The Woonsocket baseball team defeated Cranston East, 6-3, at Cranston Stadium in their Division-I clash on Monday afternoon despite leaving 11 runners on base during the first five innings.

The ’Bolts’ offense was not able to get hot, either, as they have scored just 11 runs over their past seven games (1-6) and were held to one run or less for the fifth time in that span.

“We’re just not having good at-bats at the times we’re supposed to,” Cranston East head coach Michael Walsh said. “Guys get guys on base, and we just don’t have a good approach at the plate. We’re taking pitches we should swing at, we’re swinging at pitches we should be taking. They’re going to hopefully learn from it.”

Senior pitcher Miguel Raymond picked up the complete-game victory for the Villa Novans (6-6) after allowing only five hits, striking out four and walking three.

The ’Bolts have had to play from behind often recently, but they got on the board first against Woonsocket through small ball. Centerfielder Michael Castillo walked to lead off the bottom of the first, and shortstop Anthony Ramos’ bunt sent him to second base. Left fielder Harold Corniel drove a single into left to score Ramos.

Cranston East (1-11) would only put one more runner in scoring position before the sixth inning, while Woonsocket had its fair share of chances early on. Senior captain Josh Mousseau grounded into a double play to end the first inning with runners on first and second.

The Villa Novans then loaded the bases in back-to-back innings. Cranston East junior pitcher Anthony Zapata forced centerfielder Austin Forget to pop up to third base in the second inning to end the bases-loaded threat.

In the third inning, Woonsocket grabbed its first run on Mousseau’s RBI double to deep left field to score catcher Kyle Beaulieu. Designated hitter Elijah Brackett then walked and right fielder Frandy Sanchez singled to load the bases again with one out. Zapata escaped again, though, when shortstop Evan Masse and left fielder Jaquan Guerrero struck out in order.

“I wasn’t too happy with the way we hit the ball,” Woonsocket head coach Paul Murphy said. “A lot of guys unfortunately didn’t make contact. We got guys in scoring position, it’s one thing to make an out in those situations. It’s another thing not to make contact.”

The Villa Novans’ offense broke through in the fourth inning when Beaulieu crushed a double to left-centerfield to score Raymond and Forget, who had both singled to reach base. Mousseau notched his second RBI in as many innings on a single that scored Beaulieu. Zapata yielded five hits in the fourth.

“Once [Zapata] started throwing strikes they weren’t really doing much with him early on,” Walsh said. “He was elevating his fastball a little bit, and he doesn’t throw it hard enough to get it by guys, so when he brings the ball up they’re going to be able to hit him a little bit.”

It was more of the same in the next frame, when Forget’s RBI base hit scored Guerrero, who walked, stole second and reached third on a single. East relief pitcher Chrisdione Mendez, who came in with runners at second and third, balked in the sixth Villa Novans’ run. Mendez lasted a couple of innings for the ’Bolts, striking out the side in the sixth.

The struggling Thunderbolts’ offense looked to have life in the bottom of the sixth inning down 6-1. Left fielder Corniel and first baseman Vannak Rourm drew back-to-back walks with one out, which prompted a mound visit from Murphy.

“I told him ‘You have a 6-1 lead, you cannot be walking people,’” Murphy said. “‘You need to throw strikes.’”

Raymond did not walk anyone else in the inning, but catcher Alex Martinez’s single loaded the bases for the ’Bolts. Designated hitter Logan McConaghy drove Corniel home on a single to reload the bags again.

Rourm scored on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to three, but Raymond settled down. Third baseman Noel Blanco popped out to the left side and right fielder Stephen Ellis struck out to spoil East’s biggest chance of the afternoon.

“I thought [Raymond] threw the ball well today,” Murphy said. “Except for that one bad inning, he lost it a bit. And then he came back in the end and he found it. Got him to do some strikes with his off-speed pitches, and that was huge because he’s a competitor.”

All six Woonsocket runs were charged to Zapata, who picked up the loss for Cranston East. He walked six, struck out four and allowed 11 hits.

Woonsocket was scheduled to visit fourth-place Coventry (7-5) on Tuesday at 3:45 p.m., while East was on tap to renew its rivalry with Cranston West at 7 p.m. No further updates were available at press time.