Falcons surrender late lead, fall to Oakers in extra innings

Jacob Marrocco
Posted 5/28/15

The Cranston West High School baseball team made its playoff push much more difficult after losing a three-run lead in the seventh and falling in the eighth inning to Coventry, 6-4, on Friday.

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Falcons surrender late lead, fall to Oakers in extra innings

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The Cranston West High School baseball team made its playoff push much more difficult after losing a three-run lead in the seventh and falling in the eighth inning to Coventry, 6-4, on Friday.

The Falcons (5-11) are two games behind Middletown (7-9) and Woonsocket (7-9) for the eighth and final postseason spot, but their hopes are still alive if they win out. West hosted Middletown on Tuesday and has fourth-place North Providence (10-6) tonight for Senior Night. Middletown’s final game is against undefeated Hendricken.

“We can’t finish a game,” Cranston West head coach Rob Malo said a few minutes after the final out. “It’s frustrating. I have no thoughts. I can’t believe it went down the way it did to be honest with you.”

West starting pitcher Hayden Parkes, who battled a fever the day before and a blister later in the game, took a 4-1 lead into the top of the seventh inning. He walked the first two batters of the inning, Robert Regine and Justin Lanoue, and was pulled in favor of Steven Rocchio. Ryan Koch grounded an RBI single to right field that scored Regine, who had reached third on a wild pitch. Koch and Lanoue reached second and third base, respectively, after the ball rolled under the glove of a charging Mitchell Carvalho.

Lanoue scored on a wild pitch that bounced to the backstop to pull the Oakers within one, 4-3. Catcher Camerin Reid recorded the first out of the inning on a groundout, but two straight walks to Nick Palumbo and Anthony Massuer loaded the bases. Steven Gallagher’s sacrifice fly to right field brought Koch across the plate to tie the game at 4. Coventry threatened to add more in the seventh, but Palumbo was caught in a rundown while attempting a double steal.

“At one point, we went into that seventh inning here today, the thought in my mind was, ‘Are we going to go 14 straight innings with just one run?’” Coventry head coach Leo Bush said, referencing the team’s 7-0 loss to Hendricken in their previous game.

The Falcons had an opportunity to walk off in the seventh inning with two outs and runners on first and second. Catcher Sam Franco led off the inning with a controversial hit-by-pitch, originally called a ball until an appeal from the first base umpire overturned it. After a strikeout and a flyout, third baseman Daniel Smith reached on an infield single to push Franco into scoring position. Designated hitter Matt Shapiro stood in, 1-for-3 on the day with an RBI single, but Franco was caught stealing third to send the game to extra innings.

Chris Manfredo took over in the top of the eighth, but could not silence Coventry’s bats and picked up the loss. Third baseman Jordan Irish led off with a single up the middle, and Daniel Malardo followed up with a base hit of his own to left field. Regine put the Oakers ahead, 6-4, with a two-RBI double, but was chased down trying to advance to third.

Malo and the Falcons’ coaching staff became upset after the runs scored as the Coventry bench came pouring out onto the field after the crack of the bat. Teams are not allowed to come onto the playing surface, and if they do it would be a dead ball with runners returning to their bases.

Shapiro led off the bottom of the eighth inning with a walk, but was doubled up at first after Connor Kiernan popped out to right field. This was the second time a double play of that nature was turned on the Falcons in the last three innings. West went silently after that, with Carvalho flying out to left to end the game.

“That’s exactly what we needed at this point, because we haven’t shown that we’re able to come back and win a game late in the game like that especially in our last at-bats,” Bush said of his team’s resilience.

West’s offense was much more potent in the earlier frames. Second baseman Nik SanAntonio drew a free pass to begin the game and reached second on Franco’s bunt. Shortstop Matt Lonardo brought home the first run of the day on an RBI single into right-centerfield. He eventually scored on an error later in the inning to put West ahead, 2-0.

The Falcons tacked on two more in the third with the help of four hits – the first of which came on a Lonardo bunt down the third base line. He reached second on a sacrifice bunt, and came across the plate on Shapiro’s RBI single. Following Kiernan’s single to put runners at first and second, Carvalho drilled an RBI double deep into the right-centerfield gap. Kiernan was thrown out at home trying to score from first.

The Oakers’ offense struggled through the first six innings, mustering just one run and grounding into three double plays. Irish scored Massuer on a one-out RBI single in the top of the fourth before being forced out at second on a Regine grounder.

“We had a hard time making adjustments,” Bush said. “We had a hard time going up there with a pretty good plan as a hitter, and we eventually found a way to get a little bit deeper in counts and use the field.”

Parkes was charged with three runs on five hits over his six innings of work, registering four strikeouts and four walks while picking up the no decision. Coventry starter Justin Brown went as long as Parkes and also received a no decision. Brown allowed four runs on nine hits, with three free passes and one strikeout.

West fell to Middletown, 8-7, in their only other meeting of the season on April 30. The Oakers have locked up the third-best record in Division I-A.

“We still have a shot to get in,” Malo said. “It just becomes a little tougher this way. They’re down, I get that. We just have to bounce back, and they have to realize we’re still in contention for the last playoff spot.”

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