Spartan baseball team loses heartbreaker

LOWELL – St. Mary’s seemed to be winning the battle of nerves.In last night’s Division 3 North championship contest against Whittier, the Spartans took advantage of hit batters and errors to creep out to a 2-0 lead. But that’s when Wildcat ace Andrew Wells found himself on the mound, quieting the St. Mary’s bats as his own came alive.The comeback was completed in the bottom of the seventh inning when ninth hitter Connor Manning reached on a leadoff two-base throwing error and scored on Nate Frongillo’s line single to right field, giving Whittier another comeback victory, this time 4-3.”Wells was amazing, he’s one of the best pitchers around,” said Wildcat head coach Joe Boland. “He kept his composure when his pitches went a little flat in the first couple of innings and really battled back.”Wells finished with a five-hitter, striking out five, hitting one batter and walking none.His biggest save of the night came in the third inning. After a one-out single from Christopher Butler (two hits on the night), Justin O’Blenes reached on a fielder’s choice with an infield error and Victor Molle lofted a fly ball that was lost in the lights for an RBI double and a two-run advantage. But Wells quelled the threat with a strikeout and infield grounder. Despite yielding another run in the sixth on Scott Betts’ one-out triple and Bryan Nerich’s run-scoring single, Wells retired 12 of the last 15 batters to set the stage for victory.Dan Donovan scored the game’s first run on a Nerich infield groundout.Brendan Deleire was the tough-luck loser for St. Mary’s as Whittier scored runs on a passed ball and two infield errors while the winning tally was set up by a miscue.Deleire gave up just four hits and four walks, striking out the first five batters he faced and finishing with 10 Ks.The Spartans finish with a 17-7 record while the Wildcats move to 18-6 with a state semifinal date against South champ Middleboro looming mid-week.