Baseball: Beverly rallies late to upend Malden Catholic

Any questions about the legitimacy of the Beverly baseball team’s 18-2 regular-season record got answered in the most dramatic way possible on Saturday at Cooney Field in the first round of the Division 1 North tournament.Facing Malden Catholic, a team regarded by many as one of the favorites to win the sectional, the Panthers trailed 11-5 in the sixth inning. With its season on the line, Beverly proceeded to pull off an amazing comeback.The Panthers rallied for two runs in the sixth, six more in the seventh and an insurance run in the eighth as Andy Brown hit for the cycle to lead Beverly to a 14-11 win over the Lancers and a date today (4) at Cooney with St. John’s Prep in the quarterfinals.”When it was 11-5, our backs were against the wall,” Beverly coach Dave Wilbur said. “And it was either fight or get run out of town, and these kids dealt with adversity and came back.”MC jumped out to a 5-1 lead on the back of homers from Matt Muldoon, Nate Witkowski and Paul Yanakopoulos. The Panthers rallied to tie the game in the fourth before the visitors rattled off the next six runs.The Panthers, though, fought their way back. After cutting it to 11-7 in the sixth, Beverly exploded in the seventh.Matt Lanza opened things with a double and Frankie Messina followed with a 2-run homer that cut the gap to 11-9. Brown, who was 5-for-6 in the game, followed with a homer to make it 11-10.Mark Theriault was hit by a pitch and Joe Wioncek (3-for-5, two RBI) singled before Peter Kallas brought Beverly all the way back with a single. Austin Butler (4-for-6, two RBI) singled and Felix Zamot (3-for-5) completed the outburst with a hit that scored Wioncek and Kallas to make it 13-11.The Panthers added a final run in the eighth before Kallas got the side in the ninth.”It was just an unbelievable comeback,” Wilbur said. “If we had gone 18-2 and gotten hammered, there would have been some questions. But I really think that this win adds to our credibility.”Fenwick 13, St. Clement 0At Peabody, in a Division 3 North first-round game, all nine starters in the Fenwick (16-6) lineup had at least one hit, led by Dale Crispin (4-for-4, 5 RBI), as the Crusaders advanced to meet Newburyport today (4) in the quarterfinals.Tommy Moules got the win as five different pitchers saw action for the Crusaders.Lowell 6, Peabody 4In a Division 1 North first-round game at Bezemes Field in Peabody, the Tanners (17-6) saw their season end for a second straight year against the lowest-seeded team in the field as the Red Raiders shut down the high-powered Peabody offense.”It was not the right day to struggle offensively,” Peabody coach Mark Bettencourt said. “But it says a lot about how good the Merrimack Valley Conference is if this team was 10-10 in the regular season.”Peabody never led as the Red Raiders jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first against Mark Linehan. Brad Piza cut the lead to 2-1 on a sacrifice fly before Lowell upped the gap to 4-1.Jared Shields’ RBI single in the fifth made it 4-2 before Lowell opened the lead back to three on a suicide squeeze. The Tanners cut the gap to 5-4 in the eighth on RBI from Ryan English (2-for-4) and Pete Sucharewicz (2-for-4) before a Red Raider homer in the ninth sealed the win.