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Lawrence Lancers Baseball '11

Fri, May 27, 2011 07:30 PM @ North Andover
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Final
Lawrence 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2
North Andover 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 3
CARL RUSSO/Staff photo. The North Andover High Knights defeated the Lawrence High Lancers 3-2 to win the 30th. Annual Lawrence Invitational Baseball Tournament championship game Friday night. North Andover celebrates its victory. North Andover's pitcher, Mike Weisman was the tournament's MVP. 5/27/2011.  » Staff PhotographerMore photos

Knights win first Invite since '86; Weisman edges Mendez in thriller

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LAWRENCE — A disappointed onlooker three straight times, Mike Weisman wasn't about to let this opportunity to make history slip through his grasp.

"I've played in this tournament four years, and up until this year, we really hadn't been close," said the North Andover High senior lefty. "So yeah, this one was big to me and to all of us."

Moments earlier, Weisman and the Knights nipped Lawrence, 3-2, in a mound duel with Vic Mendez that went to the final out, claiming the 30th Lawrence Invitational Tournament — North Andover's first title in the event since 1986.

Voted the tourney MVP, the Columbia-bound southpaw Weisman struck out 13 in a four-hitter with just two walks.

For five scoreless innings, Weisman flashed his dazzling stuff. The final two frames testified to his grit, determination and even good fortune.

Down 3-0, the Lancers scratched for a pair of runs, loading the bases on a Darwin Brito double and a pair of hit batters before a Mendez infield single and a Knight error.

But Weisman pitched out of the mess with back-to-back strikeouts.

In the seventh, he made just one mistake, leaving a belt-high fastball up. Lancer Hector Perez blasted a shot to deep-center. The night before with the wind blowing out, we would have been tied.

"I talked to it a little bit," said Weisman, who watched the double just fall inside the fence.

Weisman then ended it, inducing whiff No. 13 and a tapper to the box to ignite the Knight celebration.

"He had to be that good," said North Andover coach Todd Dulin, who had made the finals before as a player but not in his five years as a coach. "Vic's so tough. He's nasty. He just keeps coming at you with that slider."
Mendez had his way with the Knights, pretty much from the opening pitch.

What the Lawrence senior didn't have was help from his defense.

North Andover's two first-inning runs came without a ball leaving the infield on a hit, a walk and a pair of Lancer errors.

Weisman doubled to lead the third, but he too would have been stranded, had it not been for Lawrence's third throwing error in as many innings.

Suffering his first loss of the year, Mendez allowed three hits and struck out 10.

"The good thing is it's not the state tournament, and we come right back tomorrow (3:30 at BC High)," said Lancer coach Brendan Neilon. "Vic was great and deserved better. We had every chance in the world to win it, and we just didn't get it done."

For the second straight night a southpaw had the Knights faithful murmuring about a potential no-hitter.

Weisman mowed down 12 of 13 hitters he faced in four innings, allowing his only walk. But with two out in the Lancer fifth, Ricardo Matos smacked a clean single up the middle to deny the no-no.

David Foote and Cam Couillard had the only other Knight hits in the win.

North Andover, assured of the top seed in Division 2 North at 18-1 and 13-0 in the Cape Ann League, closes out the season Monday morning at home against Masconomet in a non-league affair.

The Lancers head to BC High at 14-4.

In the consolation game, Tewksbury had its way with Methuen, 8-3.

Sean McCarthy pitched the win and helped his own cause with a grand slam.

Tewksbury moved to 9-10, while the Rangers fell to 7-12.

 

 

Game Statistics:

North Andover (3):  David Foote cf 4-0-1, Cam Couillard ss 4-1-1, Mike Weisman p 2-2-1, Alec Jillson dh 3-0-0, Tyler Leavitt rf 2-0-0, Brandon Walsh c 2-0-0, Dom Nicolosi 3b 3-0-0, Dan Laorenza 1b 3-0-0, Griffin Coakley 2b 2-0-0, Rick O'Connor ph 1-0-0, Jason Keshian lf 0-0-0, Totals 26-3-3 

Lawrence (2):  Juan Ventura cf 3-1-0, Jose Cedano c 2-0-0, Edwin Brito 3b 3-0-0, Vic Mendez p 3-0-1, Anthony Rodriguez ss 3-0-0, David Quezada lf 2-0-0, Ricardo Matos dh 1-0-1, Felix Guilamo pr 0-0-0, Alberto Abreu ph 1-0-0, Hector Perez 1b 3-0-1, Darwin Brito rf 3-1-1, Totals 25-2-4

RBI:  L — Mendez; NA — none

WP: Weisman (7 ip, 1er, 4h, 1bb, 13k); LP:  Mendez (7 ip, 0er, 3h, 2 bb, 10k)

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