DANVERS — The St. John’s Prep baseball team closed out its annual Pete Frates Game in thrilling fashion Sunday afternoon, as senior outfielder Tucker Larson ripped a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift the Eagles to a 5-4 victory over St. John’s (Shrewsbury) at Pete Frates Field.
The Pete Frates Game is played each year to honor St. John’s Prep alum Pete Frates, who led a movement to combat ALS after he was diagnosed with the disease at 27. Frates battled the disease for seven years before his death in 2019. In memory of Frates, all St. John’s Prep players donned his former number, 3, along with Frates’ name on the backs of their jerseys.
As for the game action, Larson finished the day at 2-for-5 with one RBI and two runs scored. Kyle Webster went 1-for-1 with a home run and two RBI, while Caleb Birchem went 2-for-4 with a triple and one RBI and Aidan Driscoll went 1-for-4 with a triple and one RBI. Shane Williams and Payton Palladino each went 1-for-4 with a double, while Marco Zirpolo, Nate Marston and Victor Harrington each added a hit.
Webster picked up the win on the mound after two innings of scoreless relief, while Joe Williams got the start and went 4 2/3 innings and allowed two runs on five hits with two strikeouts. Connor Remley pitched 1 1/3 innings and allowed two runs on one hit.
After a quick top of the first inning, the Eagles came up in the bottom of the inning and got right to work. Larson led off the inning with a single, and two batters later Webster stepped in and launched a two-run home run over the right-field wall to make it 2-0.
The score remained there until the top of the third, when St. John’s (Shrewsbury) crawled back into the game. The Pioneers loaded up the bases before Nolan Puglisi notched a sacrifice fly to make it 2-1. A similar story played out in the fourth inning, as the Pioneers loaded the bases again and then got an RBI groundout from Ben Thompson — tying the game at 2-2.
Birchem’s RBI triple in the bottom of the fourth inning gave the Eagles the lead back, but things unraveled a bit for the Prep in the top of the seventh.
Pat McManus led off the inning with a triple for the Pioneers, then a walk and a hit batter loaded up the bases. That set the stage for Puglisi, who ripped a two-run double to center field and gave St. John’s (Shrewsbury) a 4-3 lead.
But the Eagles weren’t done fighting yet. Harrington came in as a pinch-hitter and led off the bottom of the seventh with a single, then two batters later Driscoll knocked him home with a clutch RBI triple to make it a 4-4 game.
The Pioneers worked out of that inning with the game still tied, but the Prep came right back in the bottom of the eighth and continued to work. Back-to-back one-out singles from Zirpolo and Birchem put two men on with two out for Larson, who swung at the first pitch and ripped the game-winning hit into left field.
St. John’s Prep (8-6) travels to Catholic Memorial Tuesday (4).
