Thu, May 15, 2014
04:00 PM @
Central Catholic
| Team |
1 |
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3 |
4 |
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Final |
| Andover |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
5 |
| Central Catholic |
0 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
Becht lifts Central over Andover
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NORTH ANDOVER — When your baseball team is 4-9, teetering on extinction when it comes to the state tournament, and Andover's Alex Brickman takes your best fastball and launches it some 390-feet the other way for a 2-run homer in the seventh, it might just be time to panic.
"All I did was treating like a new start to the inning," said Central Catholic senior Evan Becht, who like the rest of the afternoon simply refused to buckle.
Still nursing a two-run lead, Becht finished the job, closing out Andover and pumping a little life into the Raiders with a 7-5 victory.
The win kept Central's playoff hopes alive at 5-9 — they'll need to take five of the final six to qualify. It also dented the hopes of the Warriors, who are 8-7 with five games left.
"It's obviously not the start we were looking for or the spot we wanted to be in," said Becht, who was making only his second mound start of the year and suddenly looms huge in the Raiders' mound plans over the season's final nine days.
"We're hanging in there. You could say that we're playing with nothing to lose, and things can only get better."
Becht battled, and that's all Central could have asked for as the Raiders piled up 11 hits in the first four innings.
Sizzling Eddie Orkney, now 7 for his last 13, stroked a pair of doubles for Central, scoring twice and driving in two more. Becht was 3 for 3 himself and battery mate Mike Goglia added a pair of RBI singles as the Raiders built a quick 5-0 lead through three.
Becht gave up three runs in the Warrior fourth but shut it down there, stranding Warriors at second and third and allowing the Raiders to tack two back on in the bottom of the frame for a 7-3 advantage.
"I've never really been a pitcher for this team before, but this has been pretty exciting," said Becht, who finished with a seven-hitter, striking out a pair and walking one. "I'm just trying to take it pitch by pitch. Under the lights last week, I was just pitching on adrenaline, and it carried into today."
Andover junior Gabriel Hernandez gave the Warriors something to rally around with 2.1 scoreless innings of one-hit relief. Six of the seven outs he recorded were via the strikeout. But the damage had been done.
The Warriors did find a way to slow down Central hit machine Kevin Regan (0 for 2), but the senior, now batting an even .500 on the year, was hit twice and scored a pair of runs.
Central remains optimistic that a chance to qualify remains despite the daunting task ahead.
"It's a long road, but I wouldn't call it intimidating," said Becht.
TOURNEY CHASE
Both Andover High and Central Catholic remain in the hunt to try and qualify for the Division 1 North tourney.
Each is hunting that elusive 10th win that will lock up a spot.
Here's a look at the road that remains for each:
Andover (8-7)
Saturday, hosts Central
Wednesday, hosts Bishop Guertin
Thursday, hosts Salem, N.H.
Sunday and Monday, at Peabody Tourney
Central (5-9)
Saturday, at Andover
Sunday, at North Attleboro
Monday, host Bishop Fenwick
Wednesday, host North Attleboro
Saturday, host David Prouty
Sunday, host Drury
Game Statistics:
Andover (5): Chris Nicholas rf 4-0-1, Tim Awiszus cf 4-1-1, Alex Brickman dh 4-1-2, E.J. Perry IV c 4-0-0, Quinn McCarthy 2b 3-0-0, Colin Flynn ph 1-0-0, Jack Cox lf 4-1-0, Gabriel Hernandez ss/p 2-1-1, Frank Potts 3b 3-1-1, Patrick Pengeroth 1b 3-0-1, Sam Bennett p 0-0-0, Dan Walsh ss 0-0-0, Totals 32-5-7
CC (7): Cody Demers 2b 4-1-1, Jon Panaro ss 3-1-1, Kevin Regan cf 2-2-0, Eddie Orkney rf 4-2-2, Stephen Jaskelevicus rf 3-0-1, Kyle Plocharczyk dh 3-0-1, Michael Goglia c 3-1-2, Evan Becht p 3-0-3, Mike Mercuri 3b 3-0-0, Jon Parsons 1b 0-0-0, Totals 28-7-11
RBI: A — Nicholas, Brickman 2, Potts, Pengeroth; CC — Orkney 2, Jaskelevicus 2, Goglia 2, Becht
WP: Becht (7 ip, 5 er, 7h, 1bb, 2k); LP: Bennett (3.2 ip, 7er, 10h, 0bb, 1k); also Hernandez (2.1 ip, 0r, 1h, 0bb, 6k)
