Avengers Advance Further with Help of Kalajian

The boys baseball team beat St. Raphael’s Friday 18-6, thanks in large part to the powerful bat of senior John Kalajian.

During the regular season, Kalajian had been known primarily for his pitching prowess. However, in the last two playoff games these past two days, Kalajian has hit 3 home runs and earned 10 RBIs.

After losing the first game of the double elimination playoff tournament on Wednesday, East Greenwich faced a difficult task Thursday against Lincoln. However, John Kalajian’s grand slam propelled the Avengers to a 7-6 victory, despite Lincoln’s third overall rank in the state.

“Once we had something to lose, we started playing better,” said Kalajian “that’s when (the team) starts playing our best.”

The Avengers momentum continued yesterday against St. Rays in another elimination game. In the first inning, sophomore David Hopkins hit a two-run home run and junior Kevin Mason followed with a triple that brought home two runners.

In the second inning, junior catcher Scott Cullinane, who had 4 RBIs on the day, doubled home two more Avengers to increase the lead to 6-2 at the end of two innings.

However, St. Rays chipped away and narrowed East Greenwich’s lead to 7-6 at the end of three and a half innings.

The Avengers immediately bounced back in the bottom of the inning with another Cullinane RBI and Kalajian’s first three-run home run of the day.

“I was more aggressive and I didn’t want to lose,” said Kalajian regarding his offensive mentality going into the game.

“There isn’t anybody hotter in the state right now,” said Coach Bob Downey on Kalajian’s offensive success.

After senior Ryan Pieroni scored on an error, and Hopkins’ RBI single, Kalajian hit another three-run home run that ended the game because of the “10-run rule” which states that the game is over if a team is winning by more than 10 runs after 5 innings.

East Greenwich won the game 18-6.

“We stumbled out of the box,” said Downey on his team’s first playoff game loss. “This program hasn’t gotten to the top yet, but we have our eye on the prize.”

East Greenwich will take on Cranston East Saturday at Cranston Stadium. Game time is 1pm.