Xaverian holds on
Concannon closes it out as Hawks win at Fenway
Xaverian left-hander Doug Concannon would have preferred a less stressful save situation yesterday morning at Fenway Park.
St. John’s Prep had the tying and go-ahead runners in scoring position with one out in the seventh. Concannon rose to the challenge, however, retiring the final two hitters to preserve a 3-2 victory.
“It doesn’t look so bad until you get out there; it was pretty nerve wracking,” Concannon said. “I didn’t think it was going to be that close, but I was able to pull it out at the end.”
The victory improved Xaverian’s record to 2-1 in the Catholic Conference (4-3 overall), while St. John’s Prep dropped to 1-3 (2-3 overall). Xaverian coach Gerry Lambert had an opportunity to play at Fenway during his collegiate days at Holy Cross (1991, 1992), but that didn’t take away any of the excitement.
“This was a dream come true for probably every guy on the team and a dream come true for the head coach,” Lambert said. “We are very fortunate to have this opportunity and happy that we won. That’s part of it, but just happy to be able to enjoy a spring day for once, play well and be in a position to grind it out at the end.”
St. John’s Prep scored both of its runs in the top of the first. Jacob Bolger led off with a single and Tyler MacGregor followed with a walk. Alex Lane reached on an infield error, which allowed Bolger to score. A wild pitch by Xaverian starter Owen Langan plated MacGregor with the final run of the inning.
Langan settled down nicely, however, allowing three hits and striking out seven in his four-inning stint.
Xaverian did all its damage in the last of the second. Matt Joyce and Johnny Joyce walked, and Patrick Tevenan reached on a fielder’s choice to load the bases. Chris Ducko singled in Matt Joyce, and when the ball skipped past the outfielder, both Johnny Joyce and Tevenan came around to score.
“It was an amazing experience to get to play here. This is what you dream about when you’re a little kid,” Ducko said. “I’ve been in a little bit of a hitting slump, but I was able to barrel it up, square it up and it felt great.”
In other games:
Dante Taylor smashed two home runs to lift Newton North (3-1) over nonleague foe Catholic Memorial, 13-5 . . . . Ryan Murphy hit a game-tying triple in the top of the seventh and picked up the save as Billerica (2-4) edged Bridgewater-Raynham, 5-4 . . . . Garrett Dailey tossed a no-hitter, fanning four, and Matt Flynn drove in three to lead Coyle & Cassidy (3-3) over Notre Dame/ Cristo Rey, 23-0, in five innings.
In Hockomock League action, Zach Dimattio and Nate Pearce hit back-to-back home runs in the seventh to power North Attleboro (4-0) past Sharon, 13-1.