DANVERS — Behind a pair of clutch home runs and a gutsy pitching performance, the No. 4 St. John’s Prep baseball team added another piece of hardware to its trophy case after taking down No. 2 Lincoln-Sudbury 4-2 to win the Division 1 North title Monday afternoon at Pete Frates Field.
In a funny bit of symmetry, the baseball team is the second St. John’s Prep team in as many days to earn a win over Lincoln-Sudbury after the Prep lacrosse team knocked off the Warriors to win the Division 1 North title on Sunday.
Sam Belliveau was the star of the day for the Eagles, tossing a complete-game two-hitter on the mound. He didn’t allow a hit until the bottom of the seventh inning, and had a perfect game going through 5 2/3 innings.
Kyle Webster and Pat D’Amico led the offensive attack, both smashing home runs in the win. Shane Williams added an RBI.
The Eagles didn’t waste any time getting on the board Monday, thanks to D’Amico. Just one pitch into the game, the senior third baseman turned on one and smashed a solo home run to put the Prep ahead 1-0 right away.
Belliveau got off to a great start on the mound for St. John’s, retiring the first nine Lincoln-Sudbury batters in order with five strikeouts.
The Prep added onto its lead in the top of the fourth. After getting a runner into scoring position, Williams ripped an RBI single down the left-field line to double up the lead at 2-0. On the very next pitch, Webster doubled the lead yet again when he knocked a two-run home run to make it a 4-0 game.
Belliveau continued to deal on the mound after that, retiring the side in order in the fourth and fifth innings and then getting the first two batters of the sixth innings out as well. But his bid for a perfect game came to an end there, as he hit Lincoln-Sudbury’s Evan Munuz to give the Warriors their first baserunner. He then walked the next batter before notching a strikeout to get out unscathed.
But the no-hitter wasn’t in the cards for Belliveau, as he gave up his first knock in the bottom of the seventh. Lincoln-Sudbury followed with an RBI double from Tommy Rogers and grabbed another run on an error, but Belliveau buckled down and forced a game-ending 4-6-3 double play to send the Eagles on to the next round.
St. John’s Prep (14-3) now moves on to the Division 1 state semifinal, where the Eagles will take on South champion XXXXX (TBD).
