Classical baseball tops Danvers

LYNN – Whatever else happened Monday night at Fraser Field, the bottom line was this: Classical lefty Raymundo Gomez pitched a gem of a ballgame and deserved the win, however it happened.?Yes,” said Classical coach Mike Zukowski, after the Rams? 4-3 walk-off win over Danvers Monday. “He really deserved this one. He was fantastic.?All season, he?s gotten us at least into the fifth,” Zukowski said, “but tonight I felt he was looking good and I stuck with him. He?s one of my captains, and that?s why.”Gomez only gave up four hits while striking out only two. More important than any of that, though, was his fielding. On a night when there were nine errors (five for the Rams, four for Danvers), Gomez had seven chances and fielded six of them spotlessly — even helping himself out in the top of the seventh by starting a 1-2-3 double play with the bases loaded and no one out — and the tying run already in. And as if to punctuate his fielding, he got the next one on a 1-3 as well.That allowed Classical to win the game in the bottom of the seventh on a Danvers error. Damian Earp led off, and he thought he?d been hit by a pitch (it was the second close one in a row to Earp). However, umpire Richie Gagnon ruled that the ball that actually hit Earp was a strike and that the second baseman may have leaned slightly into it. There were no arguments, but it didn?t matter. Earp laced the next pitch in the gap between center and left field for a double.Brad Scuzzarella, who had tried earlier in the game (without success) to lay down a sacrifice bunt, tried to do it again. This time, he got it down, but it went right to Danvers relief pitcher Andrew Olczak, who seemed to have a play at third. However, the throw went wide, rolling all the way to the fence in left field. Then, as the Danvers left fielder went to field it, the ball bounced off the fence and just far enough away from him for Earp to come around and score the winning run.?I will take the ?W? any way it comes,” said Zukowski, whose team went over the .500 mark (6-5).Danvers grabbed a 1-0 lead right off the bat when Richie Martino walked, stole second and third, and came home on an error. Classical tied it in the bottom of the second when Herb Newton was hit on the wrist by a pitch (one of four hit batsmen on the night — two by each team). Newton went to second on a wild pitch, third on Brett Erelli?s grounder and scored on Eric Brazell?s base hit.Danvers took a 2-1 lead in the third when Olczak singled, stole second, took third on a single by Tyler Dustin that was nearly a great catch in left by Erelli (the ball fell out of his glove as he fell to the ground after leaping to spear a line drive) and came home as part of an attempted double steal (Dustin was caught in a rundown between first and second).Classical went ahead, 3-2, in the fifth inning. Earp dumped a single to right but was erased by Scuzzarella?s fielder?s choice grounder. Andre Gaudet lofted a single to center while Scuzzarella stopped at second.Newton followed with a fly ball to short left that was dropped, allowing one run to score; and then left fielder Jordan DeDonato throw wildly to the first base side of home, and Gaudet scored all the way from first.Danvers tied the score in the top of the seventh when Devan Allan singled to deep short and took second on a wild throw. An error on Martino?s sacrifice bunt moved Allan to third, and he scored on a punch single to right by Ryan Kelleher. After Olszak walked, Dustin hit into the 1-2-3 double play, and Gomez got DeDonato on the 1-3 groundout.