CANTON, May 1, 2024 – A pair of two-out doubles from Jackson Senecal and Ian Clark in the bottom of the seventh inning lifted the Canton High baseball team to a 3-2 win over East Granby in a battle of two of the top teams in the North Central Connecticut Conference Wednesday at Bowdoin Field.
The Warriors (8-2, 5-0 NCCC) scored three times in the seventh inning to erase a two-run deficit and remain in a first place tie with Coventry (8-2, 5-0) at the midway point of the league campaign. Each team plays 10 games to determine the league champion.
East Granby (10-2, 5-1 NCCC) dropped their first league game and suffered just their second loss in 12 games this spring.
The visiting Crusaders took a 1-0 lead in the first inning thanks to three walks and a balk from Canton starting pitcher Vin Forte. East Granby extended their lead to 2-0 in the third inning when Adrian Bento led off the inning with a triple and scored on an infield ground bal out.
Forte had five walks, which put him in some jams. But he pitched his way out of several tough spots. After scoring the first run of the game in the first inning, East Granby had the bases loaded but Forte got two big strikeouts to get out of the jam.
Forte finished with six strikeouts. Michael Archangelo picked up the win for the Warriors with two innings of shutout relief. Archangelo (2-1) gave up just one hit and struck out four.
East Granby starting pitcher James Fagnant scattered five hits and struck out 10 but the Warriors finally got to him in the seventh. Through six innings, he allowed just two hits.
Down 2-0, Canton’s Nate Hiscox led off the inning with a single to center field, just the third hit of the game for the Warriors. Ethan Lindquist replaced Hiscox as a pinch runner. After a strikeout, James Canny walked to put two runners on base. Another strikeout put the Crusaders one out away from a two-run victory.
Both runners advanced one base to second and third base, respectively, on a wild pitch.
With two outs and the count three balls and two strikes, Senecal ripped a two-run double to center field to tie the game at 2-2.
Reliever Kyle Anthony came on in relief for East Granby but Clark’s RBI double to center field won the game for the Warriors, driving in Senecal from second base.
Hiscox was 2-for-3 for Canton while Anthony was 2-for-4 for East Granby.
Canton plays their fourth game in five days on Friday when they face Suffield (5-3, 3-1 NCCC) at Dunkin’ Park, the home of the Double A affiliate Hartford Yard Goats, at 3:45 p.m. in Hartford.
Canton 3, East Granby 2
At Canton
East Granby (10-2) 101 000 0 — 2-7-1
Canton (8-2) 000 000 3 — 3-6-1
James Fagnant, Kyle Anthony (7) and Jacob Guilmartin; Vin Forte, Michael Archangelo (6) and Noah Asmar; WP: Archangelo (2-1); LP: Fagnant; 2B: Ian Clark (C), Jackson Senecal (C), Asmar (C), Anthony (EG), 3B: Adrian Bento (EG)
NCCC Baseball leaders
| Team |
Lg. |
Overall |
| Coventry |
5-0 |
8-1 |
| Canton |
5-0 |
8-2 |
| East Granby |
5-1 |
10-2 |
| Suffield |
3-1 |
5-3 |
