Saugus shakes up Division 3 tournament

Dom DiPesa drove in four runs with a double and a home run and Ty Kennedy pitched out of a bases-loaded, no outs jam in the fifth inning as the Saugus High baseball team knocked off top-seeded Madison Park, 8-5, Friday, in a Div. 3 North first round game at Madison Park High in Boston.The 17th-seeded Sachems (8-14) face either Amesbury or Shawsheen Tech in the quarterfinals on Monday (4) at a site to be determined.”We’re a young team that lost six 1-run ballgames, but we’re starting to gel at the right time,” Saugus coach Rich Angelo said.Kennedy’s two-run single helped Saugus take a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but Madison Park answered with three runs in the bottom of the first.The game stayed tied until the top of the fifth when DiPesa hit a double off the fence in left-center to drive in two runs. Coming on in relief, Kennedy struck out the side in the bottom of the fifth, and after Saugus added a run in the sixth, DiPesa blasted a two-run homer in the seventh to make the score 8-3.Madison Park (16-3) scored twice in the bottom of the seventh, but Kennedy held on for the save. Starter Dan Groark picked up the win by allowing three runs in four innings.Whitter 8, Swampscott 7At Haverhill, poor defense was the undoing for the 18th-seeded Big Blue (7-15) in a Div. 3 North first round game.Second-seeded Whittier (17-4) jumped on top early with a five-run second inning, but Swampscott scored fourth in the fifth and two more in the sixth to tie the game at 7-7. Whittier tallied the decisive run in the bottom of the sixth.Matt Barbuzzi led the way at the plate for Swampscott with a home run, a double and five RBI. Mike Walsh had a triple, a single and drove in a run, while Casey Collins had a pair of singles.Sean O’Brien was the tough-luck losing pitcher for the Big Blue.”He pitched great,” Swampscott coach T.J. Baril said. “He did exactly what we wanted him to do and got a lot of groundballs. We just didn’t make the plays behind him.”Baril said Swampscott will miss the leadership of Barbuzzi, O’Brien, Alex Patkin (1-for-4) and Justin Massey, all of whom are graduating seniors.Reading 9, Marblehead 0At Birch Meadow in Reading, the third-seeded Rockets (17-4) picked up right where they left off when the rain came on Thursday by scoring five runs in the bottom of the third inning in a Div. 2 North first round game.The game was halted on Thursday after two innings with Reading leading, 2-0.The 14th-seeded Magicians (10-11) were held to four hits, two of which were singles by Mike Bernato. Dan Colbert also had a double for Marblehead.Matt Temme pitched well in relief for the Magicians, limiting a powerful Reading lineup to just two runs on three hits in the last four innings.Belmont 5, Beverly 4At Harris Field in Belmont, the 10th-seeded Panthers (11-10) wasted a great chance to tie or take the lead in the top of the seventh inning in a Div. 2 North first round game.Trailing, 5-3, Beverly scored once and still had the bases loaded with no outs, but couldn’t push another run across.The Panthers led, 3-0, until seventh-seeded Belmont (14-7) came up with four runs in the bottom of the fourth on a grand slam. The Marauders added an unearned run in the fifth.Austin Butler led Beverly at the plate with two hits and three RBI.Danvers 5, Arlington 3At Twi-Field, the 6th-seeded Falcons (15-6) used a pair of suicide squeezes to spark a three-run rally in the fourth that broke open a tie Div. 2 North first round game.Greg Ladd went the route for Danvers, allowing two earned runs while striking out four.Kyle Larson had an RBI single, while Zach Ryan slammed a double for Danvers, which faces Reading on Monday (4) at Birch Meadow.Gloucester 6, Wayland 4At Gloucester, the 4th-seeded Fishermen (16-5) defeated the 13th-seeded Warriors (10-11). No details of the game were available.BOYS TENNISSt. John’s Prep 5, Methuen 0At Danvers, the Eagles (14-5) had no problem in their Div. 1 North first round match with Methuen, losing a total of six