The Cranston East baseball team dropped its season opener to visiting Pilgrim 8-1 on Monday afternoon at Cranston Stadium.

The Bolts held the Pats in check early, trailing just 1-0 until Pilgrim exploded for six runs in the fourth inning to put the game out of reach. The East bats failed to get going in the game, as the Bolts only had four hits and no earned runs. Jayden Tolentino knocked in Damon Asencio for the team’s lone run.

“This team is very, very talented, but in game-time situations, our kids need to be a little bit tougher physically, mentally and perform a little bit better when the lights come on. I’ve got to make adjustments and put kids in the right position. A lot of that other stuff, though, is inherent, I’m not sure if you can coach that up, but all you can do is put them in pressure situations and see if they respond. There are some bats in the lineup that based on past performance can be really good, but they just haven’t developed yet to this point,” said East coach Gary Bucci.

Mason Link and Dylan Roberts led Pilgrim with two RBI each while Chace Roberts, Aidan Dumond, Tyler Cote and Aidan Ferreira also knocked in runs. Ferreira got the win on the mound for Pilgrim, pitching a complete game while picking up 11 strikeouts. John Devine took the loss for East and picked up a pair of strikeouts while Carlos Merejo picked up three strikeouts in relief.

The Bolts dropped to 0-1 to begin the season. East finished last spring with a 9-9 record and reached the playoffs, and returns much of the same group as last spring.

Bucci believes his team has the talent to be a postseason contender, but is hoping that it flips a switch here in the early going to build some momentum and confidence.

“We’ll see. I definitely feel that we’re a playoff team, I definitely feel that we are an above .500 team. Actions speak louder than words and we’ve got to perform better collectively,” Bucci said. “You can talk all you want, but I feel that we’re a playoff team and we need to execute.”