WINTHROP — The Peabody baseball team came into Thursday’s game against Winthrop hungry to keep its state tournament hopes alive. The Vikings had other plans.
Winthrop shocked the Tanners behind a complete-game shutout from pitcher Dan Gillis, earning a 1-0 win at Veterans Field.
“We beat Winthrop 15-0 in six innings last time we played them,” Peabody coach Mark Bettencourt said. “(Thursday) just came down to an inability to hit. They didn’t give us anything and we didn’t go out and get anything. It’s just surprising that that could happen in a game of this magnitude. It’s just shocking. A lot more shock than anything else.”
Gillis allowed five hits and one walk with five strikeouts, and the Vikings played near- perfect defense behind the right-hander to blank the Tanners.
“You’re only as good as your next pitcher,” Winthrop coach Frank DeMarco said. “Our pitcher struggled in Peabody last time we played them. If you don’t go out there and throw strikes Peabody will make you pay. But if you pound the zone and play good defense you stand a much better chance. We’re fortunate to win.
“When your pitcher’s throwing that many strikes, everybody’s alert and ready to make plays,” DeMarco said. “I think that was the biggest thing for us, (Gillis) just kept pounding the zone.”
Despite the loss, Peabody pitcher Eddie Campbell also pitched a great game, allowing one run on three hits with three walks and one strikeout.
“I thought Eddie did a great job,” Bettencourt said. “He pitched a great game. He deserved to win that game. (Winthrop) made plays and we made plays. They squeezed one run out and we weren’t able to do that. We had chances we just weren’t able to get it done. That’s disappointing.”
Both teams missed out on chances with two outs in the first. Mike Tansey walked and moved over to second on a groundout, but the Tanners couldn’t come up with a hit to take an early lead. Winthrop loaded the bases with two outs thanks to hits from Gillis and Bob Hubert and a walk from Miles Albert before Campbell got out of the jam.
Peabody once again got runners on with back-to-back hits from Mark DeLuca and Christian Ploumbidis to start the third inning. But Winthrop’s defense made plays on two bunts and Gillis recorded a strikeout to keep the game scoreless.
David Dicicco walked to start a two-out rally in the third for Winthrop. Dicicco moved to second on an errant throw and John Applebee singled to left field to drive in the game’s only run.
The Tanners got their final chance to make something happen in the fifth inning. A Winthrop error and hits from Jordan Anzuoni and Tansey loaded the bases with two outs but once again Peabody couldn’t capitalize.
Peabody logged just one base hit the rest of the game. Winthrop’s defense recorded five straight putouts before Gillis struck out his final batter to seal the 1-0 win.
“Maybe we took it for granted,” Bettencourt said. “Knowing we had to win two games (to get into the state tournament) maybe we looked past this one a little bit. (Gillis) went out there and threw strikes. He made us hit him and we just didn’t. We hit the ball hard maybe once or twice and the rest were popups and ground balls.”
Winthrop closed out its regular season with the win and will now wait for tournament seeding. The Tanners will look to close out their season on a high note with home games against St. John’s Prep Saturday (6:30) and Marblehead Sunday (12).
“We just want to play good baseball,” Bettencourt said. “That’s all we ask them to do. Regardless of our opponent, just play good baseball.”