SPORTS

Bulldogs come back in quarters, fall in semis

By RYAN D. MURRAY
Posted 8/9/22

The Cranston Bulldogs came back from a game down to win the best-of-three quarterfinal round of the R.I. Connie Mack Baseball best-of-three series.

Last Wednesday, Westerly won Game 1 by a score …

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SPORTS

Bulldogs come back in quarters, fall in semis

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The Cranston Bulldogs came back from a game down to win the best-of-three quarterfinal round of the R.I. Connie Mack Baseball best-of-three series.

Last Wednesday, Westerly won Game 1 by a score of 4-1 at Cranston High School West. Then, Cranston stormed back and won Games 2 and 3.

In Game 1, Westerly’s Dean Pons Jr. pitched a complete game and struck out 11 batters, while yielding one unearned run on six hits and three walks.

Mike Smith started on the bump for Cranston, and he too, went the distance, giving up four runs (three earned), on eight hits and two walks, with 15 strikeouts.

Luke McAllister topped the Westerly bats with a walk and a 2-run home run, while Drew Pearson added two hits and two runs batted in.

Nate Lopes, a first baseman, led Cranston with a walk, a double, and scored the only Cranston run.

“We didn’t execute when we needed to,” Cranston manager David Ciolfi said. “In the fourth inning, we had runners on second and third with one out. In the fifth, man on second, nobody out. We had the kid (Pons) on the ropes and we didn’t get the hit.”

Cranston stranded a runner in both the second and third frames, and then left two runners in scoring position in both the fourth and fifth frames, before leaving a runner on in the sixth, and two more in the seventh.

“When you get in the playoffs like this, you’ve got to be able to execute and we were short of that tonight,” Ciolfi said. “But tomorrow night, we’ll play at Cimalore field. We’ll come back with Anthony DeCotis.”

“I’m proud of these kids,” Ciolfi said. “They played well. That kid (Pons) that pitched against us was the DII pitcher of the year in the state of Rhode Island. Now, we’ve got kids that didn’t play in high school that were standing toe-to-toe with him. So, I’m very proud. We just need to execute better than we did.”

Cranston would do just that in Game 2 on Thursday at Westerly, defeating them to force a pivotal Game 3.

“The second game, we went up to Westerly and we were up 3-2 going into the seventh, and we had a six-run inning and we ended up winning 9-4,” Ciolfi said. “The kids showed a lot of resilience and came back.”

Then, on Friday night, Cranston triumphed in Game 3 by a score of 5-2 at Calise Field in Cranston and earned a trip to the semifinal round.

“We ended up playing down Calise for the rubber-game and Matt Talabac did a great job,” Ciolfi said. “He pitched seven innings and he gave up three hits and we ended up sending them (Westerly) home.”

“And I think some of that game carried over,” Ciolfi said. “There was only one day in-between and I think they were still at that game.”

In Game 1 of the semis, Cranston was crushed by Narragansett/South Kingstown by a score of 10-1 at Cranston High School West.

The Narragansett bats were led by Declan Wholey, who had a walk, a single, two doubles, and three runs batted in, Zach Bianco, a walk, two singles, and an RBI, and Eric Lindley, who was hit by a pitch, and drew a walk, and hit a two-run double.

Anthony Nardolillo topped the Cranston offense with an RBI single in the fifth frame, which accounted for Cranston’s only run of the contest.

Jimmy Robbin started on the bump for Narragansett and pitched five innings and gave up one earned run on four hits and three walks, and struck out eight. Rian O’Rourke pitched the final two scoreless innings and struck out two.

Smith took the ball for Cranston on short rest and tossed just 2 2/3 innings and gave up five runs (three earned), with one strikeout.

“Mike’s been our No.  1 all year,” Ciolfi said. “He was supposed to be on four days’ rest, the way our rotation is, but we had nobody else to pitch. So, we pitched him on three days’ rest, instead of four, and it showed. His fastball was flatter than normal, but he gave us everything. We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Mike. So, it happens.”

Cranston’s AJ Greene came on to pitch in relief and pitched two innings, yielding two earned runs, with one strikeout.

“He hasn’t pitched since like the fifth game this season,” Ciolfi said. “But the way the playoff format is, where you play 1-2-3, one day off, 1-2-3, you really have to have five kids that can pitch. And we’ve got four. And it showed tonight.”

“Because if I had that fifth pitcher, I would have probably started Mike tomorrow night,” Ciolfi said. “But we don’t.”

“And we put him (Greene) in a tough position and he didn’t do badly,” Ciolfi said. “When he came in, they could have 12-run ruled us and we could have rolled right over, but we ended up playing seven innings, and it was 10-1 and I’m happy with that. The kids will come back. Whether it’s good enough to win or not, we’ll find out.”

Charlie Adams came on to finish the game for Cranston and the left-hander tossed 2 1/3 shutout innings, while striking out two.

“We threw Charlie Adams for the first time all year,” Ciolfi said. “He did great. He came in and they couldn’t hit him.”

Cranston played Game 2 of the semis on Monday night in South Kingstown.

“We’re going to go with DeCotis up at Old Mountain Field and hopefully we can do the same thing we did at Westerly,” Ciolfi said. “They’re (Narragansett) a very good team. They know how to hit. They know how to play the game. So, for us to beat them, we’re going to have to play our best.”

Narragansett would dominate Cranston in Game 2 though, blanking the Bulldogs 8-0, while sweeping the semifinal series 2-0.

Bulldogs, baseball

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