By Michael Letendre
Over the past two seasons, Bristol Central’s Frank Spirito IV has been one of the top performers for the school’s baseball team and for the second consecutive year, the outstanding athlete earned CHSCA All-State honors.
Spirito, who turned into an NCAA Division I pitching prospect early in his career, played in about half of Central’s games this year before a season-ending foot injury ended his senior campaign prematurely.
But the imprint he left over that portion of the schedule was undeniable, one of the four captains from the Rams outstanding 15-7 campaign, and his leadership proved to be invaluable for head coach Bunty Ray.
The 15 wins is a vast improvement from 2022 when Central went 9-12 overall, three games below .500 on the year.
When Spirito was on the field competing, whether it was from the mound, at DH or in the field, Central was undefeated, leading to a slick 12-0 record out the gate.
Despite the injury, Spirito was rolling from the start.
He pitched in five games overall, going 3-0 with a save to his name in 24 innings pitched.
Starting three contests, he allowed just two earned runs for an ERA not worth mentioning (0.58).
Spirito fanned 45 batters while walking just three – meaning his strikeout-to-walk ratio was a suffocating 15-to-1, an incredible tally for any scholastic pitcher.
Opponents batted a meager .118 against the chucker and over 85 batters faced, Spirito yielded just 10 hits while plunking just one batter along the way – showing excellent control on the hill.
He can throw several pitches, including changeups, sliders and curveballs, while he truly can chuck with his fastball with zest.
He’s been known to throw his fastball around 90 MPH.
Offensively, he made gains at the clean-up position of Central’s batting order.
Spirito turned in a batting average of .267, scooping up eight hits and eight RBI..
He scored seven runs, smacked out two doubles while striking out just five times.
Spirito committed to UCONN as a junior and he’ll join Donovan Clingan (men’s basketball) and Victor Rosa (football) as several of Bristol Central’s best and brightest athletes who are calling the institution in Storrs home.
Quite suddenly, Central has been churning out NCAA Division I athletes that not just excel in the field or on the court, but in the classroom as well.
With his collegiate future set, and despite a foot injury that derailed the second half of his senior campaign, Spirito was certainly mowing down the competition to start the year this past spring.
A quick sample space was Central’s 5-0 victory at West Hartford on April 5.
Spirito struck out a dozen batters – allowing just three hits over six innings of work to earn the win.
In Central’s 6-0 shutout of Platt on April 19, Spirito had an early first inning hit, eventually scoring a run, to give the Rams a 3-0 edge right off the bat to hold off the Panthers.
The only shame of the season was the fact Spirito never had a chance to square off against crosstown rival Bristol Eastern as a senior.
But he had a front row seat for both games as the Rams went 2-0 against the Lancers for the city series sweep.
And don’t forget as a junior, Spirito tallied 24 strikeouts in 13 innings of work, excelling in both starting and reserve roles and earning CCC South All-Conference honors that season along with JT Clark.
UCONN baseball coach Jim Penders – who will be in his 21st season as head coach for the Huskies when Spirito hits Elliot Ballpark in Storrs – is getting a good one as Spirito is an eager competitor who should fit in well with the program from Eastern Connecticut.
Finally, Spirito is joining a Big East program that went 50-16 last season and were 5-0 in conference play.
UCONN took the Big East Tournament championship by storm, won the College Park Regional and went to the Stanford Super Regional before things were said and done.
The 50 wins were a program record at UCONN and Spirito hopes to help the Huskies duplicate that feat in 2024.
2023 CHSCA All-State Class L Baseball Team
*Nate Acabchuck, Windsor
*Fayz Baig, RHAM
*Chase Beloin, Avon
*John Bureau, East Lyme
*Luke Dawson, Bunnell
*Derrel Mitchell, New London
*Lucas Deshefy, Guilford
*Joe Dipippo, Torrington
*Brady Ericson, Woodstock
*Ryan Fedeli, Masuk
*Yabdriel Gonzalez-Costa, Hillhouse-Career
*Brian Ingraham, Waterford
*Casey Katz, Brookfield
*Tyler Kornacki, North Haven
*Bryce Meder, Guilford
*Kevin Milewski, Notre Dame-West Haven
*Gavin O’Brien, East Lyme
*Jack Pesta, Lyman Hall
*Camden Righi, Wethersfield
*Frank Spirito, Bristol Central
*Tanner Wall, Brookfield
