'Came down to a couple of outs at the end': Clinton baseball holds off Uxbridge for Central Mass. Class C crown

WORCESTER — Everything came up green and gold for the Clinton High baseball team.

The third-seeded Gaels got a big game from junior pitcher and leadoff batter Aiden Green and never trailed after scoring five runs in the second inning at Tivnan Field as they held off No. 1 Uxbridge for a 6-4 win Friday afternoon to claim their first Central Mass. Class C championship.

“It turned out to be the baseball game we thought it was going to be,” coach Tom Santasania said. “It came down to a couple of outs at the end. Great baseball game.

“I have no voice left. I think I aged three years in the last hour and half. I’m proud of these kids. They’ve worked hard all year long, and they deserve it.”

The Gaels, who are fourth in the latest Division 4 state power rankings, improved to 15-3. They’ve won five straight and 11 of 12, with the loss coming to defending Division 3 state champion Oakmont.

The Spartans, who are ranked second in the state, were the defending Class C champions and making their third straight appearance in the title tilt, dropped to 16-4. They stranded 10 runners over the final four innings, including leaving the bases loaded in the sixth and seventh.

Too often their move came with two outs.

“There’s not a lot of room for mistakes right there,” coach Peter Rice said. “And that’s the problem, we weren’t getting our leader on or the first couple of guys.

“We waited until there were two outs, and then we start a rally. It was a little too late all day for us.”

The Gaels sent 10 batters to the plate in the second while parlaying three hits, three hit batters, a walk, and two wild pitches into a 5-0 lead.

Green, who reached base three times, got the first of his two hits when he belted a two-run double to deep center to make it 3-0 and then scored on junior Davis Lunn’s ensuing double to left. Super swift sophomore Josh Nelson (2 infield singles) and Lunn scored on wild pitches to start and end the offensive outburst.

“I don’t know how many times we struck out (3), but it wasn’t many,” Santasania said. “We ’re going to swing the bat, put the ball in play and make you make a play. And that’s what we did.

“We put up a five-spot, and it ended up being humongous.”

Meanwhile, Green came out hotter than a habanero on the mound.

The 6-foot, 175-pound right-hander, who’s a co-ace with sophomore Brian Silvester, retired the first 11 batters, seven of them on strikeouts — six of those of the swinging variety. He threw 50 pitches to that point.

“Curveball was working mostly, fastball,” Green said. “I knew I was getting the hitters off balance, so I knew I had to keep going with my entire pitching arsenal. Trusted my defense behind me and just went to work.”

Then the Spartans ripped off five straight hits with two outs in the fourth, getting RBI singles from senior Aidan Blood, junior Grady Walsh and sophomore Cody Veneziano to make it 5-3.

After appearing down, they were suddenly not so out of it.

“Honestly, in the second inning I thought they were going to quit,” Rice said. “They were down, the body language didn’t look good. We made mistakes that were uncharacteristic of us.

“And that’s a good team. Green threw well, he was mowing us down in the beginning. … But I give our guys credit, they battled back and stayed in right until the end.”

The Spartans brought in Veneziano with one out in the second, and he went on to finish the game, allowing five hits, a run and two walks while striking out two and throwing 73 pitches.

The run came via a two-strike, two-out double to deep, deep center by cleanup hitter Ethan Frisch that delivered senior Mike Vanasse (2 singles, HBP) to give the Gaels a 6-3 lead.

“They were getting hot right about then, so I said, ‘We need something big right here,’ ” recalled Frisch, one of four juniors in a starting lineup that includes three sophomores.

“Even my coach at first base said, ‘I can feel a double coming,’ and when I hit a big double, it felt awesome. It was great. It gave us that insurance run.”

The Spartans got one back when junior Grady Walsh scored on a wild pitch after drawing a one-out walk in the sixth, but that was it for the scoring.

Green earned the win, allowing seven hits and four runs while issuing three walks and hitting a batter to go with the aforementioned 10 Ks. Sophomore Jake Notaro notched the save, retiring the final batter looking for a game-ending strikeout to leave the bases loaded.

“We know he throws strikes and at that point we had hit three batters in a row, and we’re like ‘Just go get an out,’ ” Santasania said. “We knew he’d put it over the plate, and he did.”

—Contact Rich Garven at rgarven@telegram.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @RichGarvenTG.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Clinton soars to head of Class C by topping Uxbridge in CMass final