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HAVERHILL - By the time it found a way to nick up Arlington High starter Mike Griffin, the Haverhill High baseball's afternoon and season were pretty much over.

Ronnie Rosario singled sharply to left with one out in the Hillie sixth to end Griffin's no-hit bid. But by that time, Arlington had ridden three Hillie errors to a 9-0 lead, ultimately stopping Haverhill in the Division 1 North tourney opener, 9-2.

HAVERHILL - By the time it found a way to nick up Arlington High starter Mike Griffin, the Haverhill High baseball's afternoon and season were pretty much over.

Ronnie Rosario singled sharply to left with one out in the Hillie sixth to end Griffin's no-hit bid. But by that time, Arlington had ridden three Hillie errors to a 9-0 lead, ultimately stopping Haverhill in the Division 1 North tourney opener, 9-2.

"This game will not go down in Cooperstown history," said Central Catholic coach Marc Pelletier in reference to the Raiders' 12-11 win over Haverhill yesterday and it's easy to see why. "It was pretty ugly."

Trevor Behrendt and Taylor Robinson shut down the Chelmsford bats just as Haverhill's came alive in a come-from-behind 5-2 victory. After the Lions took a 2-0 lead, Behrendt shut the door through sixth inning to set up his sixth victory and Robinson tossed a scoreless seventh to earn the save. Ronnie Rosario's hustling infield single scored the eventual winning run in the fifth while sixth-inning RBI doubles from Chad Kimball and Brendan Bretton locked up the win for the Hillies (10-6).

Haverhill took down Andover 6-4 to qualify for the state tournament. Chad Kimball threw four solid innings for the Hillies and Josh Chasse's diving catch in the sixth preserved the Haverhill lead.

HAVERHILL - It's a three-game stretch than can position Lawrence High on the Eastern Mass. baseball map.Step 1, a convincing 7-3 win here over Haverhill yesterday, was by all means a smash.The Lancers, now securely atop the Merrimack Valley Conference small school standings at 11-2 overall and 7-2 in the league, have the opportunity to send a message, both Monday with Tewksbury and then Wednesday night, under the lights at home against large school-leading Central Catholic.Coach Brendan Neilon put the ball in Yunior Vasquez able hands and the sophomore delivered a gem, spacing six hits and four free passes over the distance. He fanned 11, the fourth time he's piled up double-figure strikeout numbers."I was a little surprised I got the ball in such a big game," said Vasquez, now 5-0 on the year. "It's good to go out and prove you can do it against top hitters like (Haverhill catcher Ronnie Rosario). This was big because we have a chance now to basically put them away in the conference race."Haverhill now stands at 5-5 in the league, with the possibility of an 8-5 finish. Dracut is 5-4, still two back of the Lancers.Lawrence got a pair of runs in the first, pouncing on an infield error. Jovany Fernandez' third-inning sac fly made it 3-0, before the Hillies chipped away for a pair in their half.Harvey Blanco smacked and RBI single in the Lawrence fourth, and Danny Cruz busted it open with a two-run triple to deep left-center.From there, it was all Vasquez, who helped his own cause by starting a 1-2-3 double play to end the fourth."I got a lot of help from my teammates, and I just had to do my thing," said Vasquez.Lawrence pounded 12 hits as Jose Sandoval, Blanco, Cruz, Mike Calzetta and Dionys Quezada all had two apiece.The Hillies, who need one win in the last five to assure a spot in the state tourney got some more good news in the recovery of pitcher Taylor Robinson. The big righty pitched three strong innings of relief, striking out four without allowing an earned run.Knuckling underOnly a sophomore, Lawrence's Yunior Vasquez and his high-80s fastball were the talk of the preseason.The key to his success, other than the heat, has been his second pitch, a knuckle curve.How did he learn to throw such a rare pitch?"I taught it to myself," said Vasquez, now 5-0. "I watched (former Oriole and Yankee great) Mike Mussina and worked at throwing it the way he did."

Taylor Robinson amply rewarded shutout, 10-strikeout pitching from senior Trevor Behrendt in Haverhill's 17-0 shellacking of Billerica. Eight runs in the fourth inning did the damage led by a three-run double from clean-up hitter Robinson (four hits, five RBIs, three runs scored) and a three-run homer from Zach Cox.

With echoes of a comeback victory over Tewksbury, Haverhill repeated the script with a 3-2 triumph over Dracut. Brendon Bretton's seventh-inning triple and two intentional walks set the stage, and Frank Xia's hard grounder drew a throw to the plate that Bretton's slide broke up for the deciding tally. Trevor Behrendt battled for a complete game victory for the Haverhill (6-3), fanning three while giving up just one earned run on five hits. Ronnie Rosario stroked a triple in the victory.

With echoes of a comeback victory over Tewksbury, Haverhill repeated the script with a 3-2 triumph over Dracut. Brendon Bretton's seventh-inning triple and two intentional walks set the stage, and Frank Xia's hard grounder drew a throw to the plate that Bretton's slide broke up for the deciding tally. Trevor Behrendt battled for a complete game victory for the Haverhill (6-3), fanning three while giving up just one earned run on five hits. Ronnie Rosario stroked a triple in the victory.

HAVERHILL - Twice in the last week, the Haverhill High baseball team stared out at one of the MVC's top returning righties, falling behind early.Both times, the Hillies dusted themselves off and rallied, picking up giant conference wins. Yesterday, it was Ronnie Wallace and Tewksbury in town, holding leads of 2-0 and 3-2. Down to their last strike, Haverhill manufactured victory, with single runs in the seventh and eighth of a dramatic, 4-3, win."We're a group of battlers, who just don't give up," said catcher Ronnie Rosario, who tripled to lead the eighth and scored the game-winner when Chad Kimball drew a four-pitch, bases-loaded walk."We're going to fight to win every inning."With two out in the seventh, Wallace plunked Matt Pickles on the back on an 0-2 count. The Hillie No. 9 man stole second and then scored when Josh Chasse doubled for the tie. A tireless Kimball then went out and mowed the Redmen down in the eighth, registering his seventh strikeout of the complete-game, setting up the eighth-inning Rosario bomb to left.After a pair of intentional walks to set up a force at home, reliever Robbie McVey just couldn't locate the plate and walked the winning pitcher Kimball to score Rosario."To beat the defending champs is just a big boost," said Rosario. "Everybody in this conference is tough, but we know the (small school) league title goes through them."Kimball was sharp, spacing eight hits and four walks over the eight frames, matching the all-conference Redmen right-hander pitch for pitch.Chasse and Rosario combined for four of the five Hillie hits. Zach Cox had the other.