Baseball: English pulls out win in ninth inning

The Lynn English baseball team could look back at Friday’s game with Danvers at Fraser Field as one that could be very pivotal in its season.After trailing basically all game to resurgent Danvers, the Bulldogs fought back to tie the game with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and then won the game in the ninth on Dani Vincente’s single that scored pinch runner Randale Lora for a 10-9 win.”This game really was like a heavyweight fight with both teams going back and forth,” English coach Joe Caponigro said. “The kids never caved in and kept battling.”The Bulldogs (6-1) trailed 9-7 entering the bottom of the seventh after tap dancing their way out of a major jam in the top of the inning. Danvers (5-3) had the bases loaded with one out, but saw third baseman Gabe Smith turn a double play to end the inning.Eric Bransfield started the bottom of the seventh with a single and later came around to score on Ben Bowden’s sacrifice fly. Smith then delivered pinch runner Sam Hill with two outs to force extra innings.In the ninth, English loaded the bases with two outs for Vincente, who smacked a single to right to score Lora with the winning run.”I couldn’t be prouder right now of the kids and how they fought back,” Caponigro said.Danvers leapt out to a 3-0 lead before English scored twice in the bottom of the first. English added another run in the third and grabbed the lead in the fourth with four runs.It was 7-5 Bulldogs in the fifth when Nick Gikas unloaded for a grand slam that gave Danvers a 9-7 lead.St. Mary’s 11, Pentucket 1At West Newbury, the Spartans (6-3) rode the stellar pitching of Curtis White, who worked 6 1/3 stellar innings, and an offense that jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first three innings to the win.”We got after it offensively and Curtis was excellent,” St. Mary’s coach Derek Dana said. “He threw a lot of strikes and was very poised in his first start.”Joe Kasper was 2-for-3 with two triples and three RBI while Justin Sharkey and Ryan Barrows each went 2-for-3 with two RBI. Alex Glover had a pair of hits, including a triple.Marblehead 12, Classical 9At Seaside Park in Marblehead, Classical ran out to a 7-1 lead after five innings before the Magicians (4-4) scored 10 times on eight hits in the fifth to grab the lead and win.Colton Dana was 2-for-3 with two RBI and Flynn McCormack was 1-for-2 with two RBI for the Magicians. Dan Colbert got the win in relief with Evan Comeau picking up the save.Peabody 16, Winthrop 5At Bezemes Field in Peabody, the Tanner (6-2, 5-1 NEC North) offense finally came out of hiding, pounding out 17 hits in the win.”We’ve been waiting for this,” Peabody coach Mark Bettencourt said of the offensive explosion. “The bats finally broke out.”Sophomore Genaro Ciulla was the ringleader for the offense, going 4-for-4 with a pair of 2-run homers. He also scored two runs. Jimmy Leavitt; Ramses Vittini; Pete Sucharewicz; Bobby Losanno and Wes Sanders all had two hits.Ryan McCarthy worked the first five innings to get the win on the mound.Gloucester 10, Revere 3At Revere, the Patriots (2-5) had 13 hits, but left 11 men on base and couldn’t overcome a 5-0 deficit early.Chris Adreani had three hits for Revere while Dale Paradise and Brian Robichaud had two hits each.St. John’s (S) 17, St. John’s (D) 2At Gibbons Field in Danvers, the Eagles (4-5) were held to four hits by the undefeated Pioneers. Jacob Barosian, Justin Peluso, Alex Markakis and Pat Connaughton had the Prep hits.