Beverly explodes in eighth to knock off English

LYNN – If Thursday’s Beverly-Lynn English game at Fraser Field was any indication of how the race for the Northeastern Conference/North crown is going to be this season, fans of all the teams in the league should have plenty of antacids and defibrillators at the ready.The Panthers seemed to have it going all their way on Thursday, bolting out to a 6-0 lead through three and a half innings. English then fought back to tie the game at 6-6 before failing to convert on a chance to win the game in the bottom of the seventh.Beverly took full advantage of the second life by pounding out seven runs in the top of the eighth to take a 13-6 win on a chilly afternoon.Click here for a photo gallery.”I really liked the way we played (Thursday),” Beverly coach Dave Wilbur said. “For us to come over here and get a win against a good English team is huge.”Despite being outhit 15-4 in the game, the Bulldogs hung tough and coach Joe Caponigro was happy with that.”I think we showed a lot of grit in coming back the way we did,” Caponigro said. “Beverly is a quality team, well coached and they swing the bats really well. They took advantage of their opportunities.”Beverly (2-1) flashed its opportunistic side from the start against Bulldog (2-1) starter Gabe Smith. After retiring the first two batters of the first easily, he allowed a double to Joe Wioncek to ignite the Panthers.Austin Butler singled and Steve DuBois walked to load the bases. Freshman Harry Brown then drove home two with a base hit to right before designated hitter Chris Mitchell followed with another single to quickly give the Panthers a 4-0 lead.”We were taking batting practice (Wednesday) and Harry hit a couple out and it was like ‘I have to put him in the lineup,'” Wilbur said. “And it paid off (Thursday).”Beverly added to its lead in the third when DuBois reached on an error and came home on a perfectly executed safety squeeze by Steve Wilbur. The Panthers then worked some more two-out magic in the fourth as Butler walked, stole second and raced home on DuBois’ single to center for a 6-0 lead.English, meanwhile, had struggled in the opening innings against Beverly starter Ethan Trowt. The Bulldogs had only Smith’s leadoff single in the first to show for their first three innings of work but in the fourth, English came to life.Dani Vincente reached on an innocent-looking error at the time but it proved to be rather critical later in the inning. After a popout and a Ben Bowden walk, Trowt struck out Brendan Carritte.Instead of being out of trouble, Trowt walked the dangerous Roberto Reyes to spell an end to his day on the hill. Wilbur summoned Mitch Hamor from the bullpen to try to get the Panthers out of the inning.Afterwards, Wilbur admitted it was probably a mistake.”I probably shouldn’t have put Mitch in with that situation,” Wilbur said. “And I take the blame for what happened.”What happened was designated hitter Pat Cullen turning on Hamor’s second pitch and lining a grand slam over the left field fence to make it a brand new ballgame.”I thought we showed some great patience at the plate,” Caponigro said. “Ethan is a tremendous pitcher and he started to get a little wild and we got some runners on for Pat.”The Bulldogs kept charging in the fifth with Hamor still on the hill as Vincente walked with one out and Brian Maynard launched a towering blast to left that deadlocked the game at 6-6.It stayed that way into the seventh thanks to solid relief pitching from Cullen and Mitchell. The Bulldogs had a shot to win the game in the bottom of the seventh as Maynard was at second with one out but Mitchell struck out Bowden and Carritte to send the game to extra innings.The Panthers would pounce in the eighth. Andy Brown singled with one out and Trowt tripled him home to give Beverly the lead for good.A walk was followed by a Butler double that upped the lead to 8-6. DuBois and Harry Brown followed with RBI singles to make it 10-6. Another run would score on an error before Mark Han