PEABODY — The Peabody baseball team (5-7) has struggled all year with costly errors and miscues.
Friday at home, it was more of the same in a 6-4 loss to visiting Masconomet (7-5), despite the fact that the Tanners outhit the Chieftains, 10-4.
Center fielder Ty Lomasney (2-for-3, double) and catcher Ethan Waybret (2-for-3, double, R) had multiple hits for Peabody.
The Chieftains’ Drew Gustafson (2-for-4, 2 R, RBI) also had a multi-hit game.
Every one of the Chieftains’ runs was unearned, causing Peabody coach Mark Bettencourt to shake his head after the game.
“That’s been the story of our season, just giving runs away,” he said. “We work so hard for our runs, running double steals. We’re trying everything we can to score runs. We’re forcing it by being aggressive only to give them back. This is another one- or two-run loss where we gave the opposing team runs. We’re just young and making mistakes that have cost us. It’s growing pains, but it’s painful.”
Masconomet coach Bryan Duplissie said he was happy to come away with the win.
“It was good to win this one,” Duplissie said. “We’ve been preaching to the guys to be aggressive with the fastballs and get yourselves in good counts, which we did early, then kind of got away from it for a while in the middle of the game, so getting the win was great. Peabody is well coached, and Mark is a great coach.”
Masconomet got to work right away in the first inning, taking a 3-0 lead. Cal Weidman led off with a walk and scored on first baseman Drew Gustafson’s triple. Gustafson (2-for-4, 2 R) scored on an infield error, allowing left fielder Chase Lepore (2 R) to reach first. Catcher Andrew Nelson (1-for-3, R) doubled to plate Lepore.
Peabody tied things up in the bottom of the second. Waybret led off with a double to right and scored on first baseman Mark Bettencourt’s (1-for-2, RBI) double to left-center. Second baseman Jack Smith (1-for-2, R) beat out a bunt, got to third on a single by Liam Smith up the middle and scored on a daring double steal. Left fielder Matt Nazzaro (1-for-3) singled Smith home to make it a 3-3 game.
Masconomet regained the lead in the top of the third, the big hit being a two-run double by designated hitter Aiden Brown (1-for-4).
Peabody fought back to make it a one-run game, 5-4, in the fifth. Shortstop Jake Crocker (1-for-4, R) led off with an infield hit and scored on a sacrifice fly by designated hitter Pedro Flores (1-for-3).
Masconomet added an insurance run in the top of the seventh.
Lomasney gave Peabody some hope with a two-out double to center field, but Masconomet starter Zach Ward (7 IP, 10 H, 4 ER, 6 K, 2 BB) got the final out on an infield ground ball.
Peabody starter Max Silvia (6 IP, 5 R, 4 H, 7 K, 3 BB) took the hard-luck loss for the Tanners. Mason Palladino (1 IP, BB, K) pitched one inning of relief.
Both coaches praised the play of their starting pitchers.
“Max pitched great today,” Bettencourt said. “He had to deal with the mistakes we were making. Even after his own errant pickoff throw, he was able to bear down, get outs and keep this game from getting out of hand. Some of the things were his fault, but some of them weren’t, but he was able to keep us close. He was a great leader today. He competed for six strong innings. He was the one to keep it together for the whole team.”
“Zach went right after their hitters,” Duplissie said. “We asked him to challenge guys, put your fielders in play, and he did just that today.”
Bettencourt wasn’t too happy that two baserunners were picked off.
“You live and die by that,” he said. “We picked off three guys the other day. We do pick off a lot of runners, which means we throw more which makes you more susceptible. We tell the guys that if they’re not stealing, then don’t (extend their leads) until the pitch is delivered, but we still had two guys picked off today.”
The Tanners’ next game is Wednesday at 4 p.m. when they host Marblehead.
“There’s a team we were up 5-2 in the fifth inning last time, and we gave it away,” Bettencourt said. “We talked about this as a redemption game. Today was a redemption game. We need to show that, the second time around, we’ve gotten better. We didn’t do that today, but hopefully we can do that Wednesday. Right now, we are making just enough mistakes to lose. We have to clean that up.”
Masconomet (6-5) is back in action Monday at home against Hamilton-Wenham (4:15).
“They’re undefeated, and they are a good team,” Duplissie said. Photo: Spenser Hasak | Purchase this photo Photo: Spenser Hasak | Purchase this photo Photo: Spenser Hasak | Purchase this photo Photo: Spenser Hasak | Purchase this photo Photo: Spenser Hasak | Purchase this photo Photo: Spenser Hasak | Purchase this photo Photo: Spenser Hasak | Purchase this photo Photo: Spenser Hasak | Purchase this photo
