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ANDOVER - Big-time pitching eases growing pains. So does clutch hitting. A day after getting blindsided, 15-1, by Dracut, the Andover High baseball team got both and took its frustration out on Central Catholic, 11-4, yesterday at Aumais Park. "Dracut destroyed us," said Warrior righty Shawn Carlson, who spent his five innings of work pounding the strike zone and lighting up the radar guns with an 88-91 mph fastball. "Today we came back with a little anger. This one was truly important. This is the best team we've seen so far." A two-game hole in the MVC large would have been the price exacted for an Andover loss. Instead, the Warriors move to 1-1 in the league, just like defending champion Central. Carlson, now 2-0, personified power on the hill, registering 13 of his 15 outs via the strikeout. "I'm used to the guns by now," said Carlson, who walked two and gave up six hits. "I thought I was throwing hard but my slider really helped me today." Central did touch him up for four runs on six hits, including a spectacular broken-bat two-run homer off the scoreboard in left by Tim Wheeler, but Carlson got some help, too. Twice, Alex Patti drew bases-loaded walks. Andrew Ruiz-Henriquez chipped in a two-out RBI hit as the Warriors took advantage of 11 free passes (9 walks, 2 hit batters) on the day. Leadoff man Jake Ponti was all over the basepaths with two hits, two RBIs and three runs scored. Ruiz-Henriquez had a pair of hits, and Patti reached safely in all four trips to the plate. After Carlson left, William & Mary-bound John Farrell got his turn, working the final two scoreless frames, adding three more strikeouts, 16 on the day.

Andover starter John Farrell took a no-hitter into the sixth inning before giving up back-to-back singles in the Golden Warriors' 5-1 victory over Chelmsford. Farrell earned the win while fanning seven and giving up just one earned run in 5 1/3 innings of work. John Hennessy and Erik Riemer each drove in a pair.

NORTH ANDOVER - A North Andover guy through and through, Ryan Sifferlen understood the enormity of the situation.
Knight wins over arch-rival Andover, in any sport, are hard to come by.
"I think we might have beaten them in football my freshman year, but that's the last time I've beaten them," said Sifferlen, who got the Knights out of a two-out, two-on jam with one pitch in the sixth then tossed a scoreless seventh for the save in North Andover's 10-7 upset of the No. 3 rated Division 1 team in Eastern Mass.
"You have to be ready when you're number is called. It's been a while, and it feels really good."
The Knights move to 2-0 with their first baseball win over Andover since 2003.
A 12-inning affair Wednesday, plus a return date Saturday morning with Cambridge, forced Warrior coach Ken Maglio to a handful of untested arms with Shawn Carlson and John Farrell resting.
"We're young, and it's early," said Maglio. "We have to see what we've got."
Together the teams racked up 25 hits and also stranded 26 on base.
The Knights were just a bit more efficient.
Sifferlen and slugging sophomore Alec Jilson (3 RBIs) each had three hits. Frosh Brandon Walsh tripled in one run and singled home another for the Knights, who capitalized on 11 walks by Andover pitching.
"I think we're very good," said Sifferlen, a three-year starter who comes into the season with a .333 career average. "We have all the tools here to be a very good team. And a win like this builds so much confidence."
The Warriors, who needed 12 innings to scratch a run across against the Cantabs, were on the board with two swings in the first yesterday, a Jake Ponti single followed by Alex Patti's triple to right.
Each had three hits in the loss, while John Hennessy, Dan Gusovsky and Vince Bellino all had two.

Andover third baseman Alex Patti drove a line drive between shortstop and third base, scoring C.J. Leary in the top of the twelth inning to give the Golden Warriors a 1-0 win over Cambridge in 12 innings. Golden Warriors co-aces Shawn Carlson and John Farrell each tossed six innings, with Carlson picking up the win.