Baseball: Prep’s Connaughton hurls no-no over Arlington

The high school baseball season may be only two weeks old but no-hitters are beginning to become quite commonplace.On Monday, Notre Dame-bound Pat Connaughton put his name on that list with an absolutely dominating performance in his hometown of Arlington. The senior right-hander struck out 14 and walked only two as the St. John’s Prep Eagles beat the Spy Ponders, 5-0.”No-hitters are not too frequent, but they seem to be happening a lot lately,” joked Prep coach Pat Yanchus. “Pat certainly had the fastball going.”Connaughton topped out at 94 MPH on the radar guns and did not allow a single ball to leave the infield yet the effort nearly went unrewarded as the game was scoreless into the fifth.The Eagles broke through to finally take the lead in the fifth and never looked back. Dillon Gonzalez was 2-for-3 with an RBI while Joe Kurpes and Zach Sklar also drove in runs. Tyler Coppola was 2-for-4 with a double.Shortstop Justin Peluso came up with three clutch plays to keep Connaughton’s bid alive.”In a dominant performance like that, you can see it end on infield hits sometimes,” Yanchus said.St. Mary’s 11, Arl. Cath. 8At Arlington, it was a wild one as the Spartans (5-0, 3-0 Catholic Central League) scored six times in the fourth inning to break the game open before surviving a late Cougar charge.Alex Fiste led the offense, going 2-for-3 with a homer and three RBIs. Nick Day drove in three runs while Matt Turmenne went the first five innings to get the win.Kurtis White picked up the save as he closed things out in the seventh.”Getting a road win in this league is never easy, especially at Arlington Catholic,” St. Mary’s coach Derek Dana said.Peabody 10, English 1At Bezemes Diamond in Peabody, Tom Burns carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before English’s Ben Bowden led off with a single.Burns pitched six full innings with six strikeouts before Nate Allen came on to finish things in the seventh. Peabody (1-3) led throughout, breaking the game open with a four run third inning to take a 6-0 lead.Ramses Vittini was 3-for-4 with three RBI and three runs scored for the Tanners. Genaro Ciulla was 2-for-2 with an RBI and Wes Sanders was 2-for-3 with a run scored.Swampscott 14, Saugus 12At Swampscott, the Big Blue (1-3) were the last ones standing in the firework filled affair. Gino Cresta drove in three runs and came up a homer short of hitting for the cycle for Swampscott.Mike Walsh had three hits, including a homer, three RBI and scored four times. Justin Perry had a homer and drove in four as the clubs combined for six long balls.Danvers 8, Winthrop 6A Twi Field in Danvers, Nick Gikas’ 2-run double with two outs in the fifth was the difference as the Falcons stayed unbeaten at 4-0.Scott Hovey was 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI and the save on the mound. Ray Arocho was 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBI for the Falcons.Beverly 11, Revere 10At Revere, the Panthers (3-2) had a 10-3 lead before staving off a last ditch comeback from the Patriots. Joe Wioncek led the way with three hits and a homer. Anthony DiOrio also had three hits while Andy Brown, Harry Brown and Mitch Hamor had two hits apiece.