Raiders Top Bulldogs In Baseball Opener, 6-2

Justin Thomas recovered from a shaky first inning to allow just four hits in six innings, leading Enfield to a 6-2 win over Stafford in the high school baseball opener for both teams Wednesday.

Thomas struck out eight Bulldogs while walking just two. Nick Van Oudenhove pitched a hitless seventh to nail down the victory.

"It was a good opening day win," Enfield coach jay Gaucher said. "Our pitchers threw strikes and our batters were aggressive. We played pretty well for day one."

After Brendan McCloskey singled home Tony Bacchiochi in the Stafford first, the Raiders took a 2-1 lead in the second. Van Oudenhove led off with a double and scored on John Cerrato's single, then Thomas, who had walked, came around on a fielder's choice grounder by Dan Critz.

Bacchiochi scored again on a Tim Artruc double in the third, but the Raiders came right back with three runs in their half of the inning. Avery Boissy doubled, Ned Lajoie walked and Dan Cezus reached on an error to load the bases. Boissy and Lajoie scored on back-to-back fielder's choice grounders by Van Oudenhove and Cerrato, and Cerrato eventually scored on a wild pitch.

Enfield's final run came in the fifth, when Cezus scored on a single by Thomas.

Enfield (1-0) is back in action Friday, traveling to East Windsor for a 3:30 p.m. matchup.