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Andover returned to Malden Catholic for the second straight day, this time to finish its Division 1 preliminary round game with the Lancers.  The game was halted in the fifth inning on Wednesday, when the rains came.  The Golden Warriors trailed 2-0 when the game was stopped and finished with a 6-2 setback. Alex Driscoll had a hit and scored a run.

LAWRENCE - Andover High nearly pulled off the upset of the spring.

Lawrence High nearly fell victim to a defeat that would have paled in comparison on the upset-ometer.

LAWRENCE - Andover High nearly pulled off the upset of the spring.

Lawrence High nearly fell victim to a defeat that would have paled in comparison on the upset-ometer.

Andover High is picking the perfect time to play its best baseball. The Warriors made their first sojourn into the Spinner Cup tournament a championship one, holding off Dracut last night, 3-2, in a thriller. Junior Nate Bryant came up huge in relief, going 1.2 innings to lock up the win for gritty starter Bennett Deady. Andover picked up two runs in the first, both coming after two were out. Jake Ponti drove the first in with a double and Ned Deane chased him home with an RBI single. Christian Lightner drove home what proved to be the difference, singling home pinch-runner Greg Calabro, who took second after C.J. Leary's wall double. Senior John Hennessy earned the tourney MVP, and Ponti picked up the $500 scholar-athlete award for college.

Andover senior John Hennessy had a home run, drove in four runs and scored three times as the Warriors routed Lowell 10-2.b

North Andover's offense came to life today with a 19-hit attack during its 13-6 win over Andover.  Junior Mike Weisman led the offensive show with a 4-for-4 performance, which included a bases-clearing double in the second, which gave North Andover 6-1 lead.  Brandon Walsh, Paul Pallano, Cam Couillard, Matt Hogan and David Foote each had two hits.

Junior Manny Vargas, who is playing his first season of varsity baseball, had quite the day hitting and pitching to lead Haverhill to a 1-0 win over Andover. Vargas smashed a home run to leadoff the second inning. Meanwhile, he tossed a five-hit shutout. He threw all seven innings, striking out four and walking one. 

Central Catholic picked up a hard earned win against Andover yesterday, fighting all the way to the last out. After Dan Shields had gone the first 6 2/3 innings and picked up seven strikeouts, Joel Sullivan came into the game with the tying run on first, and struck out the only batter he faced, picking up the save. Connor Perry led the Raider offense going 3-4 with two doubles.

Although all 10 of Andover's hits were singles, enough came at the perfect time in a 5-3 victory over Methuen.

Battling back from an early 3-0 Ranger advantage, the Golden Warriors finally grabbed the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning when Christian Lightner singled, moved to second on Akira Sembommatsu's sacrifice and scored on Alex Driscoll's base hit.

Mike Calzetta allowed lead off singles in the first and second innings, then slammed the door on Andover by retiring the final 18 batters.  That effort gave Lawrence a 4-0 win over Andover. Calzetta struck out six during his two-hitter.