Fenwick baseball bows out against Newburyport

LYNN – For the second straight season, the Division 3 North semifinal proved to be the Waterloo of the Bishop Fenwick baseball team.The Crusaders committed four errors against Newburyport on Wednesday at Fraser Field and combined with a standout pitching performance from Clipper ace Ryan O’Connor, it added up to a 3-0 Newburyport win.”Their kid shut us down pretty good and when you make four errors, you don’t deserve to win,” Fenwick coach Russ Steeves said.O’Connor was on his game from the start, mixing his breaking ball and fastball effectively to the tune of six strikeouts, one walk and four hits.”Ryan has had an amazing year,” Newburyport coach Bill Pettengell said.Fenwick’s Mike LaChance was just as good for the Crusaders, holding the No. 2 seed off the scoreboard until the bottom of the fifth.”Mike gave us a chance and we didn’t make the plays behind him,” Steeves said.Newburyport had a runner thrown out at third to end the first when Colby Morris tried to go from first to third on a Matt Mottola single. The Crusaders, meanwhile, couldn’t get anything going against O’Connor.Fenwick stranded a runner at second in the second; saw a runner picked off first to end the third and then had Mike Cipriani line into an inning-ending double play in the fourth.Newburyport also threatened in the fourth, putting runners at first and second before Drew Carter grounded to third to end the inning.An inning later, the Clippers would break the ice.Sam Barlow singled with one out and then stole second base. After a strikeout, Morris delivered a base hit to left to give Newburyport the lead.Fenwick’s Kevin Church then led off the sixth with a single, giving Crusader fans a bit of hope. But Alex Morsey popped up a bunt for the first out. O’Connor then got Dave Ruggiero and Mike Davis to end the inning.”We didn’t execute the bunt when we needed it,” Steeves said. “That’s something we talked about the first day of practice. They executed better than we did.”Newburyport made Fenwick pay for the missed chance in the bottom of the sixth when Connor Wile walked with the bases loaded to score Brett Fontaine for a 2-0 lead. David Cusack then singled to left with two outs to plate Carter with the game’s final run.