Canton nears end of baseball marathon to close out regular season

Sophomore reliever Matt Rose bears down in Monday’s NCCC game at Bowdoin Field. Rockville rallied in the seventh to beat Canton, 7-5. (Photo courtesy Paul Amrose)

CANTON, May 21 – Cold, rain and snow in April that cancelled many contests due to unplayable conditions has resulted in a lot of games for the Canton High baseball team in May as the 2018 campaign comes to close.

Canton (11-8, 8-6 NCCC) is playing their final seven games of the regular season in a span of eight days.

It began last Monday, May 14 with a 7-2 win over Somers, followed by a 5-0 victory over East Granby on Wednesday, May 16. The next day, the Warriors beat Hartford Magnet Trinity College Academy (HMTCA) for the second time this season, 13-9, but had to forfeit the win because of the use of an ineligible pitcher (rest time).

On Friday, Canton had a season-high 15 hits in an 18-1 rout of Gilbert at Walker Field in Winsted. On Sunday, Suffield beat the Warriors, 8-3 and on Monday, Rockville rallied with two runs in the top of the seventh inning to beat Canton, 7-5.

Canton ends the marathon run and closes out the 2018 regular season by hosting East Windsor (11-8) on Tuesday at Bowdoin Field.

Canton’s James Mattson slides across home plate with an inside-the-park home run Monday at Bowdoin Field. It was Mattson’s third home run of the season. (Photo courtesy Paul Amrose)

Against Rockville on Monday, the visiting Rams (13-7) took a 5-2 lead after 2½ innings but the Warriors battled back to tie with two runs in the third inning and another run in the fifth inning. In the third inning, Mattson had an inside the park home run at Bowdoin Field and Jack Rose scored on an error. For Mattson, it was his third home run of the season.

In the fifth, Gavin Wood scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at 5-5. But Rockville scored twice in the seventh on RBI single by Kevin Kozak and an error to take the lead.

Jack Rose (2-3), Mattson (2-4), Wood (2-4) and Nate Lincoln (2-4) each had two hits for Canton in the game as part an 11-hit attack. The Warriors have had more than 10 hits in four of the last five games and they’ve hit five home runs in the past week.

Senior Ryan Enns has been hitting in the final week of the regular season. He had a home run and four RBI against HMTCA and two singles and a double against Gilbert. (Photo courtesy Paul Amrose)

On Sunday against Suffield, Ryan Enns and Gavin Wood were each 2-for-4 for the Warriors but Suffield (11-9) pulled away with three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Ryan Robidoux was 3-for-4 with three RBI for the Wildcats while Aran Gillette was 3-for-4 with two RBI.

On Friday against Gilbert, the Warriors had 15 hits and eight were extra bases. Wood (3-3, one RBI) had two doubles while Mattson (2-2, 3 RBI) had a pair of triples. Ryan Enns was 3-for-4 with one RBI while Jack Rose was 2-for-5 with three RBI. Cam Gaudett was 2-for-5 with three RBI. Michael Sullivan (1-3) drove in two runs and Connor Clement hit his first home run of the season.

On Thursday against HMTCA, the Warriors had 12 hits with Matt Rose hitting a pair of doubles and Enns hitting his first home run of the season. Jack Rose was 3-for-4 with a double and four RBI. Enns, Matt Rose and Lincoln (2-3, 2 RBI) each had two hits.

But Canton ran into trouble and made a mistake when they inserted Sullivan into the game to pitch in the sixth inning in relief. Sullivan threw just 25 pitches but he was ineligible to pitch according to CIAC pitching rules.

Sullivan pitched a complete game in Monday’s 7-2 win over Somers. He threw 106 pitches in seven inning of work and was required to have three calendar days of rest before he threw again. Sullivan would have been eligible to pitch again on Friday.

Once Canton High head coach Greg Brisco realized the error when he was reviewing the statistics after the game, he self reported the mistake to his athletic director and the CIAC the next day.

James Mattson has been well at the plate. He an inside-the-park home run against Rockville on Monday and two triples Friday against Gilbert. (Photo courtesy Paul Amrose)

Rockville 7, Canton 5
At Canton
Rockville (13-7)                       203  000  2 – 7-7-3
Canton (11-8)                          112  010  0 – 5-11-3
Adam Brault, Shane Tourtellotte (2), Anthony Mierez (6) and unknown; Michael Sullivan, Matt Rose (3) and Joey Fitzgerald; WP: Mierez; LP: Matt Rose (1-3); 2B: Jack Rose (Ca); 3B: Adam Muzsi (Ro); HR: James Mattson (Ca)

Suffield 8, Canton 3
At Suffield (May 20)
Canton (11-7)                          000  300  0 – 3-6-1
Suffield (11-9)                         104  003  x – 8-10-4
Michael Sullivan, James Mattson (1), Nate Lincoln (3), Jack Rose (7) and Joey Fitzgerald; Alex Honey, Aran Gillette (6) and unknown; WP: Honey; LP: Sullivan (4-3); 2B: Aran Gillette (S), Dario Decosmo (S), Jonah Benan (S), Ryan Robidoux (S) 2

Canton 18, Gilbert 1 (5)
At Winsted (May 18)
Canton (11-6)                          557  01 – 18-15-0
Gilbert (8-10)                         000  10  — 1-5-5
James Mattson, Jack Rose (4), Collin Duran (5) and Joey Fitzgerald; Devin Matthews, Will Hubbard (2), Kevin Sullivan (4), Kyle Matthews (5) and unknown; WP: Mattson (4-0); LP: D. Matthews; 2B: Ryan Enns (Ca), Jack Rose (Ca), Gavin Woods (Ca) 2, Kyle Matthews (G) 2; 3B: Jack Mansur (Ca), Mattson (Ca) 2; HR: Connor Clement (Ca)

HMTCA 7, Canton 0, forfeit*
At Hartford (May 17)
Canton (10-6)                          242  003  2  — 13-12-1
HMTCA (6-12)                          120  004  2  — 9-8-2
Matt Rose, Cam Gaudet (4), Michael Sullivan (6), Ryan Scarfuri (6) and Joey Fitzgerald; R. Bobrowecki, Dieppa (3) and unknown; 2B: Jack Rose (Ca), Matt Rose (Ca) 2, Rodriguez (H), HR: Ryan Enns (Ca)
*Canton forfeited because they used an ineligible pitcher