North Shore Phillies sweep NSBL semifinal series

Punctuating their North Shore Baseball League semifinal series sweep with an eight-inning win, the North Shore Phillies defeated Newburyport, 5-4, in Game Three at Newburyport High School on Sunday.Phillies manager Chris Carroll delivered the game-winning hit, an RBI single down the right-field line.?I remember getting up to the plate,” Carroll said. “I had already had an at-bat (against the pitcher). I was thinking first-pitch fastball and it was a first-pitch fastball. I got a good piece of it and it kind of hugged the first-base line. It hopped right over it.”The hit, which came with one out, scored Mike LaMothe, who had singled. Teammate Dan Duval had gotten hit by a pitch to set the stage for Carroll.The Phillies advanced to the finals, where they will face the Kingston Night Owls. The opener is Tuesday at Breed (7:30 p.m.).On Sunday, North Shore rallied from a 4-0 deficit after Newburyport scored single runs in the first and third innings, and two runs in the fourth. Three of the four Newburyport runs were unearned.In the bottom of the fourth, Matt Sucharewicz led off with a single, Nick Day was hit by a pitch and Duval batted into a fielder?s choice, scoring Sucharewicz. Carroll doubled to left, scoring Duval and making it 4-2.In the fifth, Chris Blydell led off with a double to left-center, and Day hit an RBI single in the hole between shortstop and third.Blydell tied the game in the seventh when he homered over the left-field fence. He went 4-4 with two doubles and the two-run homer.?Chris Blydell kind of carried us through the game,” Carroll said. “His home run kind of uplifted the team. It helped us get going.”Sean Buckland pitched all eight innings for North Shore.On Saturday, North Shore defeated Newburyport 2-0. Kyle Shepard pitched a complete-game shutout (3 H, 5 K). Sucharewicz hit an RBI single to score Blydell in the fifth, and Blydell hit a sacrifice fly to score Jairo Valdez in the sixth.