Lincoln tops Barrington to win RI Little League Baseball championship

CRANSTON – Tucker Choiniere performed like a pitcher who had somewhere else to be Saturday – specifically, the upcoming Metro Regional in Connecticut.

His brisk work on the mound and a couple of offensive breakthroughs were all Lincoln needed to reclaim a place atop the state’s Little League baseball mountain.

Hugo Fiero knocked in Milo Sheridan with the winning run and Choiniere handled the rest on a steamy afternoon at Varrato Field on Aug. 1. Lincoln completed its trip out of the one-loss bracket on its way to something significantly bigger, punching a ticket west, thanks to a 2-1 win over Barrington.

Choiniere needed just 59 pitches and a tidy 65 minutes to complete a gem, and Lincoln will face New York champion Port Washington on Saturday afternoon, Aug. 8, at 4 p.m. at Breen Field in Bristol, Connecticut. It was a first title for the league since 2013, the latest chapter in what was a dynasty for the better part of 15 years beginning in the late 1990s.

“I play hockey, and hockey is not a slow game,” Choiniere said. “I’ve always just been fast and had a pace.”

Lincoln plated the deciding run in the top of the fifth inning when Sheridan bounced a leadoff single up the middle, took second on an infield out and reached third on a wild pitch. He was off on contact when Fiero sent a sharp grounder to first and slid across safely, snapping a 1-1 tie. It was a rare threat against Barrington right-hander Andrew Knychalski, who struck out 12 and was strong in defeat.

“It was hard,” Sheridan said. “But I feel like we got it done, and I’m really happy about it.”

Jackson Lockhart lined a leadoff single to left and eventually scored on a passed ball in the top of the first to give Lincoln a 1-0 edge. Barrington pulled even in the bottom of the second when Sawyer Blanchet ripped a one-out single to left and Rocco Coppolino lashed a two-out single up the middle to make it 1-1. The pitchers controlled the action from there, with Choiniere stranding a runner at third in the fourth on a foul pop to first and a lineout to shortstop.

“It just felt amazing,” Choiniere said. “Everybody was on point today.”

A quick-moving rainstorm forced a Friday night postponement, and Lincoln had to wait a bit longer before duplicating the 2-1 victory it secured in Thursday’s first game of the championship round here. Sheridan came up one out shy of going the distance in that one and was named Most Valuable Player of the event. He was part of a defense that played error-free baseball behind Choiniere, who recorded just two strikeouts.

“He has them making contact,” Sheridan said. “We’ve worked so hard to make it seem so easy when the ball gets hit.”

Lincoln manager Kevin Greene carries a personal link to a dynasty that racked up eight championships and two World Series trips starting in 1999. He's the stepson of the late Randy Hien, the immediately recognizable steward of those great teams and a former coach in the league for 28 years. Greene was 6 years old and in the bleachers for the regionals after that first state crown – he'll return to Bristol this week with a few visible flecks of gray in his beard.

“I sat up in the stands and said, ‘I want to do this someday,’” Greene said. “I didn’t know the next year my mom [Patti] was going to marry the coach.”

Lincoln makes it four District 4 champions in the last five years who went on to claim the state crown, joining Cumberland (2022), Smithfield (2023) and Burrillville (2025). Smithfield went on to add the Metro Region title in Connecticut and became the state’s latest entry in what has been a rather frequent line of World Series visitors over the last three decades. Greene will take his shot after resuming his baseball career as a coach in his early 20s.

“I told these kids before the first game that I love this game again because of them,” Greene said. “I love them to death.

“Going to the ballfield every day and putting in the work, that’s my life now. It’s because of kids like them and how hard they work. They played their butts off."

Lincoln  100 010 – 2 2 0

Barrington  010 000 – 1 5 0

Tucker Choiniere and Harry Mellen. Andrew Knychalski and Sawyer Blanchet.

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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Lincoln tops Barrington to win RI Little League Baseball championship

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