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Bryant pitches Andover into quarterfinals

Thursday, May, 29 By Jeff Hamrick

ANDOVER — With Reid Bryant throwing strikes and an offense delivering clutch, two-out hits, the postseason couldn't have gotten off to a better start for Andover — finally.

Breaking a four-game losing streak in sectional openers, the eighth-seeded Golden Warriors rode Bryant's arm to a 4-0 shutout over ninth-seeded Malden Catholic in yesterday's North first round.
The victory marked Andover's first postseason win since a 23-1 rout of Boston English in the 2009 prelims. The Warriors next hit the road to play top-seeded Peabody at 1 p.m. Saturday.

"We're excited, but we're not satisfied yet," said Bryant, who allowed two hits and improved to 3-0 on the season with his 97-pitch, complete-game effort. "We've always said this is the year. We have a pretty good team, and we can make a run in states. That's been our goal since day one."

Bryant was in trouble only once — stranding runners on second and third in the third — while striking out four and walking two. Allowing only three runners past first, he went to a three-ball count to just one batter during the first five innings.

"I don't throw very hard, so I just pitch to contact," Bryant said. "The team makes all the plays, and that's how I pitch."

Andover (13-8) broke through in the third with four consecutive, two-out singles. The biggest hit was Frank Potts' blooper to left that plated Tim Awiszus and Quinn McCarthy, who scored from first. McCarthy also had a huge single on a hit-and-run with a line-drive single to the hole vacated by the second baseman headed to second with Awiszus running on the pitch.

The Warriors added two more in the fourth on an RBI groundout by Jack Cox and Awiszus' two-out RBI single up the middle.

"I can't emphasize enough this being a team," Andover coach Dan Grams said. "I have some very good players. I don't have outstanding players who work well together. I'm very proud of these guys."

Bryant used his breaking ball liberally during the game, inducing Lancer batters to put the ball in play. The infield recorded 11 assists, including an inning-ending double play in the sixth and a pair of putouts.

"He was working the offspeed today, so they were rolling over my way," said third-baseman Potts, who had five assists and a putout. "I made the plays and did what I had to do. It was like Reid did what he had to do on the mound, too. We were definitely solid. That was a tailor-made double play that was huge. And our outfield was huge too."