Panthers’ comeback bid falls short

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The Johnston High School baseball team showed Tuesday night at Johnston Memorial Park that it has no quit in it even though its late-inning rally fell short against the Cumberland Clippers, losing by a 13-11 score.

The Panthers, 6-7 in Division-I-B, battled back from a 9-0 deficit and had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the seventh inning, but the Clippers would manage to hang on, improving to 7-4 in league play.

“We showed a lot tonight,” said Johnston head coach Steve DeMeo. “You don’t take away a lot from a loss, but it was encouraging the way we played tonight. Down 9-0, we could have packed it in, but we didn’t. We fought all the way through.”

Cumberland would score six runs off freshman starter Zach Clesas in the first two innings. Tyler Calabro’s two-run single and Josh Brodeur’s RBI triple proved to be the big hits in the Cumberland second.

The Clippers tacked on three more runs off Panthers’ pitcher Joe Michael in the fourth with a Jax Demonte two-run double and a Brandon Croteau RBI single, which gave their starting pitcher Chris Wright a 9-0 cushion.

Wright did not allow a hit until the Panthers’ Korey Fijal singled to start a six-run Johnston rally in the bottom of the fourth inning. Luis Nunez, Mike Caparco and Jacob Coro each knocked in two runs, chasing Wright and cutting the Clippers’ lead to 9-6, as the Panthers sent 12 men to the plate.

Cumberland would up its lead in the fifth off Jacob Pratte with a two-run triple by Kyle Opiekun. Jake Rockefeller followed with a two-run home run that just stayed fair down the right field line.

Trailing 13-7 in the home half of the sixth, Johnston would continue to chip away at the lead with Emilio Rodriquez’s bases-loaded hit, which plated two runs. Nunez knocked home another run to cut the Clippers’ lead to 13-11.

Calabro replaced Zach Fogall and struck out Jacob Podmaska with runners in scoring position to end the Panthers’ threat. Calabro recorded two quick outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, but two Clipper fielding miscues aided the Panthers in loading the bases. Rockefeller would come in to strike out Fijal, as the Clippers would hold on for the victory.

“What we know about Johnston is that they are feisty,” said Cumberland head coach Andrew Tuetken. “You know they are going to come back and I let my guys know you can’t get complacent. They came back and we had to use some extra pitchers, but we found a way to win in the end.”

He added, “I told our guys you have to be aggressive – this is high school baseball. We have not been swinging the bats too

well as of late and you have to change it up a bit. We had a lot of two-out base hits to drive in our runs and we stole five bases. We needed this win because we were coming off a few losses and Division I can be so competitive. Johnston came out hard tonight and are 100 percent a playoff team.”

DeMeo also agreed that Division I-B is very competitive.

“In D-I, you battle every night and every time we would creep closer they would score more runs,” DeMeo said. “When Cumberland needed a hit, they got it and kept battling it out. They are a good, quality team.”

The Panthers travel to Portsmouth today in a key game for both teams.

“We have a tough game with Portsmouth next,” DeMeo said. “I think we have to get to at least nine wins in order to make the playoffs and we control our own destiny. Portsmouth has a similar record to ours, so this is a big game for both teams. We will keep battling, that’s all we can do. We always seem to play better in the second half of the season. I hope it continues and I hope we can carry that fight into the Portsmouth game.”

Fijal will get the start for the Panthers against the Patriots. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.

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