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LOWELL — Brandon Walsh jogged into second base, fist in the air, waiting for his frenzied teammates to pile on him.

It was the second such mugging he has received in three days.

Juan Ventura's two-out, two-run single in the top of the seventh scored two runs to propel Lawrence to a thrilling 9-8 win over Dracut — claiming the Merrimack Valley small division championship for the Lancers.

Jose Sandoval hit for the second cycle of his career (with his first coming last year against Greater Lawrence) as Lawrence crushed Dracut, 16-3. After striking out in his first at-bat, Sandoval tripled, doubled, singled and finished up with a homer. The junior third baseman had a game-high five RBIs, followed closely by Danny Cruz, who drove in four and had his own round-tripper.

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.

Northeastern-bound Matt Novak fell just short of a no-hitter, settling for a one-hit gem as Central Catholic downed Dracut 3-1. Darren Infante's RBI double sparked the offense.

Senior Kevin Miller hit his second homer in as many days, and classmate Kenny Polanco got into the longball act as well with a three-run shot as Methuen grabbed a non-league win over Dracut, 5-4.
Sophomore Cal Carroll provided just what the 1-2 Rangers needed, a superb mound effort, throwing six no-hit innings for the win.
"He was over 100 pitches, and it was a battle all day," said coach Dave Fabrizio of the decision to pull Carroll with the no-no in tact. "We'll be counting on him for innings this year, plus I had a lot of faith in Sean Madden to close it out."