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Vasquez pitches Lawrence into quarters

Friday, June, 03 By Jeff Hamrick

LAWRENCE — It isn’t uncommon for Yunion Vasquez to throw 120 pitches. But those occasions are rarely nine-inning affairs.

With the senior Vasquez showing uncanny control, allowing only six baserunners in a complete-game performance, fifth-seeded Lawrence ground out a 4-1 victory yesterday over 12th-seeded Cambridge Rindge & Latin in the first round of the Division 1 North tournament.

Once the big-school playoffs start games go nine innings, but Vasquez was more than up to the task, allowing three hits and no earned runs, while walking only one with 12 strikeouts.

“That (120 pitches) is usually the third inning for him,” Lawrence coach Brendan Neilon said in only slight exaggeration. “So that’s pretty efficient for him. His fastball is good enough that he doesn’t have to nibble. He can just pound the strike zone, and that’s what he did.

“All year I think he’s just been over thinking too much. He’s been questioning his fastball because the velocity has gone down a little bit. But tonight was the Yunior we know. He threw strikes and the velocity was back. We knew if we gave him the ball, he’d give us his good stuff.”

Winning for the sixth time in seven decisions, Vasquez struck out eight of the first 12 batters he faced and allowed singles in the second, fourth and ninth, with only one of those batters reaching second base. The run he allowed came in the seventh when he walked the leadoff man, who eventually scored after an error, sacrifice bunt and sacrifice fly, cutting the Lancers’ lead to 2-1. But he stranded a runner at third to end the threat on a come-back grounder. Vasquez went to a three-ball count on only five batters.

 “Since the season started I’ve been thinking about my mechanics,” said Vasquez, who threw 75 strikes. “Coach Neilon has helped with my mechanics and that helps me throw more strikes. My main goal (yesterday) was to throw strikes and work smart.I never wanted to get cocky with the fastball.”

Lawrence, ranked 15th in Eastern Massachusetts, had a chance to blow open the game in the first with a lead-off triple by Juan Ventura, a run-scoring single by Edwin Brito, a double by Vic Mendez and walk to Hector Perez. But the Lancers managed only one run when Brito and Perez were both thrown out attempting to steal.
Brito put the Lancers ahead 2-0 with a lead-off triple that appeared to hang up in the wind and went off the top of the center-field fence before scoring on a wild pitch.

“I was looking fastball, and I got fastball,” Brito said. “Every time I go up to hit I look fastball, fastball, fastball. I thought it was gone. I don’t know what happened to it.”

The Lancers added a pair in the seventh on an RBI double by Brito and a run-scoring grounder by Darwin Brito.

The victory sends Lawrence, which lost in last year’s north championship to St. John’s Prep, into Monday’s quarterfinals against the winner of today’s game between fourth-seeded Peabody and 13th-seeded Malden Catholic.

“Just win the state tournament,” Edwin Brito said when asked what he has his sights set on. “Our biggest goal right now is to win it all. Last year, we were pretty good ... but this year I think we’re going to have a chance at winning it.”