BASEBALL: Evan Arruda fans 12 as Diman defeats Bishop Connolly 7-1

FALL RIVER — Led by a complete-game, 12-strikeout performance from senior Evan Arruda, along with big second- and sixth-inning offensive performances, the Diman Bengals took down the Bishop Connolly Cougars 7-1 in Mayflower Athletic Conference baseball at John Pacheco Field Tuesday afternoon in their first of two meetings of the week.

“Evan pitched well,” Diman coach Flo Lima said. “He’s a senior, he did a good job, he knows how to pitch and it showed today.”

Arruda allowed three hits and three walks through, while Bishop Connolly starter Paul Poitras went four-plus innings, giving up four runs, four hits and six walks while striking out three for the loss. Matt Myron pitched two innings of relief for the Cougars, giving up three runs, two walks and a hit while also recording a strikeout.

“Like I’ve told the kids, so far this year when we throw strikes and we don’t make errors, we’ll be in every single game we play,” Bishop Connolly coach Jay Furtado said. “For us, we don’t have the ability to come back from walks and errors, so we’ve got to work really hard at limiting those things.”

At the plate, shortstop Daniel Perron led the way for the Bengals, going 3-for-3 with a pair of runs, a pair of stolen bases, a walk and an RBI, while right fielder Alex Rivest went 0-for-2 with a pair of runs, a pair of RBIs and a walk.

First baseman Ethan Medeiros had the lone Cougar run of the game while going 1-for-3 with a single and a strikeout.

After a quiet first inning, the Cougars got on the board first after Ethan Medeiros opened the second inning with a single and was brought home on a throwing error three batters later before Arruda ended the inning with a strikeout.

The Bengals wasted little time responding as they batted around the order in the bottom half of the inning, with first baseman Tyler Fleet opening the inning with an infield single, and within a few at bats, had the bases loaded and a walk by second baseman Kyle Silvia sent Fleet home to tie the ball game. Left fielder Kyle Linhares walked as well to drive in Arruda for the lead and a single by Perron plated another and the Bengals emerged from the inning with a 3-1 lead.

Both pitchers did well in the third and fourth inning, with Poitras retiring the side twice before letting up a single to Perron in the top of the fifth followed by a throwing error that saw him advance to second. After a walk to catcher Noah Girard, Bishop Connolly pulled Poitras in favor of Myron. A sacrifice fly to deep left from Fleet made it 4-1.

Arruda continued looking strong on the mound for Diman, striking out a pair in the top of the sixth to keep the Cougars bats at bay.

In the bottom half of the inning, the Bengals added three more to extend their lead to 7-1. Rivest advanced to first on a dropped third strike and stole both second and third before tagging up on a fly out to left by Linhares. Myron walked both Silvia and Perron and the pair were brought home on a single to shallow left center by center fielder Daryan Rogers.

The Cougars got a runner on base in the top of the seventh after catcher Tommy Johnston walked and stole second, but any chance of a comeback was crushed by back-to-back strikeouts by Arruda to finish the game.

“It was a good performance,” Lima said. “We made two errors in the field. Last game we didn’t make any, this game we made two. That’s two too many. We want to clean that up, but overall I’m happy with the performance… Credit to [Poitras], he pitched pretty well. He pitched himself out of a jam twice, good for him.”

Both teams return to action Wednesday with Diman hosting Blue Hills while Bishop Connolly travels to Sacred Heart before a rematch Friday afternoon at Bishop Connolly.