LYNN — This has certainly been Brady Warren’s month.
First, Warren graduated from Lynn Classical. Then he received one of the Agganis Foundation scholarships. And to top it all off, he was named the Most Valuable Player in Sunday’s 28th annual Agganis All-Star Baseball Game, leading the South to a 12-4 win against the North at Fraser Field.
Warren was a catalyst for the South all day, beginning in a two-run first inning when he singled to drive in Winthrop’s Zachary Boguez, stole second, and scored on a base hit by Tobel Nakajima of Winchester.
“I had a blast,” said Warren, who had two hits and walked once. “This is definitely one of the top three moments in my high school career.”
Aside from Warren’s aforementioned exploits, he also played earlier this month in the Eastern Mass. All-Star game at BC High in Dorchester.
“It was great to be in my last high school game, with my coach (Mike Zukowski), who was coaching in his last high school game,” Warren said.
With all that, though, he didn’t achieve his primary objective.
“I had it in my mind to hit a home run the last time I came up,” he said.
But he had to settle for taking the North’s center fielder into the deepest part of the park before flying out.
Warren had plenty of help. Among the big dogs for the South was catcher Brendan Falasca of English, who caught the entire game after taking a foul ball off his body and writhing on the ground in pain in the bottom of the first — and then excited the crowd by hitting an inside-the-park homer to deep center in the top of the second.
The North, coached by Lynn Tech’s Eddie Lewis (his first Agganis game), was hamstrung by lack of pitching. Two of the pitchers who were chosen did not appear, so starter Jacob Shirley (Masconomet) had to go five innings against the East’s powerhouse lineup. No matter. Lewis appreciated his effort, and so did the writers who picked him as the North’s MVP.
“He came through,” Lewis said. “He went longer than he probably wanted to, but he was throwing well.”
“This was a wonderful experience,” Lewis said. “What a good bunch of kids to coach.”
Shirley had a bemused look on his face as he talked about his MVP award.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I’m happy I won it, but … All I did was do the best I could. He kept going in at the end of an inning, and (Lewis) would say, ‘I have to send you back out again.”‘
