East outlasts West in marathon game

By Ryan D. Murray
Posted 5/10/17

The Cranston East Thunderbolts edged the Cranston West Falcons, 5-4, in 16 innings on Monday evening at Cranston Stadium. East senior Jake Palazzo had three hits and knocked in two runs and West senior Nik SanAntonio had

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East outlasts West in marathon game

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The Cranston East Thunderbolts edged the Cranston West Falcons, 5-4, in 16 innings on Monday evening at Cranston Stadium.

East senior Jake Palazzo had three hits and knocked in two runs and West senior Nik SanAntonio had two hits and two RBIs.

Senior Edwin Colon started on the hill for the ’Bolts and senior Steven Rocchio pitched for the Falcons.

East would get on the board first in the bottom of the second inning when senior Jake Frost laced a leadoff single to center. Then, Sam Hanley earned a walk before Alex Martinez hit into a fielder’s choice, leaving runners at the corners for Palazzo. The senior standout then knocked in Frost to give East a 1-0 lead.

In the top of the second inning, East’s Colon had a 1-2-3 inning.

In the bottom of the inning, the ’Bolts tacked on another run. Junior Anthony Ramos led off with a single to center. Then, Justin Neary was hit by a pitch. The runners would move up on a ground ball from sophomore Giovanni Canales. Then, senior third baseman Josue Espanol hit a sacrifice fly to score Ramos, giving East a 2-0 edge.

West scored all of its runs in the top of the third. Sophomore catcher Tom Barbieri led off with a walk. Then, sophomore Evan Degaitas followed it with a single. Next, Rocchio earned a walk to load the bases for Steve Piscopiello. Colon walked the senior center fielder, which brought in a run, pulling West within 2-1. With the bases reloaded, SanAntonio hit a single up the middle to score Degaitas and Rocchio, giving West a 3-2 advantage. Then, senior Michael Doire hit a base hit to score Piscopiello, extending the West lead to 4-2. East went to its bullpen and brought in senior reliever Luis Paulino, who fanned Barbieri to end the inning.

In the bottom of the fourth, Rocchio struck out the side.

East inched closer in the bottom of the fifth. First, Robenson Antoine reached base on an error. Then, Frost followed it with a single. Hanley used a sacrifice bunt to move the runners up. Rocchio struck out Martinez next, but the ball went passed the catcher and Antoine scored when the catcher threw to first base, pulling East within 4-3. Next, Palazzo hit a triple to right field to score Frost, tying the game at 4.

Both squads had outstanding relief pitching the rest of the way and neither team would push a run across until the bottom of the 16th inning when East scored the game-winning run. It started with Hanley earning a leadoff walk. West reliever Mike Roderiques got the next hitter to fly out before forcing Palazzo to ground out. With two outs and Hanley at second base, Ramos hit a ball on the ground and the first baseman couldn’t make a clean catch on the putout, allowing Hanley to round third and slide into home plate to seal the deal.  

“For no runs to be scored in that long of a time in extra innings was pretty rare,” East head coach Mike Walsh said. “And then to end the game on a play like that, that’s kind of how a game like that is probably going to end – just a grinding play.”

Losing a marathon game always hurts, but at least the Falcons were able to take some positives out of the game.

“We played hard,” West head coach Rob Malo said. “We held them scoreless for 10 innings. Unfortunately, we had some opportunities that we didn’t cash in on.”

The win moved East into sole possession of second place in Division I at 9-2, while West dropped to 5-6 with the loss.

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