COMING TOGETHER
New-look Navigant rebounds from slow start
WOONSOCKET — Navigant Credit Union Post 85’s first week defending its American Legion state title went about as poorly as possible.
After being shut out in a doubleheader defeat to Cranston’s Gershkoff/ Auburn, the Woonsocket side dropped decisions to Upper Deck Post 86/14 and Scituate/Ponaganset to fall to 0-4 with a run differential of minus-36 a quarter of the way through the season.
“We had the pitching in the first couple of games, but it’s tough to win when you’re making five or six errors a game,” Navigant coach Derek Carignan said Wednesday night at Renaud Field. “That doesn’t help your cause. Right now, the last two games, we haven’t made an error and we haven’t given up a run.”
Behind a complete-game shutout from La Salle’s Sean Flynn, Navigant earned its first victory of the season Monday night against Scituate/Ponaganset. Navigant received another superb pitching performance Wednesday night from Mount St. Charles senior Ryan Kenney against visiting NEFL Post 43 from Warwick.
Kenney needed just 80 pitches to traverse the first six innings without giving up a run. Woonsocket junior Latrell Lopez loaded the bases with one out in the seventh inning, but a caught stealing of home plate and a strikeout earned Navigant its second straight 1-0 victory.
“Ryan Kenney pitched a great, great game,” Carignan said. “The kids are also playing really well defensively. [Woonsocket’s] Harrison Blais made a couple of really great plays at short. It’s really about defense for us, because that’s what is going to win games. I know we have a young team, so we’re not going to dominate like we did last year.
“Last year, we had a team that showed up and was ready to play. This is a young team that is a new group, so we’ll have this kids back again next year. These kids have to work hard and they’ve been doing that the last two games and it’s showed.”
Carignan knew this season’s team was going to be a work in progress, especially with a pair of Division I college players Sam Owens (Bryant) and Billy Butler (URI) no longer on the team. With only a couple of returners from last season and just one starter – Blais – Navigant was outscored 36-0 headed into Monday’s game against Scituate/Ponaganset.
Flynn, a Woonsocket resident, earned Monday’s victory with a complete-game effort. Kenney was equally efficient Wednesday, and he earned the victory thanks to some help from a pair of his Division II rivals. Burrillville senior Ryan Lockwood hit a fourth-inning triple and Bronco teammate Cam Stringfellow followed with a single for the game’s only run.
Carignan praised the defensive play of Blais, Lockwood, Stringfellow and Mount St. Charles second baseman Thomas Burke. Woonsocket outfielders Hezekiah Adeyeye and Kevin Fragoso, along with Burrillville-based catcher Jacob Gaudreau of La Salle played well Wednesday.
Lopez ran into trouble in the seventh when NEFL loaded the bases with one out. Inexplicably, NEFL tried to steal home with one out, but Lopez calmly stepped off the rubber and threw to Gaudreau for an out before earning a strike out for the save.
Navigant (2-4) will find out just how much it’s improved in the last week when undefeated Upper Deck comes to Renaud Field tonight at 8 to finish the season series. Adeyeye will get the start against a deep lineup of Lincoln and Cumberland batters.
“Upper Deck is a good-hitting team, so if you make mistakes against them and leave a ball hanging, they’re going to drive it,” Carignan said. “Teams want to beat us because we want it last year. Especially with Upper Deck, because we beat them last year and they wanted to go back to regionals. It’s tough because we’re a new team, but if they play ball like this, we’re going to get results like this.”