Three-run sixth inning sends Quakers past Panthers

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Sports Editor For much of the season, the Johnston baseball team has been nearly flawless in the late innings of close games, so Monday served as a rarity for the Panthers.

Johnston held a 6-5 lead going into the bottom of the sixth at Brown University against Moses Brown, before Luis DeLeon tied the game with an RBI single. First baseman Gianni Valentini then ripped the game-winning hit to right field, posting a 2-RBI triple in an eventual 8-6 victory for the Quakers.

“It was a good game, they just out-hit us,” Johnston head coach Steve DeMeo said. “We were up two, had a chance to get a couple of more, and we didn’t. They battled. You have to give Moses credit.”

It didn’t take long for Johnston to break in the scoreboard.

Jake Coro led off the game with a hit and shortstop John Willette homered to push the Panthers ahead, 2-0, right out of the gate.

Moses Brown came ready with its bats as well, though.

DeLeon nearly evened the score when he hit a deep fly ball to left field in the bottom of the first that hit halfway up the wall. The double was good enough to score Chase Griffin, who led off the inning with a walk.

Johnston starter Jake Podmaska then yielded a single to Steven Salisbury, plating DeLeon to knot the game at 2.

DeLeon continued his hot hitting in the second inning too, registering his second of three RBI hits on the day, this time ripping a double that scored Martin Goldberg and Griffin to give Moses Brown its first lead of the game, 4-2.

Johnston would respond by tacking on three in the top of the third against Quakers’ southpaw Jared Schott.

Nick Raposo quickly tied the score when he hit a fly ball that eluded the right fielder’s glove, plating Coro and Willette as Raposo scurried all the way to third, tying the game at 4.

Raposo came home a couple pitches later when Emilio Rodriguez flared one over the right side of the infield, accounting for the third lead change of the game, as Johnston pushed out in front, 5-4.

After a scoreless fourth frame, center fielder Joe Michael gave the Panthers a little bit of breathing room with an RBI single in the top of the fifth, bringing home Raposo to make it 6-4.

It looked as if everything was swinging in Johnston’s favor – the offense was consistently putting up runs, and Podmaska had settled in after allowing four runs over the first two innings.

Then, Jacob Studley stepped to the plate with two gone in the fifth.

And, with one swing, he changed the momentum completely.

He drove an inside pitch off the light pole beyond the left center field fence, trimming the Johnston lead to one and leaving it with minuscule room for error going into the sixth and seventh innings.

“[Studley] hitting that home run was big for them, it brought them life,” DeMeo said. “They were quiet for a few innings, and we were just trying to let sleeping dogs lie. But that home run woke them up.”

Johnston went quietly in the top of the sixth, and Moses Brown would go to work in the bottom half of the inning.

Sophomore right-hander Zach Clesas would come on to pitch in relief of Podmaska to start the sixth, and he would be handed his first loss of the season, as the Quakers scored three runs on four hits.

The loss was Johnston’s second straight, dropping its record to 10-4 – still good for third place in Division I-B.

Johnston was looking to bounce back against Toll Gate (3-12) on Wednesday, but results were unavailable at press time.

It will have a good test at noon on Saturday at Cranston West (11-2 in Division I-A), when the Panthers and Falcons square off for a non-league tilt.

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