Prep bullpen does job in win over English

DANVERS – Balls were flying out of the park at Gibbons Field like they were going out of style on Friday in a Division 1 North opening round game between Lynn English and St. John’s Prep.The teams combined to hit five home runs in the first five and a half innings as English led 7-6 in the sixth. Facing elimination, the Eagles turned to relief ace Dan Eisenberg to shut the door and he did, holding English to one hit down the stretch, allowing his teammates to rally for a 12-7 win and a date with Beverly or Malden Catholic in the quarterfinals on Monday.”Danny did a great job,” Prep coach Pat Yanchus said. “He’s been like that all year for us.”Things started well for the Eagles as Castoldi’s homer in the second broke the ice against Jonathan Surette. In the third, the Bulldogs turned the first of an astounding four double plays to keep the game at 1-0 before Castoldi returned to the scene in the fourth, driving home two more runs on a single to make it 3-0.Prep pitcher Chris Carmain also was cruising, holding English to a single hit over the first four innings. Then in the fifth, the Northeastern Conference’s most explosive offense finally strutted its stuff.Brenden Carritte singled, but was retired on Anthony Ortiz’s fielder’s choice. Esteban Paula followed with a single, but was picked off first by Carmain.Eric Bransfield (2-for-3, four RBI) followed with a single to right that scored Ortiz to make it 3-1. Surette then launched a pitch deep over the center field fence to draw English back even at 3-3 heading to the bottom of the fifth.The Eagles (16-5) responded in turn as a one out walk to Mike Yastrzemski was followed by a towering blast by Carmain on the first Surette pitch he saw to give the Eagles back the lead at 5-3. Surette would exit a batter later after walking Greg Donahue, giving way to reliever Mike Gonzales.Pat Connaughton rudely greeted him with a double to right, scoring Donahue from first to make it 6-3. The rally would get thwarted moments later when Brian Maynard threw Connaughton out at the plate on Kevin Barry’s single to center.”That was a bad coaching move on my part. I probably never should have sent Pat there,” Yanchus said.English came right back in the sixth as Dani Vincente led off with the game’s third home run to make it 6-4. Carmain got the next man but issued a single to Gonzales and hit Ortiz to cause trouble.Paula struck out swinging giving an indication that Carmain might escape. Bransfield, though, had other ideas and laced a 3-run homer to left that put English in front for the first time, 7-6.Two batters later, Carmain was gone in favor of Eisenberg, who came on with runners on second and third. But he got Brian Maynard to ground to COnnaughton at third to end the inning.The Prep then went in front for good in the bottom of the sixth. Castoldi doubled with one out before English made its lone mistake of the game as an error on an Alex Markakis grounder allowed Castoldi to tie the game.Derek Dubois walked and Yastrzemski singled to load the bases. Gonzales struck out Carmain, but issued a walk to Donahue that gave the Eagles an 8-7 lead that they never relinquished.”We came right back and scored two there. That was huge,” Yanchus said. “I think that took a lot of their momentum away.”St. John’s scored three more times in the seventh and a final time in the eighth to put the game away.