caption:

Striding In
Tommy Li strides safely into third base in a 6-1 win over Ellis Tech last week in Danielson. Photo by Marc Allard.



Eric Preston knew the first ball he hit was going to go a long way.
He was hoping the second one would as well.
The senior catcher for the Centaurs muscled not one, but two balls, over the fence in left field at Ellis Tech in Danielson and his two homers led Woodstock Academy to a 6-1 victory April 23.
The Centaurs also played two tight games against Bacon Academy and Waterford last week, but ended up on the wrong side of both and will go into a relatively light week with a 7-4 record. The Centaurs play only two games this week against New London on Tuesday (the game ended too late for this edition) and Fitch May 3.
Last week’s game with the Eagles was moved to Ellis Tech due to wet grounds at the Bentley Athletic Complex.
That was fine with Preston who feasted on the shorter porch.
“I hit one home run last year, but not two in a game,” Preston said with a smile. “I’m pretty happy about it.”
The Centaurs took the early lead when winning pitcher Tommy Li singled, was sacrificed to second, moved to third on a Luke Mathewson base hit and scored on a Nathan John (13 RBIs this season) single.
Ellis Tech starting pitcher Cameron L’Heureux kept the Centaurs at bay until the third inning when Preston got a hold of a two-strike pitch.
“I knew that was gone for sure,” Preston said.
Three innings later, with the Centaurs up 4-0, Preston took Ellis Tech reliever Codi Beshaw deep for a two-run homer.
“I was a little nervous, it started dipping a little, but it went over,” Preston said.
Preston said he is getting more comfortable at the plate.
He was hitting over .400 until an 0-for-3 effort against Waterford dropped him back to .375.
“It’s nice when he relaxes at the plate, because then the ball travels. He gets in trouble if he tries to do too much,” said Woodstock Academy coach Brian Murphy.
Li did the rest against the Eagles.
“He’s been key for our team and for him to come out and deal for our team like he did is all we can ask for,” Preston said.
Li allowed the Eagles (6-2) just four hits and struck out six.
“He pitched well,” Murphy said. “He was around the plate all day, worked his breaking pitch nice and obviously, his fast ball looked better after the breaking pitch. It was a good team win.”
The junior added RBI singles in the fourth and sixth innings to back his pitching effort.
“Tommy helped himself out. He had some big hits and he’s a gamer. It was Tommy Li’s day,” Murphy said.
It was a game that scared Murphy.
The Centaurs were coming off a long spring break trip to Myrtle Beach, S.C., and had the tough games against Bacon Academy and Waterford still to come.
Fortunately, Woodstock Academy did catch a break when rain postponed its scheduled game against Fitch, moving it May 3.
“That would have stretched our pitching out a lot,” Murphy said.
Instead, he was able to throw Mathewson (4-1) against the Bobcats.
Mathewson allowed only one earned run, but mistakes cost the Centaurs.
Bacon Academy scored three unearned runs in the fifth inning and Woodstock Academy was not able to recover, losing 4-3.
Preston. Mathewson and John knocked in the runs for the Centaurs.
Preston is best known as a catcher.
But he’s done pretty well on the mound this season.
Preston has got the call in, arguably, the two toughest games of the season for the Centaurs and he has shown up.
The offense just has not backed him up.
He suffered a 2-0 loss to Ledyard, one of the top-ranked teams in the state earlier in the season, and  April 25, he held Waterford to three hits only to suffer a 2-1 loss to the Lancers.
Jacob Hernandez singled and scored the only run for Woodstock Academy on an RBI single by John in the fourth inning.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy

..