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Lawrence Lancers Baseball '10

Mon, Jun 07, 2010 06:30 PM @ Lawrence
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Final
Peabody 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2
Lawrence 0 3 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 6

Tough with two: Lancers hit when it matters most, drop PEabody

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Monday, June, 07 By Hector Longo
Staff writer

 

LAWRENCE - Only one Merrimack Valley Conference baseball team remains alive this spring.

No surprise that it's Lawrence High School.

The second-seeded Lancers delivered when it mattered - with two outs and runners in scoring position - ousting No. 7 Peabody, 7-2, in the Division 1 North quarterfinals last night at Devlin Field.

Thursday night, Lawrence will square off with No. 3 Lincoln-Sudbury and Vanderbilt University-bound ace Adam Ravenelle in the sectional semis, 7 p.m., at Lowell's LeLacheur Park. The victory marks Lawrence's deepest trip into the baseball tourney in at least a quarter of a century.

All six of Lawrence's runs scored on two-out hits.

Tito Lluberes (RBI double) and Harvey Blanco (two-run single) propelled Lawrence out of the gate, building a 3-0 lead in the second.

After Peabody cut the margin to one with a pair of runs in the fourth, Jose Sandoval singled in Edwin Brito to make it 4-2.

Finally, Blanco was back at it again, doubling home Sandoval in the seventh then racing home on Dionys Quezada's base hit.

The rest of the night was a lesson in the art of escape by Lawrence pitching, first by starter and winner Yunior Vasquez and one last time in the ninth by closer Victor Mendez.

Peabody managed seven hits and worked 10 walks, but the Tanners were frustrated repeatedly, stranding 14 runners - eight in the last three frames.

"The bottom line is when we had runners in scoring position, he made pitches," said Peabody coach Mark Bettencourt. "You can't leave 14 runners on and expect to win."

Vasquez moves to 8-0 on the year and now rests his hopes for a start in Saturday night's sectional final game with bulldog Michael Calzetta - who is pointed at starting vs. L-S on four days rest - while Mendez remains ready at first call in the pen.

Game Statistics:

Peabody (2):  Gennaro Ciulla c 5-0-0, Bobby Losanno rf 3-0-0, Ramses Vittini cf 4-0-2, Joe Gruntkowski 1b 4-1-1, Andrew Bucci ss 3-1-2, Matt Suchariewicz dh 4-0-1, Stephen Girolamo 3b 3-0-0, Ryan McCarthy ph 1-0-0, Derrik Pereira lf 2-0-0, Matt Sanders 2b 4-0-1, Pat Ruotolo p 0-0-0, Nate Hubis p 0-0-0, Totals 33-2-7

Lawrence (6): Jose Sandoval 3b 3-2-2, Tito Lluberes 2b 2-1-1, Harvey Blanco ss 3-1-2, Dionys Quezada c 4-0-1, Michael Calzetta 1b 3-0-0, Devin Montanez rf 4-0-1, Edwin Brito dh 4-1-1, Elvis Guilamo lf 4-0-0, Juan Ventura cf 3-1-0, Yunior Vasquez p 0-0-0, Victor Mendez p 0-0-0, Totals 30-6-8 

RBI:  P - none; L - Sandoval, Lluberes, Blanco 3, Quezada

WP: Vasquez (8 ip, 0 er, 7 h, 9 bb, 5 k); LP:  Ruotolo;  S:  Mendez (1 ip, 0 r, 0 h, 1 bb, 3 k)

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