Swampscott bats go quiet in D3 North first round

SWAMPSCOTT – The Swampscott bats went cold against Austin Prep, as Austin Prep defeated Swampscott 9-3 in a Division 3 North first-round baseball tournament game at Swampscott Thursday night.Swampscott coach T.J. Baril was satisfied with his team’s performance despite the result.”My team played very hard today. They made some incredible plays in the field and had some unlucky bounces throughout the game. That doesn’t take anything away from what Austin Prep accomplished. They were phenomenal today and deserve to win this game,” Baril said.Austin Prep sprinted out of the gates with a four-run first inning. The outburst was keyed by a two-run single from pitcher Ryan Harvey and an RBI single by Joe Barry. Austin Prep added another run in the top of the third from a Ryley MacEachern solo homer.The score was 5-0, Austin Prep, in the bottom of the third when Swampscott’s Nick Meninno hit a two-run homer to cut the deficit to 5-2.Austin Prep had a three-run fifth inning to make it 8-2 and put the game away. The three-run fifth was keyed by a two-run single from Barry. Austin Prep coach Steve Busby was very impressed with his team’s performance.”My team played a near perfect defensive game today. They made most of the plays in the field and that helped spark our offense,” Busby said.Harvey had a strong outing on the mound for Austin Prep (5.2 innings, 7 hits, 3 runs, 2 strikeouts, 3 walks, 1 HBP).Leading the way for Swampscott was pitcher Sean O’Brien. O’Brien settled down after a rocky first inning and pitched a solid game (4 innings, 6 runs, 4 earned, 6 hits, 7 strikeouts). Leading the Big Blue offense was: Gino Cresta (2 hits); Frank Legere (1 hit, 1 walk, 1 HBP, 1 run scored) and Trevor Massey (single, 1 RBI). Coach Baril is very optimistic about his team’s future.”We are only losing three guys this year. Granted, they are going to be big holes to fill, but we are in good shape for next year,” Baril said.