Falcons roll to win over Swampscott

DANVERS – This isn’t the Danvers baseball team of a year ago, folks.The 2010 version of the Falcons is a throwback to all the things that got Danvers baseball its legendary reputation.On Monday at Twi Field, the Falcons flashed brilliant defense; got timely hits; stole bases and got outstanding pitching to take a 10-0 win over Swampscott in an NEC South battle.”We have been playing good defense all year,” Danvers coach Roger Day said. “And we got a couple of big hits when we needed them. When you put those together, it usually means good things.”Despite being held to only four hits by Danvers hurlers Connor Kelleher and Scott Hovey, the Big Blue had plenty of chances when the game was still within reach. Time and again, though, the Falcon defense came up with huge plays to thwart rallies.”Danvers played great defense,” Swampscott coach T.J. Baril said. “They took away a couple of base hits that would have given us runs and you have to give them credit for that.”Kelleher had the Big Blue off balance for most of his six innings of work, holding Swampscott to four hits. And when the Big Blue did put it in play, the Falcons caught it.”That’s what you get from Connor. He goes out there and battles,” Day said. “He hangs in tough and is always around the zone.”After putting two on with one out in the first, Swampscott failed to get a run across. The Falcons then threatened immediately in the bottom of the first as Mike Harris led off with a triple.A one-out walk to Kyle Larson put runners on the corners and set up the game’s first run. Swampscott starter Casey Collins threw over four straight times to keep the speedy Larson close, but on his fifth look over, he committed a balk that allowed Harris to come in from third.The Falcons stayed on the attack as Larson swiped third and scored on Nick Gikas’ 2-out single to left. Eric Burgos followed with a walk as Danvers stole a third run literally with Gikas scoring on the back end of a double steal to make it 3-0.”We’ve been able to do things on the bases with everyone this year, because the guys are a pretty good team,” Day said.Collins settled down nicely after his rough opening inning and kept Danvers in check through the middle portion of the game. Swampscott, meanwhile, knocked on the door twice and came away empty thanks to centerfielder Greg Little.In the third, Mike Walsh’s sinking liner was scooped off the turf by a headfirst dive from Little that saved a run and ended the inning. Two innings later, Little did it again, this time stealing extra bases away from Sean O’Brien on a carbon copy catch.”We hit the ball very hard at times. It just wasn’t finding grass,” Baril said.In the bottom of the fifth, the Falcons effectively put the game away thanks to two errors from the Big Blue.Larson reached on an error to begin the inning. Back-to-back walks to Ryan and Gikas loaded the bases and ended Collins’ night on the bump. O’Brien came in and immediately got Burgos to ground into a 1-2-3 double play.A walk to left fielder Scott Hovey reloaded the bases and Little was hit by O’Brien’s first pitch to bring in a run. Two more runs would score when pinch hitter Greg Ladd reached on an error at second.”We had a couple of plays that we didn’t make and it cost us,” Baril said.Danvers would add four runs in the sixth to close out the scoring.”We still need to hit a little better with guys on but we are playing very good baseball right now,” Day said.