RallyNorth.net

North Shore in historic victory

Friday, May, 30 By Bill Kipouras
Staff writer

John Delaney felt uneasy | partly disorganized | for his failure to find out any pre-tournament information on Division 3 North opponent New Mission High of Roxbury. Didn't matter.

"Certainly I didn't expect anything like this," the North Shore Tech baseball coach asserted after his Bulldogs established school history by capturing their first postseason victory in a 20-4 romp at sun-splashed Barry Field yesterday.

The Bulldogs banged out 15 hits, 6-foot-2 righthander Ryan Mahan gave up two runs (one unearned) in the first inning and no-hit New Mission in the next four frames while his teammates scored 20 straight runs, making it the seventh time this season the bullish Bulldogs had scored in double digits.

The 20-run total may have also been a school mark, although it couldn't be confirmed.

"They were ahead 2-0 and it was kind of scary," sophomore third baseman Dave St. Pierre, one of the area's top QB prospects, said.

St. Pierre's leadoff homer for North Shore in the bottom of the first, a towering shot about 345 feet to left, eased the tension and provided him with a marvelous thrill. It was his first homer at any level since donning a Blue Jays uniform in the Beverly Little League as a 10-year-old.

North Shore's M.O. on this particular gusty day, however, was a playoff victory that advances Voke to a third matchup versus Lynn Tech at Lynn tomorrow (2 p.m.). They split in the Commonwealth Small season, Mahan winning, 3-2, at Middleton and Lynn rallying for a 6-5 win after trailing 5-1.

"This was big | very huge," Delaney said. "We set three goals this year, to win the Commonwealth Conference (small) and we came up two runs short; to make the tournament, and three, to win a tournament game. We've succeeded in two of the three and now we'd like to win a state championship."

New Mission's generosity was overwhelming as it watched North Shore (12-3) bat around in a five-run splurge in the first, then send 16 to the plate in 12-run fourth and tag on three more runs in the sixth.

North Shore stole seven bases and capitalized on 10 walks. Nine Bulldogs who got free passes went on to score. The visitors also were guilty of nine wild pitches, four of which produced runs.

"This was historic, something we'll remember, and it builds self-confidence," North Shore catcher J.J. Navas said. "We've been talking about this for a long time. I was a sophomore when we last played in the tournament and lost to Arlington Catholic, 2-1. Everybody on the team knew about today."

Several players have the former baseball coach, Paul Worth, in class and have been chiding Worth, all in jest.

"I told Mr. Worth that he's sure going to be jealous if  Mr. Delaney makes history," St. Pierre said. "The guys have been kidding him about that."

North Shore, which starts only two seniors, has a strong Beverly delegation, five regulars, including St. Pierre, who homered, scored twice and stole two bags; Navas, who was 1 for 3 with a double and three runs; Mahan, the slim junior who improved his mound log to 5-2, giving up only two hits and notching a steal,  two hits, two RBI, and three runs;  Zack Newman, who was 2 for 3 with four RBIs, a steal and two runs, and Cam Fletcher, who resides in Beverly but moved up from Tampa, Fla., in January.

Fletcher was on base five times. He was 2-2, both singles, walked twice, stole two bases, was  a hit batsman and  scored once. He's from Essex Aggie, a co-op addition.

"What brought me to North Shore?  I wanted culinary arts," Fletcher said. "I want to be a cook."

Someone said Fletcher's future wife would be a lucky woman.

"That's what my mom tells me," Fletcher said.

Andrew Rainville was 2 for 3 with two RBIs and two runs and Joe Dambrasio also drove in two runs.

Mike Kenney, the New Mission coach, said he expected North Shore to do some damage in the tournament.

"This is our first time in states, a learning experience," Kenney said. "We play in the Boston City League. It's got a lot of Division 1 teams. We're the little guys. We were a good young team this year. The school has won two or three games in the past and this year we won eight. It was an honor  to make the tournament. This was a very good team we played. We knew the top of the   order could hit."