Baseball: English overtakes Swampscott in nine innings

It took nine innings, but English got out of Swampscott with a 6-3 win Friday thanks to pitcher Michael Troy’s second solid game in a week.Troy went all nine at the Middle School, and one of the reasons, says coach Joe Caponigro, is that he “didn’t throw a lot of stress pitches.”Troy struck out 14 Swampscott hitters and didn’t walk anyone.”After Monday (a win over Classical), we figured we’d get about five innings out of him,” Caponigro said. “He was throwing mostly fastballs and changeups, and he was very economical. He kept the ball down and threw strikes. And we made plays in the field. All of that helps.”We kept asking him how he felt, and he said he felt OK.”English went up 2-0, and then Swampscott got one back. the Big Big Blue went up 3-2 when Christian Llorente hit a two-run homer. Swampscott got one back to tie the game, sending it into extra innings.In the top of the ninth, Kyle O’Connor (four hits) knocked in a run and Andrew Napoleon got another home on a suicide squeeze. An error led to the final English run.Anthony De La Cruz also had four hits, and Lucas Harris had two.Swampscott senior Al Wallach went 8 ? innings giving up three earned runs and striking out four.Classical 8, Winthrop 5At Fraser Field, Classical (4-4) found itself down 4-1 going into the bottom of the fourth inning. The Rams scored five two-out runs in the fourth, to forge ahead 6-5. Key hits in the inning were from Andrew Moccia, (two-run single), Brad Scuzzarella, (two-run triple) and Matthew Stanley, (RBI single). Classical added two insurance runs in the sixth to put away Winthrop. Leading the way for the Rams were Scuzzarella, (3-for-4, 2 triple, 2 RBI, 2 runs scored) and freshmen Herbie Newton, (2-for-4, RBI, run scored). Classical plays Swampscott Wednesday.Peabody 6, Marblehead 1At Seaside Park, junior Mike Raymond picked up his first varsity win, going four innings, allowing one hit while striking out five and walking three.The Tanners (9-0, 7-0 Northeastern Conference) broke the ice in the first inning when David Hoar (2-for-3, RBI, 2 runs) doubled in Mike Petrosino (2-for-4, 2 stolen bases) . Peabody added another run in the fourth inning on a Bobby Tramondozzi RBI single that scored Matt Gonick and in the fourth, Tramondozzi scored on a Matt Correale single. Peabody added two more runs in the fifth on RBI singles by Gonick and Tramondozzi (2-for-3, 2 RBI).”I though today we played pretty consistently,” Peabody coach Mark Bettencourt said. “We played excellent defense. It was Mike Raymond’s first start and he did a nice job getting out of some jams.”The jams Bettencourt is referring to include two bases loaded situations. Marblehead’s John Cavolina went five innings in the loss. The Magicians scored an unearned run in the final inning.Whittier 17, Tech 5At Whittier, Tech (0-6) was led by Dayan Gonzalez, who was 2-for-4, with a triple, RBI, and a stolen base. Tech plays Mystic Valley Tuesday.