RallyNorth.net

It's days like yesterday that make Gloucester High School baseball coach Joe Orlando wish his team's home field didn't have dimensions suited for the Little League World Series.

Hosting 19th-seeded Arlington in the preliminary round of the Division 1 North state tournament, the No. 14 Fishermen were victimized by the short right field fence at Nate Ross Field, which sits just 295 feet away from home plate down the line. The visiting Spy Ponders erupted for five home runs (all falling behind the right field wall), en route to a 19-11 football score-like victory over the Fishermen.

For the second time this season, the Danvers High baseball team was forced to watch their arch rivals celebrate on the baseball diamond.

Host Gloucester completed a season sweep of the Falcons last night by taking a 5-3 decision. Danvers head coach Roger Day could only tip his cap to his opponent afterwards.

At the start of a tough week with four games in it, Fishermen senior pitcher Kyle Habecker gave his teammates and coaches exactly what they needed: quality innings.

"It was a very solid performance," said Gloucester (7-6) head coach Joe Orlando about Habecker. "He kept them off-balance and most importantly, he ate up the innings."

Don't count the Gloucester baseball team out of the postseason quite yet.

The Fishermen continued their march back to .500 with an 8-5 victory over Lynn Classical in eight innings yesterday afternoon. Gloucester, which has struggled to play consistent ball throughout the season, has now won two straight games to raise its record to 5-6.

At the halfway point of the spring season, the Gloucester High School baseball team is in desperate need of wins.

Unfortunately, Gloucester's schedule isn't doing it any favors, and neither are the recent powerhouse ballclubs that the Fishermen have been facing.

Senior left-hander Jack Leathersich allowed just five hits and struck out 12 for his third win in four decisions as the host Panthers walloped Gloucester, 7-1, at Brother Roberts Field.

Leathersich also helped himself offensively with a 2-run homer to pace the Panthers (7-3).

After watching his team cough up late leads in two straight losses, Gloucester junior second baseman Ross Carlson made sure it wouldn't happen a third time.

Carlson's RBI single with two outs plated junior first baseman Trevor Curley (2 for 4, two runs) to give the Fishermen a much-needed 6-5 upset victory over Swampscott (1-5) in eight innings at Nate Ross Field. With the win Gloucester improved to 2-4, a better record than the Big Blue, who came into the season as a Northeastern Conference favorite.

There is no quit in this Salem High baseball team.

The Witches, who trailed by five runs in the fifth inning at Gloucester yesterday, rallied behind Harry Noone and Ben Henderson for an 11-8 triumph over the Fishermen for their third straight win.

It's safe to say the Gloucester baseball team didn't start the season the way they would've liked to.

The Fishermen fell to Masconomet and Winthrop by a combined score of 26-4 in their first two games of the spring. However, Gloucester took a step toward righting the ship yesterday with a 4-2 win on the road at Saugus. Junior lefty Brett Smith gave the Fishermen (1-2) a much-needed quality start on the mound, going 6 2/3  innings and striking out six.

The tough early schedule has taken its toll on the Fishermen, as they fell to 0-2 on the young season. Center fielder Ross Carlson had three hits and Brett Cahill added two hits to lead the way for Gloucester.