Canton Crushers 8 Winsted Whalers 5
copyright Gerry Desimas Collinsville Press 6/17/23
Grand Slam from Jack Rose lifts Crushers over Winsted
Jack Rose’s grand slam lifted the Canton Crushers to an 8-5 win over Winsted Saturday in Tri-State League baseball action at Bowdoin Field.
CANTON, June 17, 2023 – Jack Rose hit the first grand slam in team history Saturday to lift the Canton Crushers to an 8-5 win over the Winsted Whalers at Bowdoin Field in Tri-State League play. Trailing by four runs, the Crushers scored seven runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take the lead. Veteran pitcher Jim Spirito threw his second complete game of the season to earn the win and enable Canton (3-5) to snap a three-game losing streak. Winsted (1-7) led 5-1 in the sixth inning when Canton came to the plate. Tom Calzone led off the inning for the Crushers with a walk and moved to third base on Ben Sullivan’s double. Both scored on Jake Bryant’s two-run double to trim the lead to two runs, 5-3. Spirito helped his own cause with a single to left field and Sullivan scored on Matt Rose’s RBI single to left field to cut the Winsted lead to one run, 5-4.
Heath Cotton drew a walk to load the bases before Jack Rose hit his first Tri-State League home run over the centerfield fence, giving Canton an 8-5 edge and their first lead of the game. Spirito scattered 11 hits, struck out two and walked just two to earn his tenth career win on the mound for the Crushers, extending his own team record for career victories. Johnny Lippincott’s two-run home run in the top of the sixth inning gave Winsted a 5-1 lead. Lippincott went 2-for-3 with a double, home run and two RBI. Andrew Billings, Brookes Better and Peter Greenwood were each 2-for-3 for the Whalers. Canton, which snapped a three-game losing streak, was led by Matt Rose, who was 2-for-3 with one RBI.
Good hustle baseball helped Canton tie the game at 1-1 in the first inning. Sullivan reached base when Winsted catcher Brooks Better dropped a third strike and Sullivan beat the throw to the bag. After taking second on a passed ball, Sullivan moved to third on a groundball out from Bryant and scored on a ground ball out from Spirito to shortstop. The Crushers beat Winsted for just the second time since they joined the league in 2014. Canton’s last win over Winsted came in 2019 and Saturday’s win snapped a four-game losing streak against the Whalers. Canton returns to action on Tuesday night when they visit Gallop Field to challenge the Bethlehem Plowboys at 5:45 p.m.
Amenia Monarchs 6 Bethlehem Plowboys 4
Short on arms – head coach Tom Downey IV took the hill and threw 7 complete innings as Amenia leaving Gallup Field with a 6-4 win. Downey will be icing down for the next week and a half.
Burlington Hunters 8 CT Gamecocks 7
The Hunters rallied late for another walk off victory, this time against the CT Gamecocks, 8-7. Dave Alarcon would start on the mound for the Hunters tossing 6 strong innings scattering 5 hits and striking out 3. The Hunter defense in typical fashion did everything they could to not make routine plays, leading to 5 unearned runs, and a 6 -1 deficit. The Hunters could not get on the board early thanks to a strong pitching performance by Christian Peterson for the Gamecocks. However, The Hunters would storm back in the 8th and 9th innings to tie that game thanks to clutch at bats from Zack Martin, Sgt. Chris Rossi, and Jay Pelletier (yes, somehow he is still playing in this league).
The Gamecocks would retake the lead in the top of the 10th inning on a single hit by Hunter Simpson. In the bottom of the 10th the Hunters would score the tying run and get the go-ahead-run to third base. Chad Lavelle would step to the plate and hit a single to center to drive in the winning run. Ty Morin was credited with the win on the mound despite doing everything he could to blow it by walking 3 and hitting 2 batters.
Fun facts of the game include: Playing left field Tyler Doyle made a game saving catch in the 9th inning, an early candidate for “play of the year”, Team Officials are conducting an investigation to determine what Dave Alarcon did to the Lavelle brothers to make them unwilling to make routine plays for Dave when he is on the mound, and Andrew Bunger set a Hunter record after being hit 3 times in one game, somewhere a proud Brian O’Leary smiled.
Tri-Town Trojans 6 Valley Ducks 0
