The Swampscott Sox are in bit of a hole in their best-of-seven North Shore Baseball League final series against the Kingston, N.H., Night Owls.
The Sox fell to Kingston Sunday night, 10-7, at Haverhill Stadium to fall behind, 2-0, in the series. Manager Joe Caponigro said it was simply a case of too many errors.
“You can’t give a team four outs, five outs, per inning and expect to win,” said Caponigro.
Francisco Rosario had two RBI and Anthony De La Cruz scored two runs for the Sox. Clemente Parra had three hits and knocked in a run.
“Obviously our backs are against the wall,” said Caponigro. “We’ll be back out there (tonight).
Game 3 is at Swampscott’s middle school field at 6:30.
At Swampscott Saturday, righty Steve Considine went the distance for Kingston and kept the Sox off balance all night, leading the Night Owls to a 4-1 win.
Considine’s teammates got him a run in the first and another in the second, before Swampscott catcher Louis Olivieri drilled a single into center field in the bottom of the second that brought in Parra. That made the score 2-1 in favor of the visitors, and the home team didn’t get another hit until the bottom of the seventh.
That Olivieri RBI was the offensive highlight for Swampscott. Considine breezed through the game, whiffing six, walking one and allowing just a pair of singles. Parra had reached in front of Olivieri on an error, and Joe Kasper walked in front of Brian Maynard, who singled with one out in the bottom of the seventh.
With one out and a 3-run lead in the seventh, Considine ending things by inducing two pop-ups to wrap up the opener. Night Owls manager Paul Satori said that his pitcher has been consistently good during his long service with Kingston.
“Steve’s been here 17 years, out of Stonehill College, he has great command, and he certainly had that great command tonight. He pitched as well tonight as he did 17 years ago when he started playing for this team,” Satori said.
“He did a nice job shutting that team over there down, but they are an excellent hitting ball club, we’ve won this game, but this series is far from over, I can assure you.”
Considine said he felt good on the mound, his slider was working for him, and he has always enjoyed going up against pitcher Erik Fields, who pitched a complete game for the Sox.
“I was able to get my slider over for strikes when I needed to, and when they got the bat on the ball, my guys made the plays behind me,” Considine said. “I’ve always enjoyed pitching against Erik (Fields) over the years, it’s always a challenge, and this game was not different. We’re glad we got this game, but that’s a very dangerous team over there, with a lot of great hitters.”
Kingston’s Nick Shumski singled to start the game and came around on a bases loaded walk to Chris Gerossie. Dan Morin walked and came on a single by Tom Diskin in the second. Up 2-1 in the top of the sixth, the Night Owls had a couple of walks and RBI singles by Shumski and Jake White for the final of 4-1.
Fields said that he didn’t help himself much by walking eight batters over seven innings.
“I’ve got to make better pitches, certainly, I can’t put myself and my team in the hole by not making good pitches, my defense played great behind me tonight, I just need to make better pitches next time out,” Fields said. “We’re a better hitting team than we showed tonight, I’m confidant we’ll hit next time out.”
