Baseball: Gruntkosky does it with arm and bat in win over Beverly

Count Peabody squarely in the race for the Northeastern Conference’s North division title.On Wednesday at Cooney Field in Beverly, the Tanners turned to their ace, Joey Gruntkosky, against the powerful Panther lineup. All the senior did was strike out 12, allow only four hits and belt a 3-run homer to lead Peabody to a commanding 9-1 win.”It was a pretty good day for the kid,” joked Peabody coach Mark Bettencourt. “He did a nice job of keeping them off balance all game. And that’s hard to do against a team that hits like Beverly does.”Peabody (3-1, 1-0) got going early in its conference opener as it scored twice in the top of the first and added a run in the second. Beverly (2-2) cut the lead back to a pair in the fourth on Joe Wioncek’s RBI single.The Tanners then blew the game wide open in the fifth with one swing of Gruntkosky’s bat that made it 6-1. Peabody would add three runs in the sixth, two coming on Bobby Losanno’s double.”This was a big conference game for us and we had to come in and be prepared to play well,” Bettencourt said. “The kids came ready to play today and I was pleased with how we performed.”Losanno was 3-for-4 at the dish while Genaro Ciulla and Ramses Vittini each went 2-for-4. Peabody is back in action Friday morning (10) when it travels to Fraser Field for a game with Lynn English.English 5, Salem 3At Fraser Field, it was far from a thing of beauty for the Bulldogs (3-1, 1-1 NEC North) but Dani Vincente’s solo homer in the bottom of the sixth broke a 3-3 tie and helped English overcome four errors in the field.The Bulldogs took a 3-0 lead in the fourth against Salem starter Sean Linehan as Vincente tripled home Eric Bransfield and scored on Roberto Reyes’ RBI single. Brian Maynard scored later in the inning on a passed ball.Salem clawed back with a run in the fifth on an RBI double from Linehan and then tied the game with two unearned runs against Sam Hill in the sixth. Hill went the distance, allowing six hits and one earned run.Danvers 11, Swampscott 3At Swampscott, the Falcons (4-0) continued their resurgent play as Greg Ladd shut down the Big Blue (0-3) for most of the game.”Danvers is back to form,” Swampscott coach T.J. Baril said. “Historically, they are a team that takes advantage of every chance and they did that (Wednesday).”Ladd struck out nine and issued only one walk. Nick Gikas powered the offense for Danvers, going 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBI. Mike Harris was 3-for-4 with two RBI and Zach Ryan had a pair of hits and drove in two runs.Mike Walsh was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI and a solo homer for the Big Blue.Fenwick 10, Matignon 1At Matignon, Zack Brian got the win for Fenwick, going five innings, giving up three hits and striking out seven.Bryan Church had a two-run homer with two RBI, Alex Morsey was 3-for-3 with three doubles and three RBI, and Mike Davis was 2-for-3 with two RBI.The Crusaders host Arlington Catholic Friday at 1 and Gloucester Saturday (2) and are at Austin Prep Sunday (2).Marblehead 4, Saugus 3At World Series Park in Saugus, the Magicians (1-3) were down 3-0 after four innings but rallied for four runs in the fifth to grab their first win of the season.”We had to come from behind and I think it was good for us to do that,” Marblehead coach Jason Tarasuik said. “We finally put it together a little bit (Wednesday).”Jake Kulevich was 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored while Dan Colbert’s 2-run single with two outs in the fifth put the Magicians ahead for good. Evan Comeau went the distance to get the win, striking out nine and scattering five hits.