RallyNorth.net

Knights knock off rival Andover

Thursday, April, 09 By Hector Longo
Staff writer

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.