The first-place Bishop Hendricken baseball team erased an early deficit to beat visiting Cranston West 8-6 last week in a big Division I showdown.
The Falcon bats came out hot and would put up …
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The first-place Bishop Hendricken baseball team erased an early deficit to beat visiting Cranston West 8-6 last week in a big Division I showdown.
The Falcon bats came out hot and would put up four runs in the top of the first, two of which were knocked in by Brendan Smith.
Hendricken would respond by scoring three runs in both the first and second inning, though, to take the 6-4 lead and it never looked back.
“That’s huge. We always talk about trying to get a couple back if a team scores first, not to come up empty. Scoring three runs in that first inning was huge for their confidence. It was huge that we came back and were able to respond to their four runs with our three,” said Hendricken coach Ed Holloway.
Ryan Thompson and Frank Tillinghast pushed runs across the plate on sacrifice flies in the first while Cole Camara would add an RBI double. Tillinghast also chipped in a pair of runs in the second while Griffin Crain also knocked in a run.
Camara would add some insurance for Hendricken in the fourth inning when he hit a two-run double to make it 8-4.
“It was good to be able to bounce back. I was just trying to work up the middle, looking for fastballs. It’s great that we’ve been stacking up wins. We just need to keep hitting the ball and making the plays, not committing errors,” said Camara.
Holloway added: “Cole’s having a big year for us this season and he was able to come through for us when we needed him today.”
West would score a pair of runs in the top of the seventh, but Hendricken would escape the jam to hold on to the victory.
Ethan Madden also knocked in a pair of runs in the loss for West while Nick Masse and Demetri Sampalis also recorded RBI. Sampalis took the loss on the mound, allowing three runs while Ryan Zarrella recorded three strikeouts in relief.
West coach Rob Malo was satisfied with the team’s outing at the plate, but with four errors, was disappointed in its defensive performance.
“I was very happy offensively. We were very confident in what we had to do offensively, but what hurt us was giving them 13 baserunners. That’s been our downfall this year. You take those 13 away, even take half of them away, we’d be playing in the bottom of the seventh. Execution hurt us defensively and we need to throw more strikes,” said Malo.
Also having a big impact in the win was Hendricken catcher Braeden Campbell, who threw out two West runners from behind the plate.
“We need his leadership back there this year and he’s been doing a great job. He bats lead off for us. Our first four or five guys are hard outs and he’s the catalyst. He’s done a great job all the way around,” said Holloway.
Hendricken remained in first place and improved to 9-1 in league play while West dropped to 5-5. Malo hopes his team can go on a run in the back half of its regular season slate and build some momentum in time for the postseason.
“We told them that it was going to be a dogfight. We beat ourselves. (Hendricken) is a good team, but if we don’t give them 13 baserunners then it’s a different ballgame. We’re fighting for seeding right now, trying to win as many games as possible,” Malo said. “We want to get to the big dance and then from there see what happens.”
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