| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Triton | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Haverhill | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
Wednesday, April, 06 By Hector Longo
HAVERHILL — Just one week after scrimmaging in the snow,Haverhill High opened the local baseball season on its brand-new artificial turf diamond at the stadium.
The turf sparkled, and at times the home team did too. Unfortunately, rebuilding Haverhill's last charge came up just short against an good-looking Triton Regional squad, 5-4.
"Opening day is still special, especially for the upperclassmen," said junior Nate Bresnahan, who started at third base and gave the Hillies life with a pair of shutout relief innings.
Triton build a 5-1 lead early, but the Hillies showed grit, scratching for a run in the fifth and two more in the sixth before Triton's Cam D'Agostino shut the door in the seventh.
"I hope we learned from it. It took too long to get the bats going," said Bresnahan. "We didn't give up, and we kept fighting. I think we learned we have to come to play every inning of every game if we're going to have a good year."
Shortstop Nick Comei looks to have assumed the infield quarterbacking role. The flashy sophomore ate up everything in his range on the always-true turf defensively, while slapping three of Haverhill's seven hits.
Comei's two-out, two-run single in the sixth definitely made things interesting at 5-4.
Senior Manny Vargas started on the hill and threw strikes but was touched for all five Triton runs. David Herook had a hit and scored a pair, while sophomore Manny Pellot got the call up late from the JV diamond and delivered a clutch pinch single in the sixth inning rally.
Both Triton pitchers, Blaise Whitman and D'Agostino, did the damage at the plate for the Vikes. Each had a pair of hits and drove in two, pacing the nine-hit attack.
TURF TALK
"A lot of teams are stuck inside, hopefully that will help us," said Haverhill's Bresnahan as the Hillies continue to savor the good life with nothing but true hops at the stadium.
Today's Haverhill-Methuen tussle, originally scheduled on Ranger Road, will in fact be played in Haverhill this afternoon, again a benefit to the new turf.
Also, MVC and CAL baseball fans should note that yesterday's Andover at North Andover non-leaguer was postponed yesterday and rescheduled to today at 3:45.
Triton (5): Tim Cashman cf 3-1-1, Mike Fish 3b/2b 3-0-0, Rich Fecteau ss 3-1-1, Blaise Whitman p/3b 4-2-2, Cam D'Agostino 2b/p 3-0-2, Jedd Hutchins rf 4-1-1, Jarrod Mullen dh 3-0-1, Shon O'Leary 1b 3-0-1, Dmitri Hunt lf 3-0-0, Cote Woicik c 0-0-0, Totals 30-4-9
Haverhill (4): Nick Comei ss 4-0-3, Riley Ruth 2b 4-0-0, Manny Vargas p/3b 3-0-0, Stas Firek 1b 4-0-1, Dan Dubois c 3-0-0, Nate Bresnahan 3b/p 4-1-1, Jonathan DelaCruz cf 1-1-0, David Herook rf/lf 2-2-1, Tyler Hileman lf 2-0-0, Manny Pellot ph 1-0-1, Zach Evans rf 0-0-0, Totals 28-4-7
RBI: T — ; H — Comei 2, Ruth
WP: Whitman; LP: Vargas (5 ip, 5er, 7h, 2bb, 3k); also Bresnahan (2 ip, 0r, 2h, 1bb, 0k)
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