BEVERLY— The Northshore Baseball League Championship continued Monday night as the Beverly Recs took the pivotal game three matchup with ease by a score of 8-0 against the Peabody Champions.
The two teams have been, in the most literal sense, evenly matched this season as they entered last night’s game deadlocked in the season series at 4 wins a piece (1-1 in regular season play).
The deadlock would continue for the first two innings as the game appeared to be headed towards a pitcher’s duel between The Recs’ starting pitcher Alex Teal and the Champions’ starter, Brandon Begin. The two combined to allow only two hits and no runs through two full innings.
It would be a different story for Begin in the fourth inning, however, as he dug himself into a hole that he wasn’t able to get out of. It all started when Begin gave up two walks and a hit to the Recs’ seven, eight, and nine hitters to load the bases with no outs. Recs Centerfielder Dillon Gonzalez was able to capitalize off of the opportunity by connecting on a double that drove in the first two runs of the game. Two batters later, Matt Burgess would hit a two-run double as well to quickly make it a 4-0 ball game.
The very next inning, lead-off hitter Danny Mello would hit a shot into deep left center that was ruled a ground rule double. The Recs thought it to be a home run; however, the home plate umpire called it a double as the darkness of the outfield played a factor in the decision, holding Mello at second base.
Next up was Gonzalez, who had quite the night at the plate. He hit a towering shot to left field, this time, leaving no doubt that it was indeed a home run. Gonzalez had four runs batted in on the night, totaling half of the team’s 8 runs.
“The inning prior, Kevin Murray led off the inning with a great walk, then Kevin Trowt came along with a nice single, so it was really just getting the motors running. That fourth inning, the same situation happened in the fifth, so it was just some of that timely hitting,” said Gonzalez. “The pitcher gets down in the count, and you just gotta capitalize.”
Some of Begin’s troubles were definitely attributed to the Recs’ patience at the plate, especially at the bottom of the order, which led to getting more runners on base.
“It’s something that we’ve preached about all year as a team, just having good at-bats at the plate,” said Recs manager Mike Parker. Our eight hitter walked three times and had three great at-bats and that right there just sets a tone.”
Offense was not the only strong suit of the Recs performance last night as the pitchers threw a shutout. Alex Teal was excellent in his start, allowing no runs through five innings. The Recs would only need to go one deep into their bullpen to finish the game as Jordan Anzuoni was able to keep the Champions off the board, recording the last six outs of the ball game.
After taking game three to go up 2-1 in the seven game series, Gonzalez hopes his team can build off of the momentum.
“We just need to keep doing what we’ve been doing all year. We know we have the lineup; our pitching has been really solid,” Gonzalez said. “Change nothing; just show up tomorrow and play tough baseball.”
Ryan can be reached at [email protected].
