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Whittier nipped in State Vocational semis

Monday, May, 25 By Hector Longo
Staff writer

HAVERHILL - Hopefully, the lessons absorbed yesterday in the 5-4 State Vocational Tournament 5-4 loss to Diman Tech will pay dividends later this week.

Whittier Tech baseball coach Joe Boland is banking on it.

"Hopefully, it is going to help us," said Boland, whose Cats built a 3-0 lead that could easily have been more than paid for it late. "If we could have delivered a hit here or there, we might have taken it. Our kids were really into it. The exposure to a game like this will only help us."

Now 17-4 and awaiting the Division 3 North tourney pairings, Whittier suffered its first defeat at the hands of tech school competition.

Junior righty Dillon Ryan suffered the loss, the victim of a pair of Bengal blasts - a two-run homer by Andrew Ventura in the fourth and Lucas Sousa's three-run shot in the sixth.

"I thought he pitched great," said Boland. "You just can't give up home runs on 0-2 pitches like he did, just a couple mistakes."

Ryan, now 4-4, finished with a seven-hitter, striking out 10 and walking three.

Offensively, the Cats celebrated a milestone day when Steve Clark rapped a single in the seventh. The base hit, Clark's second of the day, was the 100th of his high school career, placing him in the elite company of Wildcat legends Scott LaValley and Steve Aries.

"It's an excellent accomplishment," said Boland, who presented Clark with the baseball and saluted the achievement afterward. "He's been with us four years, and he comes to play every day in practice and in games. Plus, he's a heck of a hitter."

Whittier broke to a 3-0 lead in the third inning with Nate Allen striking the most painful blow, a two-run single.

Diman, now 14-5, resiliently fought back against Ryan to turn the score around at 5-3.

Whittier's Bill Lafferty homered to left, opening the seventh and slicing the deficit to one at 5-4. But the Cats could not move Clark, the tying run any further than second.

Ryan, who has a 3.98 ERA and 64 strikeouts in 51 innings, will again get the ball when the Wildcats open state tourney play later this week.
 

Additional stories:

• Whittier nipped in State Vocational semis
• Whittier nipped in State Vocational semis