NEC well represented in MIAA baseball

The Northeastern Conference has had an outstanding season on the diamond this year and it showed when the MIAA released the pairings for the North sectional tournaments on Tuesday. Nine of 12 conference teams earned postseason berths, four of them earning top 10 seeds in the challenging Division 1 North sectional.One of those four – English – will be involved in perhaps the marquee matchup of the opening round on Friday when it travels to Gibbons Field in Danvers for a meeting with No. 7 seed St. John’s Prep.”The way we look at it is that you have to beat quality teams to get where you want to go,” English coach Joe Caponigro said. “So why not start with one of those quality teams that has been around for years.”The 10th seeded Bulldogs rattled off 11 consecutive wins to start the season but struggled a bit down the stretch to finish 14-6. With that said, English comes into the tournament with an offense that cranked an astounding 22 home runs during the regular season and off a pair of stellar efforts in the Clancy Tournament.”We had a rough five game stretch there, but the last three games we’ve played pretty good,” Caponigro said. “We talked about it at practice (Tuesday) that this is a big chance for us.”English has been led by seniors Jonathan Surette, Esteban Paula, Richie Arias and Roberto Reyes. Surette, Paula and Reyes were NEC all-stars along with Brian Maynard, who led the Bulldogs with six homers and 28 RBI.English’s task will be by no means easy as it faces a Prep team that posted a 15-5 record in the always challenging Catholic Conference. How tough was that league this season? Malden Catholic is the No. 18 seed in the sectional after spending the first part of the season as the top-ranked team in the state.Caponigro knows that the Eagles will be a huge test for his ballclub.”We’ll go out on Friday and see what happens,” Caponigro said. “I can’t say enough about how hard these kids have worked.”Peabody earned the No. 6 seed in the tourney and will await the winner of Everett/Lowell in the first round on Friday (4) at Bezemes Field. The Tanners, co-champions of the NEC North, come in fresh off a stirring win over defending state champion B.C. High.”That really was a big win for us,” Peabody coach Mark Bettencourt said. “It probably meant the difference in having a bye or playing in a preliminary round game.”The Tanners (15-7) had seven players named as conference all-stars and have gotten the job done without a glamour name on the roster.”We don’t have a superstar but have a lot of guys that are good, hardnosed players,” Bettencourt said. “They have learned how to feed off each other and have done good as a group.”Beverly was the feel good story of the North Shore this season, earning a share of the NEC North title with Peabody and posting the program’s best record in years after an 18-2 campaign. The Panthers lost the flip for the No. 1 seed with Lincoln-Sudbury and will host either Lexington or Malden Catholic on Saturday (2) at Cooney Field.”Being 18-2 is certainly a pleasant surprise, but we knew early on that we had some athletes and good players,” Beverly coach Dave Wilbur said. “And I think that were battle tested because all the teams in the NEC are pretty good.”NEC South champion Gloucester earned the No. 4 spot after going 16-4 in the regular season and will host either Cambridge or Waltham on Friday (4) in the opening round.Division 3 NorthThe St. Mary’s boys head into the tournament flying high following a dramatic win over English in the Clancy Tournament final Monday. Although the Spartans, the No 8 seed with a 14-6 record, will be playing the bottom seed (No. 25 Stoneham) in a Division 3 North preliminary round game Thursday at Fraser Field (4), coach Derek Dana isn’t taking any team for granted.”We were a low seed last year and we were able to win a few games,” Dana said. “You have to respect everyone.”The Spartans were the No. 18 seed last year, but still managed to beat Rockport and O’Bryant befo