Bees Capitalize on Errors In 6-4 Win Over Suns

By Connor Wilson

Heading into the final Wednesday of the regular season, the New Britain Bees found themselves hanging onto the final playoff spot. Every game down the stretch is crucial and every win is so valuable.

The Bees did just that, as they defeated the Pittsfield Suns 6-4 to move two games up in the standings with five games left to play and moved closer to clinching a postseason berth.

The star for New Britain was Esteban Rivera III (Franklin Pierce/Hamden, CT), as the right hander got the win in relief after he shoved 5.1 innings not allowing a run and giving up just two baserunners. 

Pittsfield got the scoring going in the top of the first as a two-out rally made it 1-0. The Suns would also score in the third to go up 2-0.

After starting off quietly through the first three innings offensively, the Bees got on the board with a bang as Jimmy Keenan (St. John’s/White Plains, NY) belted an opposite field home run to lead off the inning to make it 2-1.

Mikey Torniero (CCSU/East Haven, CT) and C.J. Brito-Trinidad (Bowdoin/South Kent, CT) followed the Keenan homer with back-to-back singles and a walk from Billy Minett (St. Thomas Aquinas/Staten Island, NY) loaded the bases for Brady Short (CCSU/Hurley, NY).

Short hit a fielder’s choice to score one, but a throwing error by Pittsfield allowed a second run to score and the Bees jumped out to a 3-2 lead.

A common theme all throughout was Pittsfield’s defensive woes, as the Suns committed five errors leading to four unearned New Britain runs.

The Bees continued to put up runs in the fifth as one scored when Torniero reached on an error, another on a passed ball when Brito-Trinidad struck out, and a third on an RBI single from Minett. All three runs in the fifth came with two outs and the lead grew to 6-2.

Rivera was cruising in the middle innings, retiring 13 Suns in a row at one point and striking out six in his outing. He relieved starter Connor Willet (ECSU/Rockfall, CT), who allowed two runs and six hits in his Bees’ debut.

Pittsfield rallied in the ninth to score two and get the tying run at the plate, but Matt Gedman called on his All-Star closer Brian Hart (Hofstra/Rosedale, NY) to get the final out and pick up his sixth save of the season.

The Bees win, combined with the Suns loss and the Starfires losing two to the Sea Unicorns, means New Britain has a two game lead for the final playoff spot with five games to play. The Bees moved to 31-27 on the season.

The playoff race continues tomorrow afternoon in New Britain, as the Bees host the Nashua Silver Knights in a doubleheader starting at 4:30 p.m. The Suns and Starfires, the two teams trailing New Britain, play each other tomorrow