 push. 

Joe Gratta and Anthony Santilli (two walks, single) both walked, leading to big Oscar Kuzniar cracking a double to right to clear the bases. 

Leading 2-0, Rocco Spirito was plunked on top of the helmet by Maglio and finally, an RBI single to left from Ryan Ring (two RBI) scored Kuzniar as the Rams scooped up a 3-0 cushion just a half inning into things. 

“I think five of those seven runs were [due to] walks or guys getting hit by a pitch,” said Eastern coach Steve Gaudet. “That’s kind of been a theme for us all year. Right when we had a couple nice innings, we hit or walked the leadoff guy.” 

“We’ve preached all year that walks and hit batsmen are going to come around and kill you and that’s kind of what did it today.” 

In the bottom of the first, defense fueled Central in the field. 

Mikey McMahon made a slick catch of a Gabe White line drive at second base, Spirito raced to mid-right field, diving to catch a Connor Cyr offering, and then Mike Allan made a slick grab and throw on a Ben D’Amato groundout to shortstop that sent Eastern down in order. 

The Rams left one man on in the second and after Pirog retired the first five batters he faced, Eastern’s Rio Fernandez (2-for-3) dropped a blazing single into left – later stealing second to get into scoring position. 

But Gratta chased down a fly ball by Isaac Roberge in centerfield to end the second stanza.  

In the third, Central’s Aiden Lopez drew a two-out walk and moved to third base when a pickoff attempt at first saw the ball roll all the way to the fence. 

But Lopez never scored as Eastern kept it a 3-0 game. 

Central returned the favor to the Lancers in the bottom of the frame when Kyle Babin dropped in a base hit to left and when Pirog tried to pick him off first, an error was made off the throw, and the runner ended up third. 

No damage was done by the miscue and to start the fourth, Central’s Christian Stafford was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a passed ball. 

Allan then drew a walk to put men on first and second without the benefit of an out. 

Gratta’s single to left scored Stafford and when Santilli hit an absolutely perfect slow roller between first and second, the bases were cleared again as the two RBI tally gave Central a 6-0 cushion. 

“We manufactured runs,” said Ray. “We left a lot of guys on. I wished we produced a little bit more, but beggars can’t be choosers at this point. It’s been a while since we really got going [offensively].” 

Eastern got one back in the bottom of the fourth, loading the bases with no one out. 

D’Amato singled to right, Maglio walked, and Mason Harris (2-for-4) beat out an infield hit to third base – with the play at third a bit too late to get D’Amato coming in which loaded things up. 

D’Amato eventually scored on a wild pitch to trim the deficit to 6-1 through four. 

Eastern relief pitcher Jonny Montgomery did well taking over for Maglio in the fifth, going 1-2-3 to get the home team back to the plate. 

Eastern’s Connor Cyr earned a two-out base-on-balls in the bottom of the fifth, but Pirog was dealing – keeping the contest a five run game through five. 

Gratta was hit with a Montgomery pitch to start off the sixth, Kuzniar reached via error and Spirito walked to load the bases. 

A sacrifice fly to center from Ring plated Gratta, giving Central an imposing 7-1 edge. 

“I went back to the old line-up,” said Ray. “Guys were doing their jobs, getting on base, producing runs. That’s a good sign for us heading into the postseason.” 

But in the bottom of the frame, Eastern went on the attack. 

Maglio was drilled by a pitch, Harris singled and when Fernandez’s offering to third base went for an infield hit, Eastern had the bases juiced with no one out. 

However, Central’s defense had all the answers – highlighted by an amazing chase down of a foul ball by Ring on a Caleb Molinsky pop-up. 

Ring hustled after the ball, making the catch as he went crashing into the backstop off a tremendous effort and Babin flew out to Lopez in left to end the sixth. 

“All season, we left a lot of guys on base,” said Gaudet. “We had the basses loaded twice. The only run we scored was on a passed ball. Timely hitting, we didn’t have it today.” 

Gratta was again plunked by a ball with two away in the seventh, reaching base for the fifth time in five tries, while Santilli followed up with a walk. 

But the two runners ended up stranded as the Kingstreeters were down to their final three outs, trailing by six. 

The Lancers showed some fight late with Cyr walking and Maglio singling just past the outreached arm of Allen to put a couple men on. 

But one out later, Eastern was finally retired as Central came away with a big 7-1 win to move to 13-6 overall with one game to play. 

“This was probably the most important win of the season at this point,” said Ray. “You come out 12-0 and then all of a sudden, injuries hit you every which way and you’re losing games in different ways, not necessarily playing bad, just not controlling all three [phases] like we were. One day we’d pitch, one day we’d hit, one day we’d played defense, but we never played all three together.” 

“[Against Bristol Eastern], we played all three together and that’s the type of team we are when we do all three things. We’re tough to beat.”   

Bristol City Series Baseball – Bristol Central versus Bristol Eastern 

BRISTOL CENTRAL 3, BRISTOL EASTERN 0 

from Muzzy Field, Bristol    

Bristol Central (13-6)           300 301 0 – 7 5 1  

Bristol Eastern (5-13)           000 100 0 – 1 6 3 

Battery: Bristol Central – Nate Pirog & Ryan Ring; Bristol Eastern: Ryan Maglio, Jonny Montgomery (5) & Rio Fernandez.  

WP: Nate Pirog (Bristol Central); LP: Ryan Maglio (Bristol Eastern) 

Bristol Central Batting    

2B – Oscar Kuzniar 

3B – None     

HR – None    

Bristol Eastern Batting    

2B – None   

3B – None    

HR – None    

HBP – Rocco Spirito (by Maglio); Christian Stafford (By Maglio); Joe Gratta (twice, by Montgomery); Ryan Maglio (by Nate Pirog). 

Records: Bristol Central 13-6 overall; Bristol Eastern 5-13 overall