Defensive woes doom English baseball

LYNN – After cruising to an 11-1 win over Salem in its season opener, the Lynn English baseball team took a giant step back after a self-inflicted 8-1 loss to Peabody on Thursday afternoon at Fraser Field.After grabbing a 1-0 lead in the third, the Bulldogs committed three errors in the fourth and seventh innings. The Tanners were more than happy to make them pay, scoring three in the third, a solo run in the fourth and four in their final trip to the plate.?I certainly expected a better effort out there today,” said English coach Joe Caponigro following the loss. “We?re not good enough to give teams extra outs, but credit Peabody for taking advantage of our mistakes.”The hosts opened the scoring after a two-out triple to right from Kyle O?Connor, who scored on an ensuing error by pitcher David Apostilides, who mishandled Anthony De La Cruz? slow roller.Apart from the botched play, the right-hander was extremely competent, scattering five hits while fanning four and walking none.?He doesn?t throw very hard but makes up for it with craftiness,” explained Tanners coach Mark Bettencourt of Apostilides. “He throws nothing but strikes and was efficient in keeping his pitch count low.”Peabody (3-0) got a leadoff single and stolen base from Mike Petrosino in the fourth before the wheels fell off on the Bulldogs? defense.After striking out David Hoar, English starter Lucas Harris induced Ryan Collins into a ground ball to third base, which was first misplayed, allowing the run to score, before Joshua Perez? wild throw to first advanced Collins.Sean McGrath followed with a ground ball to shortstop before an erratic throw from Kelvin Aracena allowed Collins to come across. McGrath scored on a triple to right-center from Tanner Moquin.?We started out slowly at the plate but did a good job of taking advantage of what they gave us,” said Bettencourt. “We were pretty relentless in attacking pitches and on the bases, which kept the pressure on them.”The visitors added to their lead in the following frame, getting an RBI groundout from Hoar, scoring Christian Morales, who had led off with a single before stealing second and advancing to third on a Petrosino ground ball.The woes continued in the seventh for the Bulldogs. Leadoff man Daniel Kohn laced a double to left before an error on Aracena moved the runner to third. C.J. Alimonti reached on an ensuing misplay at first before advancing to third when Drew Gentile?s throw to second ended up in centerfield.Harris would be removed after walking Morales, who would score along with Alimonti after a single from Kevin Lebel off Jack Milhelm.English?s starter allowed just one earned run on six hits in six innings of work. The righty mixed in four strikeouts and three walks.?I feel badly for Lucas, who pitched a solid game today but got no support,” lamented Caponigro. “He did his job by only allowing one earned run.”