Lincoln 11s crushed by Bristol

District 4 champions face Coventry in elimination contest

The Lincoln Little League 11-year-old all-stars suffered an 11-1 defeat to Bristol’s King Philip in four innings Saturday afternoon at Cranston’s Michael P. Varrato Field to start the state double-elimination tournament.

King Philip was led by center fielder Jacob Ferreira, who had two hits and drove in four runs and starting pitcher Riley Boughton, who earned the victory, and struck out four over 4.1 innings.

Jon-Luca Feole got the start on the bump for Lincoln, but was removed from the game with the bases loaded in the second inning after the team had yielded three runs on his 48 pitches.

“We could have played a lot better today,” Lincoln coach Rob Sharkey said. “Things didn’t go our way. We tried to battle back. Sometimes it doesn’t always work out the way we want it to. But, we’re a strong team. Our kids want it, they’ve just got to play a little bit better.”

King Philip jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning after Ferreira rocketed a single to right-center field and scored Ethan Santerre.

With one out in the second, Feole gave up back-to-back singles to Boughton and Carson Jerome before James Bistline walked to load the bases. Then, Feole walked in two runs when Santerre and Jonathan Kay reached base on balls, and King Philip went up 3-0.

That’s when Lincoln went to its bullpen and brought in Nick Rianna to pitch in relief.

Nonetheless, the next hitter, Dubois, ripped a single to left field and scored Bistline to increase the King Philip edge to 4-0. Then, with the bases reloaded, Ferreira crushed a 3-run double to deep center while clearing the bases and upped the King Philip advantage to 7-0. Finally, Brian Abbruzzi launched a sacrifice fly to center and scored Ferreira to make it 8-0.

Lincoln’s lone run came in the fourth inning when Steven Rogers, who singled, scored on a passed ball. Lincoln had more opportunities in that inning, but with two runners in scoring position and one out, Joe Lezon fanned, and then with the bases jammed, Isaac Cabral struck out.

Kay, of King Philip, led off the bottom of the fourth with a single before Dubois drove him in with an RBI double to left and upped its cushion to 9-1. Next, Lucas Andreozzi walloped a shot over the head of Lezon in center field and scored Dubois to balloon the King Philip lead to 10-1. Finally, King Philip won the contest in walk-off fashion when during a passed ball, Andreozzi slid into home plate with the winning run.

With the loss, Lincoln falls into the losers’ bracket and plays against Coventry today at 4.

Sharkey is confident that his boys will come back stronger against the District 3 champions.

“We’re going to do the best we can to look better [today],” Sharkey said.