Baseball: Peabody’s Ruotolo nearly perfect in win over Classical

For the second time in as many starts, Peabody sophomore Pat Ruotolo flirted with perfection.After carrying a bid for perfection into the sixth inning against Gloucester last Monday, Ruotolo allowed a first inning homer to Classical’s Kyle Devin and nothing else as the Tanners took a 13-1 win at Bezemes Diamond in the first of a back-to-back set against Classical with first place in the NEC North up for grabs.”Those are two of the best hitting teams in the league that Pat has done this against,” Tanners coach Mark Bettencourt said of the efforts from his ace. “To come out and show up the way he did (Wednesday) says a lot about the way Pat is out there.”In his last two starts, Ruotolo has struck out an astounding 30 hitters with his 13 K effort on Wednesday.”(Ruotolo) threw very well. There’s not a lot that we could do against him,” Classical coach Mike Zukowski said.Peabody (8-5, 7-3 NEC North) took the lead in the second and then broke the game wide open with seven runs in the fifth inning. Genaro Ciulla had three hits to lead the Tanner attack with Ramses Vittini; Steve Girolamo; George Tsonis and Matt McIsaac all having two hits.”These are the type of games you play for,” Bettencourt said. “It was a tournament type atmosphere under the lights. We played good defense, got outstanding pitching and hit in the clutch.”Arl. Cath. 10, St. Mary’s 1At Fraser Field, the Spartans (9-3, 6-3 CCL Large) were held to only three hits, two of them by Nick Day, and allowed nine free passes in the loss.Day’s 2-for-3 effort included an inside the park home run. St. Mary’s is back in action on Friday (7) when it hosts Beverly.Gr. Lowell 10, Tech 2At Lowell, Elvis Aquino drove home a pair of runs and Jose Canera was 2-for-2 as the Tigers (1-11) saw this one slip away in the late innings.Beverly 6, English 1At Fraser Field in Lynn, sophomore Cam Rogers threw a one-hitter in his first career start as the Panthers (9-5, 8-4 NEC North) kept pace with Peabody in the NEC North race.Rogers also had an RBI along with Harry Brown. Junior Santos drove home the Bulldogs’ (4-9, 4-8) run in the first inning.Swampscott 9, Gloucester 1At Swampscott, Sean O’Brien drove home three runs and Mike Walsh had a pair of RBIs as the Big Blue (9-5, 8-4) moved within a win of clinching a tourney berth.Nick Meninno scattered five hits in going the route on the mound while also having two hits and an RBI at the plate.Marblehead 9, Winthrop 5At Seaside Park in Marblehead, Colton Dana was 2-for-2 with two doubles and two RBI as the Magicians (9-3, 7-2 NEC South) pulled away down the stretch.Ben Koopman and Will Quigley each had two hits and two RBI for Marblehead.Danvers 11, Saugus 4At Twi Field in Danvers, the Falcons (13-2, 10-2 NEC South) overcame a 3-1 third inning deficit with four runs in both the third and fifth innings. Nick Gikas and Dan Connors had two hits apiece while Greg Little and A.J. Couto each drove home two.Fenwick 14, Williams 1At Braintree, the Crusaders (11-4, 7-3 Catholic Central League/Large) scored 11 times over the first two innings and were never in trouble as they stayed atop the CCL standings.Cam Borrelli drove home four runs and Joe LeVasseur picked up three RBI and got his fifth win on the hill. Chad Lessard, Mike Davis and Dave Ruggiero drove home two runs each.Mald. Cath. 3, St. John’s 2At Malden, Ryan Pantaleo held the Lancers to four hits over six innings but saw an unearned run in the fifth prove to be the difference.Brandon Bingle and Dillon Gonzalez each drove home a run for the 10-4 Eagles.Salem 10, Revere 4At Revere, Ben Kapnis struck out 11 in going the distance on the mound. Jehnsy Troncoso was 3-for-5 with two RBI and three runs scored while Dario Medrano went 3-for-4 with two RBI for the Witches (7-6).