Behind Canales' solid pitching, Bolts sweep Pats

By Ryan D. Murray
Posted 4/24/18

By RYAN D. MURRAY The Cranston East Thunderbolts baseball team blasted the Pilgrim Patriots 7-0 on Saturday morning at Pilgrim High School. East junior ace Giovanni Canales pitched a complete-game shutout, giving up just two hits with one walk and five

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Behind Canales' solid pitching, Bolts sweep Pats

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The Cranston East Thunderbolts baseball team blasted the Pilgrim Patriots 7-0 on Saturday morning at Pilgrim High School.

East junior ace Giovanni Canales pitched a complete-game shutout, giving up just two hits with one walk and five strikeouts.

“Now that the weather is getting better, he was throwing hard today,” East assistant coach Ray Rotondo said. “He’s a legit pitcher. The progression of the cold weather, but this is what we expect from him all the time throwing hard and throwing strikes.”

According to Rotondo, Canales has drawn a lot of interest from Division I baseball schools.  

Even Pats’ head coach Nolan Landy had to give credit to Canales for his solid pitching.

“He threw the ball very well,” Landy said. “That kids a good pitcher. He kept the ball down, and has a very good curveball. The ball moved, and he made a lot of plays up the middle.”

And on offense, Canales added two hits and three RBI, while his teammate Anthony Ramos tallied a two-run single and three stolen bases. Ramos is a perfect 13 for 13 on stolen bases this season.

“Anthony Ramos last year led our team in RBI,” Rotondo said. “Again, this year, he’s leading the team in RBI. He just comes through in clutch situations over and over again. He rises to the occasion. That’s one thing I tell him, he’s the RBI machine.”

Pitching for the Pats, was Tyler Parks, a junior, who struck out five and walked one while giving up two earned runs on three hits.

The ‘Bolts took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning when with a full count, two outs, and runners at second and third, Ramos blasted a two-run single to left.

During the bottom of the third, Pilgrim had its best chance to get on the scoreboard. With two outs, senior shortstop Matt Woods launched a bomb to right field for a double. However, the next hitter, Jacob Resendes, unleashed a bullet at East shortstop Justin Neary, who snagged it from the dirt and made a quick throw to third to catch Woods in a pickle for the final out of the inning.

East added to its cushion during the top of the fifth. After Anthony Florenz, a senior, drew a walk from Parks, Pilgrim’s Landy brought in its senior, Nicholas Laramee to pitch in relief. With one out, Quinn Lanigan socked a single to left to drive in Florenz, making it 3-0. Next, catcher Alex Martinez unloaded a double to right field and scored Lanigan all the way from first, extending East’s advantage to 4-0.  Then, with two down, Canales drove in Martinez from third with an RBI single to shallow right field and increased the East lead to 5-0.

Then, with two outs and runners at the corners in the top of the seventh inning, Canales smoked a 2-run single up the middle, which drove home Martinez and Ramos and put East up 7-0.

With the win, East improves to 6-0 on the season while the Pats falls to 2-4.

Rotondo said one reason that the ‘Bolts have been so successful this season is because every kid on the team is chipping in.

“Every game, it’s been a different kid so far “, Rotondo explained. “One day it’s someone pitching; Alex does a great job catching. He runs the whole club, pitching, and we have a lot of seniors that have played a lot of baseball. One kid makes an error; the other kid picks him up. It’s a whole group effort. They’ll all in this for the cause.”

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