Portsmouth and Cranston East both make case for the playoffs; who made the better case?
CRANSTON — Can a team currently in the middle of the Division I baseball standings make a deep playoff run?
Portsmouth and Cranston East would each like to think it’s a candidate. The Patriots made the better head-to-head case on Friday afternoon at Cranston Stadium, avoiding a winless week and preventing the Thunderbolts from sweeping through their own busy portion of the schedule.
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Oliver Rey’s two-way contribution and Nick Spaner’s two-run homer helped tip the balance. John Mass picked up the victory thanks to four strong innings as Portsmouth held on late, 4-2, under bright sunshine.
Casey Cord’s escape in the bottom of the sixth inning helped the Patriots reach the finish line. Portsmouth built a 3-0 lead and ultimately shrugged off a pair of solo homers from Jayden Tolentino and Central Connecticut State commit Carlos Merejo. Rey’s single through the right side in the top of the seventh gave him what turned out to be some unnecessary wiggle room on the mound.
“We needed that,” Spaner said. “We’ve lost other games. It was huge to bounce back.”
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The Patriots were fresh off an 11-2 drilling against Cranston West and an uncomfortable practice on Thursday afternoon. Coaches and players both aired grievances after surrendering double-digit runs for the fourth time this season. This was a needed result with a pair of games against Bishop Hendricken looming.
“Our losses, I don’t think they’re a testament to who we are,” Rey said. “I don’t think those teams are that many runs better than us.”
Rey lifted a sacrifice fly to center in the first and delivered again with one out in the seventh. Mass reached on a fielder’s choice, Spaner legged out an infield single and Rey found the hole on the right side with a grounder that chased Mass home from second. Portsmouth doubled its lead and set up Rey for a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh.
“It was actually a really good pitch with two strikes,” Rey said. “It was on the other side of the plate — I just took it the other way and did a job.”
The Patriots were coming off a close shave the previous half-inning, as Cranston East mounted a two-out rally. Merejo crushed a hanging breaking ball onto Peerless Street in deep left-center, Tolentino drew a walk and Kelvin Santos grounded a double inside the bag at third to put the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position. Cord hit the outside corner with a fastball to pick up a strikeout looking, and Portsmouth limited the damage to a single run.
“He’s pretty new to pitching, so I was just trying to stay calm and keep him calm,” Spaner said of his role behind the plate. “See if he could find the zone and hit his spots, and he ended up doing what he needed to do.”
It was a 1-0 game into the top of the third when Spaner opened it up. Mass doubled to deep left and Spaner hit one a little further, clearing the tall fence down the line to hand his team a three-run cushion. It was the highlight of a three-hit day for the Holy Cross commit.
“Got the boys fired up,” Spaner said. “It helped us keep going.”
Mass was largely in command at that point, striking out nine and issuing a lone walk in the bottom of the third. The only mistake from the Boston College commit was a breaking ball out over the plate that Tolentino hammered to deep left with one out in the fourth. Cord retired the first five men he faced, and it stayed a two-run game into the sixth.
“(Mass is) a little annoying to play behind because you don’t get much action,” Rey said. “Besides that popup (leading off the second), I haven’t had a putout behind him all year. He’s been great.”
Mass and Charlie Cord each added two hits for the Patriots (6-5), and Mass scored a pair of runs. Tolentino reached safely twice for Thunderbolts (6-5) — his teammates combined to go just 2-for-23 and drew a lone walk. Cranston East will need a quick return to the offensive muscle that helped produce a three-game winning streak into this one.
Portsmouth 102 000 1 — 4 10 0
Cranston East 000 101 0 — 2 3 0
John Mass, Casey Cord (5), Oliver Rey (7) and Nick Spaner. Damien Greene, Josh Pozo (5), Jayven Alexandre (6) and Jayden Tolentino. HR — Spaner (P); Tolentino, Carlos Merejo (CE).
On X: @BillKoch25
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Portsmouth builds a three-run lead, then holds off Cranston East, 4-2
