Above: Parke Hardesky makes the out on a steal from first. Photos by Chuck Nadeau (find all Chuck’s pictures at chuckn.com).

By Bob Brooks

The East Greenwich Avengers Baseball team celebrated its seniors on Saturday prior to a terrific team win over the Prout Crusaders. Coach Bill O’Connell honored his five seniors, Cole Barron, Owen Drolet, Evan Greenberg, Parke Hardesky, and Evan Macauley, who were joined on the field by their families. Players each received a commemorative bat, framed plaque and banner. The seniors also presented their moms with flower bouquets in appreciation of their support. East Greenwich Little League President Russ Marcantonio and his wife Lora also participated in the festivities, a fitting tribute given that all 5 seniors began their baseball careers with EGLL.

Evan Macauley was on the mound for his final start as an Avenger. After recording two outs, Prout went up 1 to 0 on back to back doubles by Prout’s Kesner and Chofay. East Greenwich knotted the game at one apiece on the first on a lead off single by Grogan O’Brien, who stole second and moved to third on a ground out by Evan Greenberg. O’Brien then scored on a RBI sacrifice fly by Owen Drolet.

Prout did its best to spoil Senior Day for East Greenwich. In the top of the third, after a walk to D. Gesmondi, Kesner took Evan Macauley deep for a home run to left field, making the score 3 to 1 in favor of Prout. After two more Crusaders reached base, Kaiser stroked a two-RBI double to left field, making the score 5-1. Unfortunately for Prout, that is where their scoring ended for the day.

East Greenwich began its comeback in the bottom of the third. After walks were issued to Michael Ucci and Evan Macauley, Robert Brooks moved both runners into scoring position on a long sacrifice fly to right field. Grogan O’Brien then drove in Ucci and Macauley on a ground ball single to left. After singles by Evan Greenberg and Owen Drolet to load the bases, O’Brien scored on a wild pitch to make the score 5-4 in favor of Prout.

That’s how the score stayed until the bottom of the fifth inning. Evan Macauley led off the inning with a walk, then stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Next hitter Robert Brooks drove in Macauley for the tying run with a line drive single to left field.

The Avengers were not done however, and eventually scored 4 more in the inning to make the score 10 to 5. After a steal by Brooks, who advanced to third on another wild pitch, Grogan O’Brien walked and both Brooks and O’Brien scored on Evan Greenberg’s double to center field. After a walk by Parke Hardesky, Cade Thomas drove in Greenberg with a single to right. Hardesky then scored on Casey DeLorenzo’s line drive single to right. The Avengers finished off the inning with a single by Alex DeTomasis to drive in Thomas, scoring East Greenwich’s 10th run.

The Avengers earned 3 more runs in the sixth with help from a single by Ryan Sheeran, a double by Hardesky, and a single by Ryan Marcantonio to drive in those two, bringing the Avengers to their winning score of 13-5.

East Greenwich was also aided in the victory by the strong relief pitching of Owen Drolet who picked up the win in four innings, giving up only one hit, striking out three, and shutting out the Crusaders over the final four frames.

After the game, Coach Bill O’Connell said he was extremely proud of his team’s comeback win and the leadership shown by his seniors. “This team has battled hard all year long. They never give up. I was particularly happy for the seniors. Owen Drolet was tremendous on the mound, shutting things down while we got back into the game. Evan Greenberg sparked us with his bat and speed, and Parke Hardesky and Evan Macaulay both scored two runs. It seemed like the seniors were on base all day, showing the way to the rest of the guys and leading us to a nice win. It was a real team effort.”

This was the final game for the Avengers this year, finishing with a 6-14 record for their first season back in D1.

Check out the game’s box score here: Prout_vs_East Greenwich Varsity Avengers_May_21_2022.

A hitter’s view of Evan Macaulay’s pitch.

Grogan O’Brien steels second base.

Evan Greenberg makes the easy out.

Cade Thomas shields from the sun to make the catch.

Bob Brooks, an attorney, is a team parent. Our thanks to him for covering the EG Baseball team. EG News is looking for similarly motivated sports enthusiasts to help us cover other EG sports. If you are interested, contact [email protected]. It’s a lot of fun!