Baseball: Fenwick wins thriller in extras

The Fenwick baseball team found itself down late at home against Central Catholic on Thursday. The Crusaders were able to rally and push the game into extra innings, where Fenwick won in walk-off fashion, 4-3, Thursday.”I expected tonight’s game to be really competitive,” said Fenwick coach Kevin Canty. “When we played them last year it came down to the last inning, and to win a game like this is really big for my guys.”The Crusaders found themselves down 3-1 after five innings. Fenwick battled back and tied the game 3-3 at the end of the sixth inning. It took extra innings to decide the victor, and Fenwick started a rally in the bottom of the ninth. Nick Bona singled and then stole second to get into scoring position. Brian Burke hit a single that scored Bona to end the game. Burke also pitched the final three innings and shut down the Central offense (0 hits, 4 strikeouts, 0 runs).”Burke was great tonight,” Canty said. “He was really the difference for us going home with a win instead of a loss.”Bona finished with three hits and John Oliviera had three hits as well for the Crusaders (2-1).St. John’s 2, St. John’s Shrewsbury 1At Shrewsbury, Prep senior pitcher Brandon Bingel (2-0) only allowed four hits, walked one and struck out 11. He went the distance for the win.”He had his changeup, his slider and his fastball all working. He pitched very well,” Prep coach Pat Yanchus said.The Eagles (4-0) took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Nat Cabral doubled, advanced on an Alex Moore infield single and scored on a fielder’s choice ground ball by Tom Buonopane. St. John’s of Shrewsbury tied the game in the bottom of the third, but in the top of the sixth, the Prep’s Tyler Noe was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored what would be the winning run on a Nick Bragole single. St. John’s of Shrewsbury on had six baserunners. The Prep’s Matt Burt made two excellent plays at shortstop.Lynnfield 6, Ipswich 2At Ipswich, the Pioneers (1-0) won their season opener. Lynnfield senior pitcher Nick Bruno stymied Ipswich all game long (7 innings, 5 hits, 1 walk, 1 earned run). Bruno broke a scoreless tie in the top of the third with an RBI double. A.J. Gallo and Connor Lordan each supplied RBI singles in the inning. Lynnfield led 3-0 at the end of the third. It was a 3-2 game at the end of the fourth, but the Pioneers scored a run in the fifth and two in the sixth to put Ipswich away. Jordan Roper had a solid day at the plate for Lynnfield (2 hits, RBI).Beverly 6, Revere 1At Beverly, Panthers (2-1) pitcher Cam Rogers had the Revere bats guessing wrong all night long (7 innings, 2 hits, 8 strikeouts, 0 earned runs). Leading the way for the Beverly offense was Alex Toomey (2 hits, 2 RBI).