Parkes outduels Garceau as West advances

By Jacob Marrocco
Posted 6/2/16

There were two guarantees heading into the Division I opening-round baseball game between Pilgrim and Cranston West. The first was that runs would be at a premium, as the two sides combined for just nine in two

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Parkes outduels Garceau as West advances

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There were two guarantees heading into the Division I opening-round baseball game between Pilgrim and Cranston West.

The first was that runs would be at a premium, as the two sides combined for just nine in two previous matchups. The second was that fans would be in for a pitcher’s duel, with performances like Pilgrim’s Bobby Garceau’s complete-game shutout earlier in the season series.

Both came to fruition as West’s ace, Hayden Parkes, got the better of Garceau, in a 2-1 win in Cranston on Tuesday afternoon. Parkes went the distance, allowing just three hits and none past the third inning.

More importantly, Parkes, who had six walks and two hit-by-pitches in a 4-3 loss to Hendricken last week, walked just three and hit only one batter.

“We knew it was gonna be a tight game,” West manager Rob Malo said. “Garceau does an excellent job keeping us off-balance. One of my concerns was if we give them extra baserunners, whether it was walks or errors. We were able to minimize that.”

Garceau did his part to match Parkes, allowing only two earned runs across six innings, walking only one and striking out two.

“Bobby’ll match anybody,” Pilgrim manager Scott Bailey said of his top pitcher. “We live and die with Bobby Garceau. He pitched a great ball game today.”

Pilgrim (8-11) jumped ahead using small ball in the first inning, but Parkes would not allow it to be as lucky again. Matt Woods led off the game with a single into the hole on the right side and moved to second on Evan O’Connor’s sacrifice.

With two outs, Anthony Russo came through in the clutch with an RBI single up the middle. Woods just barely beat the tag, giving Garceau and the Pats an early 1-0 lead.

From that point on, Pilgrim had difficulty figuring out Parkes. Following Russo’s single, the Pats were 1-for-19 with seven strikeouts.

“He just got in his groove,” Bailey said of Parkes. “He was able to spot his changeup, he had a great changeup going today. He was able to spot his fastballs, and he got into a groove. He was very effective. Good pitcher.”

West (16-3) had equal trouble with Garceau, as his off-speed pitches kept the Falcons guessing. West put runners in scoring position in the first and second innings, but Garceau induced outs to end the threats.

Third time was the charm for the Falcons, though. Sam Franco worked a two-out walk on the eighth pitch of his at-bat to keep the third inning alive. Second baseman Nik San Antonio then drilled the first ball he saw into deep left center field for an RBI double to tie the game at 1.

The Pats had their chances to go back ahead, but Parkes shut them down. After walking Darren Grant to lead off the fifth, Parkes picked him off.

Pilgrim later had runners at first and second with two outs, and Zach Blanchard looked to end the inning after he hit a ground ball to shortstop. The throw to second base for the force was late, prompting a throw home to catch Dave McMullen rounding third. Franco stood strong at the plate, tagging McMullen to end the inning as he tried to evade the tag.

West would put Steve Piscopiello at second base with no outs after a single and stolen base in the home half of the fifth, but he wouldn't get past third base.

“We’ve always struggled with Pilgrim,” Malo said. “They’re a good team. They’re a lot better than their record indicates. They’re one of the top three, four teams in our division. We were concerned with that with our bracket.”

Parkes wriggled out of a one-out jam with a runner in scoring position and one out in the sixth, and the West offense rewarded him in the bottom of the inning. Dan Smith started the rally with a single up the middle, yielding to pinch runner Dan Estman.

Mitchell Carvalho put a single through the left side to move Estman into scoring position, and Mike Doire, who was 2-for-2 on the day to that point, strolled to the dish. Doire would come through again, blooping an RBI single into right field that plated Estman, who ignored Malo’s stop sign at third, with the eventual winning run.

“Good thing he’s got wheels,” Malo said with a laugh.

The Falcons had a chance for insurance runs with runners at first and second, but Carvalho was caught stealing third and Brett Traficante struck out swinging to send the game to the seventh.

It turned out Parkes wouldn't need any extra help. He took only five pitches to set Pilgrim down in order in the final frame.

The Pats fell to the losers’ bracket and were scheduled to take on Cranston East in a win-or-go-home matchup at Cranston Stadium at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. West was slated to take on Coventry at home in the winners’ bracket at the same time as well. Results for those games were unavailable at press time.

“They’ve always been able to maintain their focus,” Bailey said. “As long as we come to the ballpark like we did [Tuesday], we’ll probably be all right.”

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