It's been a difficult season for the 1-8 Tiverton Tigers, but the sun was out and things were looking up Tuesday.

Facing off against the Mt. Pleasant Kilties in a Division 3 home game, relief pitcher Nolan Mercer was dealing in the seventh and his heads-up pickoff of a Mt. Pleasant runner at second base kept the game knotted at 4-4.

Earlier down 4-3, the Tigers came out of the inning hopeful and were looking for a walkoff win. With two-hitter Zach Carreiro at the plate and a runner on second, Carreiro slugged a missile over the right fielder’s head, deep into right center. As runner Jacob Chouinard rounded third base and headed home, he came to a full stop to keep from colliding with Tigers head coach Steve Pieroni, who stood directly in the base path between third and home plate.  Mt. Pleasant fielders took advantage of the delay and got the ball in to catcher Yadiel Peralta, who stood at home plate and tagged out Chouinard, who shook his head in disbelief as he walked back to the dugout.  Coach Pieroni said he was trying to hold  up the runner. 

"I blew it and I will take the loss," he said. "I should have sent him. Not hold him up, but you live with your decisions. I told the team to hold your heads up. You battled the whole game.

After an intentional walk and strikeout, the Tigers' inning ended without a score.

Mt. Pleasant used the momentum swing to score and win the game 5-4 in extra innings.

Tigers deserved a better fate

The Tigers deserved a better fate, they pitched and played well offensively. Starting pitcher Aidan Sylvia struck out seven while yielding one hit, four walks and four runs in five innings, while Mercer struck out five while giving up two hits, three walks and a run in three innings of relief work.

Offensively, Chouinard singled and drove in a pair of runs. Tyler Riendeau doubled, scored and drove in two runs. Leadoff hitter Sylas Carlile stole second base and scored in the first inning on a pair of ground outs. Alex Monkevicz and Riendeau scored in the second, and James Conley followed suit in the sixth inning as Tiverton came back to tie the game 4-4. 

But defensive troubles, which have plagued them during the first half of the season, continued — The Tigers have have given up a whopping 86 runs in their first nine games while scoring just 37 runs.

Still, Coach Pieroni said the team is giving him everything he's asked for even if the results haven't come.

"They are hard working and do everything I ask," he said. "The senior group are a great group of young men. They have been great with the younger kids especially the freshman. putting in extra work with them. Hitting grounders and teaching them what it takes to play varsity. I had the junior players as sophomores last year while coaching JV. The sophomores were raw and hadn't played much baseball. But they have worked hard to improve."

Coach Pieroni was an assistant for long time head coach Bob Murray before Covid and talks to the team about the banner that they put up in 2017. 

"I told them the banner we put up in 2017 was started the year before by the 2016 senior group, who showed what it takes and built that foundation. That's what our seniors are trying to build now. A strong foundation to build a winner."

Next up the Tigers travel to North Smithfield on Thursday at 11 a.m. and host PC/St. Pats Co-op on Monday at 4 p.m.