Resilient Panthers edge Clippers in ninth inning

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The Johnston baseball team has been playing with fire this past week, but it hasn’t gotten burned yet.

First, the Panthers came back from seven runs down in the final inning to defeat East Greenwich, 13-12, on May 4. Then, it blew a four-run lead against East Providence on Friday before eventually winning 8-6 in extras.

Tuesday night was no different. Cumberland loaded the bases in the seventh and put runners at second and third in the eighth, but Johnston would escape those jams. Joseph Michael’s sacrifice fly with the bases loaded in the ninth sent the Panthers to a 2-1 victory and a 10-2 record, surpassing last season’s win total.

“Coming back from EG was nice, but that had a lot of circumstances with the weather, but this was like a stomach-turner,” Johnston manager Steve DeMeo said. “We had guys on, they had bases loaded, we had bases loaded. One mistake was gonna make the game.”

The Panthers finally had some success against Cumberland ace Chris Wright’s fastball in the fifth with Cumberland ahead 1-0. Sophomore starting pitcher Zach Clesas worked a walk on a full count to start the inning, and he would scamper to third base with one out after Nick Larson mishandled Frank Heredia’s single into right field.

Senior captain Jake Coro stepped to the plate and delivered, lining the game-tying single into right field. John Willette would walk to load the bases with one out, but Wright struck out Nick Raposo and forced Emilio Rodriguez to pop up.

From there until the end, both sides traded opportunities to take the lead. Cumberland had Josh Brodeur at second base with one out in the sixth, but Wright lined into a 6-4 double play when Brodeur was caught leaning off the base. Johnston would put runners at first and second with two outs, forcing Wright from the game, but reliever Nick Crowe got Heredia to ground into a fielder’s choice.

Clesas would have his finest performance in the seventh after two singles and an error loaded the bases for the Clippers with one down. He got Larson to ground to third, where Rodriguez threw off balance to Raposo at the plate for the force. Clesas worked Murphy, the No. 9 hitter, to a full count, but struck him out swinging on the eighth pitch of the at-bat.

“I say it time and again, the poise that he has for a sophomore, it’s incredible,” DeMeo said. “Wright pitched a great game for them, he’s one of the best pitchers in the league, but Zach showed that he was right there with him. Pitch for pitch.”

The Panthers looked to prevent extra innings when Coro crushed a double to lead things off in the home half. Crowe settled down, though, striking out Willette before forcing groundouts from Raposo and Rodriguez.

DeMeo would send Clesas back to the bump for the eighth, but that decision nearly cost Johnston the game. He allowed a single up the middle to Brodeur and walked speedy Nicholas Croteau to start the frame, forcing Daniel Pratte to come in for relief. A sacrifice bunt moved the runners into scoring position, but DeMeo opted to intentionally walk clean-up man Javier Brown.

The gamble paid off. Drew Szafranski fouled out to first on the first pitch he saw and Michael Bogolowski popped up to Coro to end the inning. Pratte threw just five pitches to work out of the threat.

“Give credit to Pratte,” DeMeo said. “Ten minutes ago he didn’t think he was gonna get on the mound, and he comes in and did his job.”

Johnston again had the winning run in scoring position with two outs in the eighth, but Heredia grounded out to shortstop to bring the game out to the ninth inning.

The Panthers went back to work after Pratte kept the Clippers at bay, with some help. He had two strikeouts and Raposo caught Larson stealing to give Johnston momentum heading into the bottom half.

Coro walked on four pitches to lead things off before Willette blasted what looked like a game-winning double over the right fielder’s head. Coro slipped coming around third, allowing Larson enough time to make an on-target throw to Brown at the plate for the out. Willette moved over to third and narrowly avoided a tag there, putting the winning run 90 feet away with one out.

“He walked the leadoff batter, and that’s a mortal sin,” DeMeo said. “He got thrown out at the plate, it was kind of a close play at the plate, I don’t think he got tagged.”

Cumberland opted to intentionally walk Raposo and Rodriguez to load the bases for Michael, who was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts to that point. He wouldn’t get a hit, but it would be enough. Michael drove a pitch deep to right field, and the throw came up just short as Willette crossed the plate to win the game.

“Joe didn’t have one of his better nights at the plate, but he came through when we really needed it,” DeMeo said.

The Panthers have won five in a row and seven of their last eight. They sit behind just South Kingstown (9-1), which has not lost since opening day, in the Division I-B standings.

Johnston will start a three-game road trip Thursday with a 4 p.m. first pitch at East Greenwich. The Panthers then travel to Moses Brown and Toll Gate before coming back home for East Providence on Monday.

“Sometimes overconfidence can lay in, but I like this team, I like their resolve,” DeMeo said of the team’s confidence level. “They’re battlers. This’ll be good for a day, and then back at East Greenwich on Thursday. Back at war.”

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