Eight Run Third Pushes Tolland by Ellington

There were a lot of scoring chances for Tolland Saturday against Ellington. Fortunately for the Eagles, they didn’t need all of them.

Tolland left 13 men on base, but pushed across eight in the third inning to back starting pitcher Alex Clifford and emerge with an 8-3 win over the Knights at Tolland High School.

“We left guys on all day,” Tolland head coach Scott Czerwinski. “It means we did a lot of good things, but also means we didn’t get a lot of timely hits. That’s part of baseball, though.”

The Eagles sent 15 men to the plate in the third inning, methodically working the count and pushing runs home.

Bobby Keane put Tolland up 1-0 with a hard single to right to score Nick Cassarino, who opened the inning by reaching on error by first baseman Ellington Zach Graves. Jamison Boucher reached on a soft liner to first to load the bases, and then Jake Gagne walked Casey Linton on a full count to force in a run. Then it was time for Ellington’s Dustin Mocadlo to pitch. 

Mocadlo promptly gave up a single to David Ferris before walking Chris Byam to force in a run. Keane capped the scoring with a hard RBI single to shortstop.

“We spend a lot of time talking about hitting in good counts and taking pitches when needed, and I thought our guys did a very good job,” Czerwinski said.

Ellington wasted little time responding, putting two men in the top of the fourth before Garrett Palmer blasted a long two-out home run to left to make it 8-3.

“We got down 8-0 and sometimes a team will tank, but we kept battling back,” Knights head coach Keith Tautkus said. “We had guys on base but couldn’t get that big hit to get closer to tying it up. [Clifford] did a good job of making good pitches and kept us of balance with the curveball.”

The lanky right-hander kept Ellington off the board following Palmer’s home run, finishing the day with six strikeouts in six innings of work before giving way to Jack Kramer for the seventh. Kramer finished 1-for-2 at the plate, driving in a run with a sacrifice fly during the third inning.

“Cliff was great today,” Czerwinski said. “That’s probably the best he’s pitched in three years. He was ahead in counts for most of the game and was able to throw his fastball, curveball and changeup for strikes.”

Clifford was helped by his defense, which turned in several nice plays, including a running catch by left fielder Brett Ackerly to end the sixth inning with two men on. Ryan Anderson ripped a hard drive down the line, but Ackerly moved to his right and stuck his glove up to take away extra bases.

Ferris finished 2-for-3 with two walks a run and stolen base from his leadoff spot. Keane was 2-for-3 with a walk and two RBI, while Ryan Kokoszka was 2-for-2 with walk, run, and RBI. 

For Ellington, Mocaldo was 2-for-3, while Mike Cleary finished 2-for-4.

Even though they play in different conferences now, the neighboring teams still enjoy a good rivalry.

“Our kids still like to have the chance to beat them up,” Czerwinski said. “They got us down there last year we look forward to having a chance to beat them every time out.”

Up next, Tolland hosts Wethersfield Monday at 3:45 p.m., while Ellington travels to East Windsor at 3:30 p.m..