Broncos hurt selves in defeat

Burrillville commits 8 errors in 12-4 loss

MIDDLETOWN — Beating the Middletown baseball team at a windy Gaudet Middle School was a tough enough challenge for Burrillville Wednesday afternoon.

The Broncos decided to add to the degree of difficulty by aiding the Islanders.

As you might expect, the strategy failed. Burrillville starting pitcher Nate Njoes pitched a solid game going into the fifth inning, but errors proved to be the difference in a disastrous fifth inning. Three infield errors allowed the Islanders to turn a onerun game into a nine-run rout in the inning. The Broncos made eight errors and gave up eight unearned runs, as the Islanders sailed away with a 12-4 Division II win.

“We had eight errors and they scored 12 runs, so a lot of those runs came because we made so many errors,” Burrillville coach Nick Harriman said. “That’s kind of been the story of our season so far because we make one mistake and we can’t get out of it and then we make it another one. They get a hit and it scores two runs and we’re in trouble.”

Burrillville (1-4 Division II) has struggled to create offense in its three defeats, but the Broncos hit the ball well against Middletown starter Evan Agren. The sophomore breezed through the first two through the first three innings, but Jack DiChiaro (2-for-3 with a run scored) and Cam Laramee (2-for-4 with two RBIs) helped get the Broncos back in the game.

The Broncos entered the fifth inning trailing by three runs, but junior Jordan Furtado (fielder’s choice), Cam Potter (single) and DiChiaro (walk) loaded the bases with two outs for Laramee. The junior fell behind in the count, but managed to line a single to right field to plate a pair of Broncos. With the game-tying right at third base, Njoes lined out to center.

“We got our timing down as the game went along,” Harriman said. “The big thing with our offense is going up there with confidence, so once we get the bat on the ball, we start to get going. [Agren] went through us quickly the first time around, but we didn’t strike out much, so the kids were confident they were going to hit him the second time through.”

Middletown (3-3 Division II) responded by sending 13 batters to the plate in its half of the fifth to score eight runs and build a ninerun advantage. The inning started innocently enough when Njoes allowed an infield single to Jacob

Mello and then he hit Julien Delacruz with a pitch. Middletown tried to give the Broncos an out when Agren laid down a sacrifice bunt, but Njoes threw the ball into right field to allow two runs to score.

After three hits and two strikeouts, reliever Dan DelMonaco should have been out of the inning when lead-off hitter Evan LeVasseur hit a ground ball to second, but the ball was bobbled and that led to four more runs later in the inning.

“I just told Nate out in the [postgame huddle] that there were 12 runs on the board, but he pitched pretty well until that one inning,” Harriman said.

LaVasseur led the way with two hits, three runs scored and an RBI, while Agren helped out his cause with a two-run single to finish the scoring in the fifth inning.

The Broncos grabbed a run back in the sixth when senior Ronald Vargas hit a double to left and came around to score on a sacrifice fly to left by DelMonaco.

Burrillville returns to Eccleston Field Friday afternoon to face St. Raphael. Harriman said the team was in a similar position last season and found a way to make the playoffs and he hopes they can put together a solid final two-third of this campaign.

“We started 1-7 last year and finished 8-10, so we’re telling them that we know how to win, we just have to start doing it sooner rather than later,” Harriman said.