PEABODY – Bishop Fenwick baseball coach Russ Steeves was a little concerned coming into his team’s opening round game against Stoneham in the Division 3 North tournament.The concern proved to be nothing more than pre-tournament jitters as first baseman Chad Lessard drove in five runs and three Fenwick hurlers combined on a two-hitter in an 11-0 dismantling of the Spartans.”You look at (Stoneham’s) record of 2-18 but you have to remember they play in a tough (Middlesex) league,” Steeves said. “So I was a little concerned. But the boys came out and took care of business.”Fenwick (16-5) pounded out 16 hits and played near-flawless baseball in the field. The pitching trio of Joe LeVasseur, Derek Feldman and Chris Cotoia teamed to strike out six and allow only a single to Mike Kelly in the first and a double from Danny Chambers in the fifth.”We didn’t have to use a lot of pitching and that’s a good thing,” Steeves said. “Joey is 7-0 on the year now as a No. 3 guy. And you need three good pitchers to win this tournament.”Fenwick didn’t waste much time in getting started against Spartan starter Mike Andrews as Lessard drove in the first two of his five RBI when he singled home Dave Ruggiero and Mike Davis for a 2-0 lead after one.”We wanted to hit well and get some runs early so our pitchers could rest for later,” Lessard said.Fenwick kept swinging a hot bat in the third, pounding out five more hits against Andrews.Ruggiero led off with a single, swiped second and scored easily on Lessard’s double to right. Catcher Brian Burke followed with an RBI single that increased the lead to 4-0 before he would leave with a twisted ankle rounding third on a Mike LaChance single later in the inning.”We did three things really well (Saturday). We pitched well, we played good defense and we had timely hitting,” Steeves said.The Crusaders put the game away an inning later, scoring seven times on six hits and an error.Lessard had a 2-run double and Gianni Esposito, replacing Burke behind the plate, added a two-run homer. Mike Cipriani and Mike Davis also drove in runs.
