The North Providence Cougars will challenge the Toll Gate Titans at 5:00 p.m. on Monday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (North Providence has six straight victories, Toll Gate has five straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
North Providence is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Rhode Island's top teams: Middletown, who was ranked 14th at the time (North Providence was ranked fifth). The Cougars put the hurt on the Islanders with a sharp 10-2 win on Thursday. That eight run margin sets a new team best for the Cougars this season.
Vin Pontarelli spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered only one earned (and one unearned) run on four hits and racked up six Ks.

Tony Abed
04/17/25 vs Middletown | 2 |
04/02/25 vs East Greenwich | 1 |
05/24/24 @ St. Raphael Academy | 1 |
05/14/24 vs Chariho | 1 |
05/13/24 vs Johnston | 1 |
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Tony Abed, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with two RBI, one run, and one double. Those two hits gave him a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Ronnie Paux, who went 1-for-2 with two runs and one RBI.
Prout hit Toll Gate with a four-run sixth inning on Friday, which goes a long way in explaining the final result. The Titans lost 10-1 to the Crusaders.
Toll Gate saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Oliver Chavez, who went 2-for-3 with one stolen base and one RBI. That RBI was Chavez's first of the season.
North Providence's victory was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 6-0. Those home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 6.1 runs over those games. As for Toll Gate, their defeat dropped their record down to 1-7.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Monday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. North Providence has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.8 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Toll Gate struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.4 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one. Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more baseball content.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps