Masconomet knocks off Danvers in key NEC battle
May 19—DANVERS — Put the barrel of the bat on the baseball and good things will happen.
That was the mantra of the Masconomet baseball team going into Wednesday night's Northeastern Conference battle with Danvers at Twi Field and with an aggressive, barrel-up approach at the plate the Chieftains delivered one of their most impressive performances of the season.
Connecting for seven of their ten hits in the early innings, Masconomet took a quick lead and never looked back in an 8-1 victory at Twi Field.
"Make contact with the good part of the bat, get guys on base and be aggressive," explained Chieftains coach T.J. Baril, whose team is now 8-8 and avenged an 8-0 loss from earlier this season. "Our approach at the plate was excellent; no one was up there trying to do too much."
Danvers, now 9-7 and facing a must-win Thursday at Beverly (4 p.m.) to stay in the NEC Dunn title chase, saw sophomore righty Mike Moroney pound the strike zone over three-plus innings. Masco swung early in counts and put the ball where Danvers didn't have fielders: Chris O'Grady led off with a single and Matt Golini's first-pitch double had the visitors ahead 2-0 after half an inning.
"This one kind of got away from us early," Falcon coach Shawn Secondini said. "The good thing is we're back at it tomorrow."
Sophomore Paul Donnelly was masterful in his first career start for the Chieftains. He scattered seven hits over six-plus innings and Masco played error free defense behind him. Moreover, Donnelly only issued one walk and retired nine in a row in the middle innings.
"Paul's practiced with us all year and was ready for the challenge. We needed a spark and he gave it to us," Baril said. "He can throw four pitches in any count and it was huge that he didn't give away anything for free."
Tyler O'Neill led off the home half of the first with a double and scored on Moroney's RBI single. Danvers didn't get a runner to second base the rest of the night, though, despite singles by Moroney (2-for-3), Aris Xerras and Zack Hamel.
"Hitting can be contagious and right now we just don't have it," Secondini said.
The Chieftains pulled away in the third with four consecutive two-out hits leading to three runs. Braeden O'Connell (2-for-3, two RBI) and Kevin Pelletier (2-for-4 two RBI) did a tremendous job in that frame while Tyler Feldberg doubled and Sam Nadworny started the rally with a single.
"KP and OC put in so much work in the cage ... before BP, during BP and after," Baril said. "Anytime we get those guys up with runners on base its a big benefit for our team."
Brennen Johnston had a pair of singles for Masconomet, which was very aggressive on the bases with seven total steals. With freshman Chris Porfido on first and Johnston on third, the Chieftains executed a double steal to take home as Johnston slid in as the throw from the pitcher ticked off the catcher's mitt.
"That's a gamble play. You put some pressure on the defense and hope it pays off," Baril said
Adam Kostos came on for the seventh to close the door for Masco, which got some outstanding defense from Porfido at third and needs two wins in its last four games to make the state playoffs.
For Danvers, lefthanded ace Joe Zamejtis came on for five relief outs and struck out one. O'Neill and Evan Currie finished things up on the hill.
