East Providence badly needed a win Monday night, May 19th as the state baseball playoffs approach. The Townies opponent was always tough La Salle Academy. The game remained scoreless until the 5th inning when La Salle went ahead 1-0. La Salle threatened in the first inning with a leadoff single followed by two walks to load the bases with no outs. However, Dylan Annicelli then pitched his way out of trouble to keep the inning scoreless. “It wasn’t my very best game but I kept at it,” said the Townie pitching ace. Annicelli indeed wasn’t his usual lights out on the mound giving up 5 hits and walking 4. But he did strike out 8 Rams in key spots and did enough to gain the win. The lone run for the Rams was unearned.
“Dylan worked hard tonight. He wasn’t going to let this game get away from him or the team,” said head coach Bobby Rodericks. “That’s the mark of a great pitcher, winning when you don’t have your best stuff.”
Angelo Fuscellaro singled in the 5th, scoring La Salle’s one run, and although the Rams threatened to score a few more times, East Providence held on. By the 6th inning the large crowd at EPHS was cautiously nervous as time was moving on. East Providence then crossed the plate 3 times to take the late game lead. Brian Rutkowski led off with a line drive single to right field. Chris Charbonneau did what he has done before and sacrifice bunted to move Rutkowski to 2nd. The next batter has been playing with a heavy heart as his Dad, Chris Martins, was moved today to a rehabilitation site after a severe medical emergency late last week. Aidan Martins laced a double to center field scoring pinch runner Alex Enright from 2nd base to tie the score. The next batter Max Correiro singled to center with Martins racing home from 2nd base to score what would be the winning run. After the game Martins was asked what went through his mind during that 6th inning at-bat. Martins smiled and softly said, “that was for my Dad.” The Townies other run came when Tyler Dicecco was struck by a pitch, forcing in a bases loaded run.
The 3-1 score would hold up as Tim Robitaille came in to pitch the 7th inning. The Rams had a mini rally attempt with a couple of walks and a single but Robitaille got La Salle’s Walsh to pop out to shortstop Kyle Desrosiers for the game ending out. The Townies won over La Salle but not before many sighs of relief were exhaled.
East Providence picked up their 11th Division 1 win and play North Kingstown on senior night at home Tuesday at 5:00 pm. Senior night activities will take place at 4:45 pm. A win tomorrow may secure a home playoff game for the Townies. Stay tuned.
NOTE: A GoFundMe account has been established for Chris Martins. https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-chris-martins-recovery-journey
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