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Whittier baseball continues making history

Tuesday, June, 08 By Jeff Hamrick

HAVERHILL — After winning only one postseason game in the previous 23 years, it’s taken the Whittier baseball team only four days to double that total. And the Wildcats just keep advancing into unknown territory.

A masterful two-hit outing by Dillon Ryan and timely hitting powered the second-seeded Wildcats to a 6-0 victory over seventh-seeded Newburyport yesterday afternoon. Advancing to the District 3 North semifinals for the first time in school history, Whittier (17-7) will face Commonwealth Conference rival and sixth-seeded Greater Lowell (16-6) at 4 p.m. Thursday at Lawrence’s Alumni Field.

“I just told them this was the biggest game in Whittier history,” coach Joe Boland said. “They knew that though because we’ve never gone this far. And to beat a team as good as Newburyport in a year that they have a very strong team is pretty impressive. So, I’m pretty thrilled for the kids.”

Ryan baffled Newburyport (17-5) hitters, facing the minimum 20 hitters over the final 6 2/3 innings after stranding runners on first and second in the first. He did allow a base runner in the fifth when he hit a batter and the seventh on a single, but both were clipped on ground-ball double plays.

“I made my whole season pretty much with this one,” said Ryan, who quarterbacked the Whittier football team to the Division 4 Eastern Massachusetts title. “It was my best outing by far all year. I really don’t know what the difference was. I was just trying to keep ahead in the count and staying consistent.”
The senior right hander struck out seven and walked one while throwing 99 pitches.

“That was just an amazing outing,” Boland said. “He was as sharp as he’s been all year. I think he pitched a tremendous game ... He was hitting his spots and I was very impressed.”

The Wildcats took advantage of four Newburyport errors to score four unearned runs with an efficient offense. The biggest damage was done in the third when four hits, including an RBI triple from Nate Frongillo, plated three runs. The only other RBI hit came on a Billy Lafferty single. Sacrifice flies by Andrew Wells in the second and Steve Surette in the fourth and a ground-out by Colby Starner in the sixth contributed to the output. Nate Allen, who singled twice, had two of the Wildcats’ six hits.

“Frongillo’s hit really opened the door for us early,” Boland said. “I think it was better for Dillon to get up a couple runs to work with. We just kept delivering when we needed to.”

It was enough to give Whittier a chance to add to its legacy against Greater Lowell, which split back-to-back games with the Wildcats in early May.

“This was the biggest game until Thursday,” Boland continued. “Hopefully we get that one. We’ll have Lafferty probably on the hill. That changes the infield a little bit, so we’re not as strong defensively. But we have good ball players who can play, and we just need to make a few adjustments.”