NR’s Warnock silences Swampscott, 6-1

NORTH READING – Senior pitcher Ryley Warnock escaped a potentially damaging first inning, then mastered Swampscott Saturday afternoon, 6-1, as North Reading kicked off its Division 3 state title defense with a solid 6-1 Division 3 North first-round win at Carey Field.Warnock (10-1) struck out seven and scattered three hits in a game that took about an hour and a half to complete. North Reading (19-2) now faces Cape Ann League rival Newburyport (14-7) in a sectional quarterfinal battle of the past two Division 3 state champs Tuesday at 4. Swampscott finished 10-12.”He did it mostly with fastballs. There weren’t a lot of curveballs. We work hard in practice at driving the fastball, but the kid just beat us today,” said Swampscott coach Jason Calichman.While Warnock may never approach the level of success enjoyed by former Hornets star Dennis Livingston, he moved into second place on the program’s all-time win list (27) behind Livingston (30), the former Oklahoma State star and Los Angeles Dodgers first-round draft choice (1984).”You know, he wasn’t feeling too good before the game, then he had that dizzy spell in the first inning and I was thinking ‘oh no.’ But the thing about Ryley is he’s an unbelievable competitor. He stays in there and he simply doesn’t give in,” said North Reading coach Frank Carey.Swampscott reached Warnock for its sole run in the top of the first. Trevor Massey lashed a one-out double to left and came around to score when Ryan January’s grounder to first was botched and thrown away, with January reaching second. At that point, Warnock experienced a dizzy spell, warranting a visit by the trainer and a brief respite. The inning then ended abruptly for Swampscott when Corey Carmody flied out to deep center and January, who tagged and moved to third, was ruled out on appeal for leaving second too early.Warnock then retired 18 of the final 20 Big Blue hitters he faced, yielding only Brendan McDonald’s infield single in the fifth and January’s one-out double in the seventh.North Reading grabbed the lead with a three-spot in the bottom of the second against Swampscott junior Al Wallach. A leadoff walk and error set up the inning, which featured Warnock’s RBI single to center to tie it, 1-1, and Tom Day’s run-scoring double to left-center for the game-winner. Colby Maiola’s bases-loaded walk chased home Warnock with the inning’s final run.North Reading loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth on singles by Day and Keith Linnane and an error. Shane Driscoll walked to force in one run and Eric Gordon broke it open with a two-run single to left to make it 6-1.Wallach went the distance for Swampscott, striking out one while walking three, hitting two and allowing seven hits. Left fielder Carmody made the defensive play of the game, sprinting for a backhanded stab of Ryan Sanborn’s drive down the left field line in the fifth inning.”Al’s worked hard all season and I thought he kept us in the game today. We just didn’t do much to help him out,” said Calichman. “This team was certainly resilient and our seniors led by example throughout the year. This season gave us a chance to get our program in place. Now the kids coming back have to play in the summer.”