Iron sharpens iron in steely-tough MVC
As North Andover’s and Lawrence’s traded big hits Wednesday afternoon, the back-and-forth game — eventually a 9-5 Lawrence win — was the perfect representation of Merrimack Valley Conference baseball.
With high-end pitching and strong bats, there is no easy game in the MVC. As teams such as Central Catholic, Andover, North Andover, and Lawrence jostle for position, don’t expect the race for a league title to be resolved anytime soon. No one in the conference would have it any other way.
“I’d love to run away and hide with a league championship, but I’ve never seen it happen,” said Central Catholic coach John Sexton. “Every single year, it comes down to one game . . . I really love it and I look forward to it every spring.”
No. 6 Central Catholic (5-2) is no stranger to success. The Raiders made the Division 1 quarterfinals in each of the last two seasons. This year, they’re anchored by senior Josh Florence (committed to Stonehill) both on the mound and in the outfield. Without senior Jack Savio (Worcester State), they wouldn’t be 5-0 in MVC play — his two-run double in the seventh propelled the Raiders to a 4-3 win over Andover.
On the other side of that result, No. 7 Andover (5-1) is another battle-tested team. The Golden Warriors are allowing an MVClow 2.5 runs per game with a pitching staff led by All-Scholastic junior lefty Chris Jaillet (UMass). Senior Ben Workman and junior Drew Pulsifer round out the rotation.
Andover coach Danny Grams knows there’s only room for improvement for his squad, especially with starting centerfielder Will Norris (Wofford) only having made one appearance due to injury. They’ll have his bat and glove back soon, but in the meantime, the Golden Warriors are fine with the battles.
“It doesn’t matter who we play, up or down, in the small or large division, they’re good games,” Grams said. “It seems like everybody not just has a No. 1 starter, but they have a [No.] 1 and a 2 and some have three pitchers that throw really well.”
No. 19 North Andover is one team with impressive pitching depth. The Scarlet Knights (6-3) get big innings out of junior Cole Mullen and senior Dom Pefine (Maine) atop the rotation, with Faro also being a big contributor on the mound. Mullen has been near-unhittable over two dominant starts against Westford (6 no-hit innings, 9 strikeouts) and Chelmsford (6 two-hit innings) to open his campaign.
“You’ll see Jaillet, we’ll see [Chelmsford’s Matt] Stuart later this year, Florence at Central, I’d put Cole up against anyone. Every team’s got great pitching,” said North Andover coach Todd Dulin. “If you can survive it, you’ll be prepared for the playoffs for sure.”
Lawrence, the upstart MVC team this year, is off to a 4-2 start after a few down seasons. Coach Alberto Abreu’s squad is reliant on its senior leadership, particularly Angel Castillo’s bat, along with a core that brings constant energy to every at bat. Each pitch, the Lancers’ dugout dials up the noise. Abreu, a 2012 Lawrence graduate, knows they need that energy in big games. They’ve already produced some magic with a late comeback against Haverhill, turning around a 2-1 deficit in the seventh for a 3-2 win.
“Every game we’ve played has been against great competition,” Abreu said. “We stay together, we grind, and we’ve just got to be confident in what we’re working on. As long as we do that, we can hold our own against anybody.”
Extra bases
R Pitching typically rules in April, when the weather is still cold and pitchers are ahead of hitters. That was the case this week. The Globe accounted for four nohitters in three days, coming from BC High’s Liam Kineen, Plymouth North’s D.C. Brown, Catholic Memorial’s Brett Mulligan, and Brookline’s Nico Hart. Seekonk’s Tyler Kropis, Foxborough’s Ryan O’Leary, and Taunton’s Brady Morin came close too, firing onehitters, while Declan Crowley (Seekonk) and Tom Watts (Foxborough) fired five hitless innings in mercy-rule victories.
R Malden coach Steve Freker earned his 400th career win in Wednesday’s 10-0 Greater Boston League victory over Everett. A 2016 Massachusetts Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer, Freker has coached for 39 years at Malden (his alma mater), Malden Catholic, and Saugus . . . Somerville righthander Ian Born picked up his fourth win of the season in Monday’s triumph over Revere . . . Last Thursday’s Sully Tournament Championship between Milton and North Quincy was postponed due to rain. The game will be made up on Saturday, May 4 at 5 p.m. at Adams Field in Quincy . . . There are only four undefeated teams left in Eastern Mass.: Georgetown, St.
Mary’s, Diman, and Upper Cape. Georgetown beat Lynnfield, 7-6, on a walk off Wednesday, while St. Mary’s scored four in the ninth inning to beat Bishop Stang, 7-3.