SWAMPSCOTT– The competitive rivalry between the North Shore Baseball League’s Peabody Champions and Swampscott Sox added a new chapter on Thursday evening. Unfortunately for the Champions, it was Swampscott who found itself on the winning end of that chapter.
Behind a seven-inning performance from pitcher Ben Kendrew, the Sox earned a 7-1 win over Peabody in Game 5 of the NBSL Semifinal series at Swampscott Middle School. The win gives Swampscott a spot in the NBSL Finals, a best-of-seven series which begins Saturday when the Sox face-off against Kingston.
“Ben was always around the plate,” Sox manager Joe Caponigro said. “His changeup was working really well tonight. They’ve got a great team and some good hitters over there and he was keeping them off balance. That was his key. He works quick and he’s got a lot of composure.”
After Kendrew sent Peabody down in order in the top of the first, the Sox scored three runs in the bottom half of the inning. Esteban Paula scored the first run on an error after stealing second base. Elvis Rodriguez scored the second on an infield error and Richie Arias’ RBI single plated Joe Kasper for the 3-0 Sox lead.
The Sox padded their lead in the bottom of the second when Rodriguez laced an RBI single, scoring Kyle O’Connor, who reached base on a walk. The quick 4-0 lead was exactly was Caponigro and the Sox were hoping for.
“The offense had to come around and it did,” Caponigro said. “We scored a couple runs early and we didn’t hit the ball that hard either.”
Peabody found its way on the scoreboard in the top of the third. BJ Weed and Marc Crovo started the inning with back-to-back singles. Two batters later, an infield error allowed Weed to trim the deficit down to 4-1 but Kendrew bounced back to end the inning on a strikeout.
“We didn’t come up with the big hits tonight,” Peabody manager Mike Giardi said. “A couple plays didn’t go our way. They made a nice catch at the fence, a ball we thought was fair was called foul and then they turned a double play at the end. They made the big plays and we didn’t.”
Peabody remained within striking distance at 4-1 until Swampscott put the game out of reach in the bottom of the sixth. Arias led the inning with a single and advanced to second base on Louis Olivieri’s sacrifice-bunt. Another Peabody error allowed Swampscott to add to its lead as Arias scored to make it a 5-1 game. Paula put the icing on the cake with a two-run homerun to deep left-center, bumping the Sox’ advantage to 7-1.
“That sixth inning was huge,” Caponigro said. “We got a couple hits and then Esteban hit that bomb. That was huge for us.”
Kendrew, who finished the evening with five strikeouts while allowing five hits, shut the door in the top of the seventh to seal the win.
“Ours guys battled,” Giardi said. “We were down 1-0 to the Phillies in a best-of-three and we came back to win that series. We felt like we had a little bit of momentum coming back here for Game 5.”
“We have to tip our hats to Kendrew,” Giardi added. “He’s a smart pitcher. He doesn’t overpower you but he keeps you off balance and does a good job.”
Swampscott now shifts its focus to preparing for Kingston.
“They’re a very good team,” Caponigro said. “They’re a young team, well-coached and they pitch well. They have a lot of college players so they run well, and they throw strikes. It’ll be a challenge for us.”
