Baseball: Bulldogs hold off late Danvers rally

One quality of a good team is the ability to win when it isn’t playing its best game. On Thursday in Danvers, the Lynn English baseball team had one of those moments.When it counted most, the Bulldogs found a way to gut out a 7-5 win on the road against the Falcons.”That was a very good win,” English coach Joe Caponigro said. “I know Danvers is having a down year but, they played excellent. I can’t say enough about how they battled.”The way things started it looked like English (11-1, 9-1 Northeastern Conference) was going to have another comfortable day at the ballpark as it jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first on RBI from Eric Bransfield, Roberto Reyes and Brian MaynardEnglish tacked on another run in the second on a throwing error to make it 4-0 before the Falcons (2-10) rallied to tie the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the fourth.The Bulldogs went back in front for good in the fifth as Dani Vincente’s two-out single scored Bransfield and Reyes to make it 6-4. Danvers cut the lead back to a run in the bottom of the fifth when Kyle Larson stole home.English tacked on an insurance run in the seventh when Maynard singled with two outs and scored on a Vincente triple.Jonathan Surette got the win, striking out six and scattering six hits.”He didn’t want to give up the ball,” Caponigro said. “The fourth inning was a little bit choppy, but he gritted it out.”St. Mary’s 14, Marian 1At Breed Middle School, the Spartans (10-3, 9-2 Catholic Central League) didn’t have to wait until the Clancy Tournament to clinch a tournament berth as it locked up a Division 3 North spot with the win.”The kids set out to do this and have done a great job,” Spartans coach Derek Dana said.St. Mary’s broke the game open with four runs in the third inning and six more in the fourth, capped by a Nick Day grand slam.Day drove in five runs while Angelo Codispoti was 2-for-2 with three RBI. Justin Sharkey was 3-for-3 with two runs scored and Alex Fiste was 2-for-2 with two RBI and two runs scored.Jeremy Tranfaglia went the first four innings to pick up the win, striking out six. Freshman Sean Buckland struck out five in two innings of relief.The Spartans host Arlington Catholic on Saturday (4) at Fraser Field in a battle for the top spot in the CCL.Marblehead 5, Classical 2At Seaside Park in Marblehead, Dan Comeau’s two-run double with two out in the bottom of the sixth broke a 2-2 tie and made a winner out of Eric Steen, who needed only 76 pitches to go the distance on the mound.”We got a lot of two out hits and that was big,” Marblehead (7-6, 7-3 NEC) coach Jason Tarasuik said. “And Eric stepped up and pitched great.”Comeau finished the game 3-for-4 with three RBI while Brandon Lee was 3-for-3 with a run scored. Evan Comeau also drove in a run for Marblehead.Classical (3-9) got a double and an RBI from Wilson Mercado and an RBI double by Eddie Terrero in a 2-run sixth inning that tied the game.Peabody 14, Winthrop 5At Bezemes Field in Peabody, the Tanners (12-3, 10-1 NEC) rattled off 11 runs over the first two innings and never looked back. Ryan English led the Peabody offense with three RBI while Pete Sucharewicz was 2-for-2 with a two-run homer in an eight-run second inning.Marc Finocchio, Tom Ciulla and Joey Gruntkosky had two hits each for Peabody. Jared Shields went the first four innings to get the win on the mound.Rockport 14, Lynnfield 6At Lynnfield, the Pioneers (4-11) were eliminated from state tournament contention with the loss. Garrett McNeill had three hits and John Caruso belted a three-run homer for Lynnfield.