RallyNorth.net

Novak, Central dump Hillies

Thursday, April, 17 By Hector Longo
Staff writer

Ronny Rosario's bases-loaded, second-inning missile shot plunked just outside the left-field line, a long Hillie strike just foul by a foot.

Andrew Guyer's looper with the bases loaded in the bottom half of the frame did not | good for a three-run double.

Matt Novak and Central Catholic grabbed that good fortune and ran with it, plowing over Haverhill, 10-4, yesterday.

Novak, a junior righthander making his first varsity, pitched five-plus innings of eight-hit ball, striking out three, leading Central to its third straight win.

"He was really nervous coming in, but that was huge for us," said captain Roberto Valenti of Novak. "We have a couple guys out (including pitcher Michael Romano), and that's a very good team he just beat."

The Raiders played well behind Novak, with a pair of errors offset by two nicely-spun double-plays.

Offensively, Central made it three straight games in double figures.

"We're hitting at clutch times, one through nine," added Valenti, who leads the Raiders into a key early showdown with Andover this afternoon.

Guyer's momentum changer erased a 2-0 Hillie lead in the second. Chris Sartori added an RBI single in the third, and, following a Brendan Walsh sac fly for another run, Chris Davis broke it open with a two-run base hit.

Haverhill, now 2-2, did little to help Vermont-bound starter Leif Sorenson, who gave up five earned runs in five innings, falling to 1-1 on the year.

The Hillies, who began the game without shortstop Bobby Shirling (shoulder) and lost the other half of its double-play tandem when Steve Lesiczka took a pop-up in the mouth, committed five errors that led to five unearned runs.

Josh Chasse slapped a two-run single for the Hillies, now 2-2, while Sorenson and freshman Brendon Bretton added RBI hits.