PEABODY — A late-inning rally wasn’t enough for the Bishop Fenwick baseball team, dropping its home-opener to Pentucket, 9-6, in a back-and-forth 10 inning game at Bishop Fenwick High School.
Crusaders coach Russ Steeves hoped for a better start to the season from his pitching staff but there were still some strong showings from the young group.
“It was a good game,” Steeves said. “We’re young on the mound. Christian Loescher (sophomore) started and struggled a little bit. I thought Richie Pignone who’s a sophomore did well and of course Cory (Bright) was awesome. Overall I would say we’re hoping for a little bit better pitching but it’s early.
“Credit to Pentucket, they battled and got up on us,” Steeves said. “They swung the bats really well, more than I remember last year. So they improved tremendously.”
Bright got the bulk of the work on the mound for Fenwick, coming in for relief in the fifth and throwing four and 2/3 innings, allowing five hits, one walk and striking out five with three earned runs.
At the plate the Crusaders were led by Angelo McCullough (2-for-3 with a walk, 2 RBI and a run scored) and Keegan O’Connor (2-for-4 with a RBI). Pignone, Bright and Trey Deloury each added a RBI.
But overall Fenwick struggled to string together hits adding runs in just two of 10 innings.
“We just didn’t hit,” Steeves said. “We didn’t hit very well or timely. We didn’t put consistent hits together enough. We had our chances a couple times in the late innings but couldn’t get it going.”
Loescher (1 and 1/3 innings, two strikeouts and four earned runs) ran into trouble early after hitting his first batter. The mistake eventually cost the Crusaders a few batters later when Joe Lynch knocked in a run on a single to put Fenwick in an early 1-0 hole.
Things didn’t get better in the second inning. A trio of singles knocked in three more runs for the Sachems with Fenwick falling behind 4-0 before Pignone came in to close the inning.
The Crusaders got their offense going in the bottom of the second. A Sachems infield error and an infield single by Jake Murphy put two runners on with two outs. Pignone hit a double to drive in a run and then McCullough added a double of his own to drive in two more and cut the Pentucket lead to 4-3.
After clean innings in the third and fourth, Pentucket added to its lead in the fifth inning. A single and two walks loaded the bases before a pitching change brought Bright to the mound for Fenwick. Jake Etter drove in a run on a sacrifice fly and Kyle Stock added another on a single to stretch the Pentucket lead to 6-3.
With their backs against the wall in the bottom of the seventh the Crusaders bats came alive again. Pignone drew a walk and McCullough singled to get Fenwick started before O’Connor (infield single) and Deloury (sacrifice fly) each drove in a run. Bright came through for the Crusaders next, lacing a RBI single to tie things up at 6-6. However, Bright was thrown out sliding into third after a play at the plate to end the inning and send the game to extras.
After pitching shutout innings in the eighth and ninth Bright ran into trouble in the 10th. The senior walked a batter and then let up two straight singles to load the bases. Deloury came in to try to get Fenwick out of the jam but singles by Andrew Melone and Gus Flaherty put the Sachems back ahead 9-6.
Bright reach on a two-out single in the bottom of the 10th but the Crusaders fell short of another comeback. Despite the loss, there are plenty of positives for the Crusaders to take away going forward this season, Steeves said.
“We had no quit today,” Steeves said. “The attitudes were good. I told them before the game that attitude and effort is what I look for the most. We had it most of the game. We had great leadership and this was just a great ball game today. We battled.”
The Crusaders (0-1) will have a week off before hoping to bounce back on the road Saturday (1) at Georgetown.
