Canton High baseball team chasing Davenport Division crown

Sophomore Tommy Rose helped spark the rally in Canton’s win vs. King Philip. (Mike Tureski photo)

Entering play this week, the CHS varsity baseball team was still very much alive in the race for the Hockomock Davenport Division, sitting just one game behind first-place North Attleboro with a 6-5 league mark and 8-5 overall record.

Also improving to 6-5 and tied with Canton in the No. 2 spot are the Mansfield Hornets, who won the first of two head-to-head matchups with the Bulldogs last Monday in Mansfield.

Canton starter Chris Pirrera did his part with six strong innings of work, allowing three runs (all unearned) while striking out three batters and walking one. But the Bulldog bats fell silent as they were held to just one hit in an eventual 3-1 loss.

In a blunt assessment after the game, head coach David Walsh said he was “very disappointed” with the team’s approach. “Defensively, they didn’t show up for Pirrera, who was awesome on the mound,” Walsh said. “Mansfield threw a very good pitcher that kept us off balance, but if we showed up defensively, we would have found a way to win that game.”

Despite the setback, the Bulldogs managed to bounce right back with a signature win at home two days later against a very good King Philip squad, prevailing 2-1 on a walk-off hit by junior Liam Connolly.

Going into the game, the Warriors had lost just once all season (12-1) and were the fourth-ranked team in all of Division 1. But they couldn’t get much going against Canton starter Kyle Redquest, who scattered five hits over five-plus innings while walking two and punching out five.

The Bulldogs would strike first on an RBI single from Brady Gibbons, but the Warriors came back to even the score with a run in the top of the seventh inning. Junior Teddy Shuman, Canton’s top reliever, managed to get out of the jam by inducing an inning-ending double play, and then the Bulldogs turned to small ball in the home half of the inning — loading the bases on a pair of bunts and a single from Tommy Rose to set the stage for Connolly’s heroics.

It was precisely the kind of winning performance that Walsh had expected to see from his squad, especially at this stage of the season against a top-tier opponent such as KP. “Defensively, we were very good, turning multiple double plays and minimizing high-leverage situations,” Walsh said. “Pitching from Kyle Redquest was very good; we kept KP off balance. Offensively, we had a good approach, hit a lot of balls hard, and Liam Connolly was able to get a walk-off hit for us.”

With the win over the Warriors, Canton has now climbed to No. 10 in the Division 2 power rankings and are in prime position to clinch a spot in the state tournament, perhaps as soon as this week.

It won’t be easy, however, as the Bulldogs were due to play four games in five days, including key division clashes with NA, Foxboro and OA followed by a home date tomorrow against nonleague Nipmuc Regional (8-5). The team will then host Stoughton and Mansfield next Monday and Wednesday before closing out the regular season at nonleague Brookline on Friday, May 23.

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