Smithfield baseball likes being an underdog. If it keeps winning, it might not be for long.

SMITHFIELD — There aren’t a lot of reasons the top dogs in Division I would be scared of what the Smithfield baseball team is throwing out there.

But if things continue the way they started, the Sentinels might start giving them a reason to be.

The Sentinels might not be on anyone’s short list of favorites to win the state title, but three games into the season, they’re playing like a team that doesn’t really care about what others think. On Tuesday, Jackson Chamberlin threw a gem, gave himself all the run support he needed, and freshman Tucker Byrnes finished things off in a 3-1 win over Cranston East that continues Smithfield’s terrific start and has quietly moved the team into the darkhorse category in the early goings of 2024.

“We didn’t expect to be 3-0 — well, we did but nobody else did,” said Smithfield’s Jacob Hopkins, who had an RBI in Tuesday’s win. “The team is coming together.”

“It’s a great feeling, 3-0; no one thought we’d be here but we’re doing it,” Chamberlin said. “We’re a scrappy team, we’re a young team with not many seniors, but in the up-and-coming years, we’re going to be good.”

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If Tuesday was any indication, Chamberlin’s going to have a role in making those up-and-coming years this one.

After throwing a no-hitter in his first start last spring, Chamberlin went through the usual ups and downs freshmen go through playing their first year of varsity ball. It’s all a part of the growing process, and against Cranston East, the sophomore showed what he’s learned.

Chamberlin mixed his pitches well and, after pitching himself in and out of a jam in the first, found his command. His out pitch was his fastball, which he used to strike out six Cranston East batters over the first two innings. Chamberlin threw with confidence and looked very much like a pitcher ready to make a big leap in his second season.

“It makes me feel more pressure having to do better this year and live up to the expectations,” Chamberlin said. “I just have to do my thing and pitch.”

“We know that he’s going to strike guys out, so there’s not many plays that we have to make,” Hopkins said. “As long as we’re making the plays behind him, he’ll do his job, we’ll do ours, so we’ll succeed.”

Chamberlin wasn’t perfect but he worked through everything and his defense helped him out. After he left a pitch over the heart of the plaTE that Cranston East All-Stater Carlos Merejo hit to Deerfield Park in the fifth, Chamberlin didn’t let it shake his confidence.

He ran out of pitches to finish the game but Chamberlin seemed more than ready to go back out there and face whoMever was next.

“You just watch it — watch that thing fly,” Chamberlin SAID with a laugh. “There’s nothing you can do. Forget about it and throw to the next batter.

“I just kind of laugh it off. That’s it.”

The home run was easy to shrug off because Smithfield was sitting on a lead it had built the previous half-inning.

Cranston East pitcher John Devine dealt all afternoon, but an error and a walk to open the fourth gave the Sentinels some momentum. Chamberlin, batting cleanup, followed with an two-run double that scored Shaun Dwyer and Dominic Bellini and Hopkins came up next and hit a single that made it 3-1.

“Do damage. Just put something in play and advance the runners,” Chamberlin said of his mental approach to the at-bat. “Just anything that helps the team.”

“If you’re struggling at the plate, you just have to forget about it,” Hopkins said. “You want to go back in the dugout and throw a helmet or two, but you’ve got to go into the field, continue to make plays and get ready for the next at-bat, and that worked for us.”

Byrnes came in and made sure the lead stuck. The freshman already had one save under his belt this season and didn’t look frazzled coming into the game. Byrnes got a strikeout to close out the fifth, then pitched a spotless two-inning stint to give the Sentinels their third straight win.

“We’re young — we know we are good,” Chamberlain said. “We just have to keep rolling.”

The Thunderbolts weren't happy with the result, but they weren’t in despair over the loss.

Cranston East showed some strengths on Tuesday. Devine did his part, giving up three hits, walking two and striking out 12 in the loss. Merejo show why he might be the state’s most feared hitter.

Cranston East knows it needs an improved offense, but the loss showed that the pieces are in place where more good than bad can happen this season. The plan is to learn from the loss and move on to the next game.

“It was one mental error on my part, but we just have to forget about it,” Devine said. “We’ve got [South Kingstown] on Thursday and La Salle Saturday, so we have to look past this and forget about it — short memories.

“We came into the season thinking we were good and it's showing that we can be very good. We just need to perform in games, that’s it.”

Smithfield’s feelings are similar.

The Sentinels' confidence will continue to build with each win. With a roster this young — only one senior played Tuesday — contending isn’t supposed to be in the cards. Smithfield is hoping that will be the prevailing thought, because its starting to feel like a team that can.

“It’s an underdog mentality at first, but we realize it happens every year, so we don’t really think like that,” Hopkins said. “We know we’re going to win, we know we’re going to do well and we’re a really close family, so it’s going to work for us.”

“No one expects it,” Chamberlin said. “But we’re here.”

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Smithfield takes down Cranston East to remain undefeated in D-I baseball