SUDBURY — The conditions were right for Central Catholic.
After an easy first round victory, the Raiders were facing a banged-up Lincoln-Sudbury club that needed five pitchers and a walk-off hit Sunday just to advance.
But the top-seeded Warriors utilized their many skills once again, scoring twice with two outs in the 10th inning to secure an emotional 6-5 victory over Central Catholic yesterday before 250 fans in the Division 1 North quarterfinals.
Looking to personally banish a Feeley Field hex that has plagued his Andover American Legion career in summer ball — and bounce back from a shoulder injury suffered earlier in the game — Andover's Marc Crowley (4 for 5 with a double) deposited reliever Carl Anderson's 2-0 fastball 375 feet over the center field fence with two outs to give the Raiders their third lead of the day, 5-4, in the top of the 10th.
But L-S scratched its way back again as a single, a wild pitch and a walk put runners on the corners with two outs. DH Mike Baranowsky then barely dribbled a base hit through the shortstop hole to score Derek Lowe, with Garrett Moore surviving a run-down to move to third. Then, an errant throw to first on Matt Tatkow's full-count infield grounder improbably brought home Moore with the game-winner.
"Who'd have thought that a bleeder between third base and shortstop would finish our season?" said Raider head coach Marc Pelletier. "This is a team with 12 seniors, that had a winning percentage of about .800 in the toughest league in the state (the Merrimack Valley Conference), and was back-to-back league champs ... It's just a tough way to go out for kids who gave so much to Central Catholic baseball."
The fighting spirit started on the mound where senior ace Brendan Walsh battled control issues and a seemingly random strike zone over 72âÑ3 innings. Throwing 152 pitches — only 78 for strikes, Walsh walked 10 and hit a batter, but fanned 10 and stranded 13 Warriors, leaving with a 4-3 lead.
"We know Brendan's going to throw 115 pitches and he doesn't want the ball out of his hands," Pelletier said, "but he's not a piece of meat. He's a human being and there's only so many pitches in a kid's arm."
Zak Adamopoulos moved from third base to the hill, allowing the tying run in the eighth inning but retiring five straight batters before Lincoln-Sudbury's winning rally.
The top of Central's order was productive (10 of 11 hits from the top five batters, two each from Walsh and Tim Wheeler) while consecutive sacrifice flies from Karl Mann and Matt Pelletier gave the visitors an early advantage.
Lincoln-Sudbury 6, Central Catholic 5 (10 innings)
Division 1 North quarterfinals
Central Catholic (5): Robbie Taylor ss 4-1-1, Patrick Noone cf 5-0-1, Tim Wheeler 1b 5-0-2, Brendan Walsh p/rf 5-0-2, Marc Crowley lf 5-2-4, Darren Infante 2b 5-1-0, Karl Mann dh/3b 3-0-0, Matt Pelletier c 2-0-0, Chris Berganti ph 0-0-0, Zak Adamopoulos 3b/p 4-0-1, Spencer Bradley pr 0-1-0, Brian Wolfendale rf 0-0-0. Totals 38-5-11
Lincoln-Sudbury (6): Billy Bereszniewicz cf 5-0-1, Derek Lowe lf 6-3-4, Justin Quinn ss 4-2-1, Garrett Moore c 1-1-0, Ben Smith pr 0-0-0, Mike Baranowsky dh 6-0-2, Matt Tatkow rf 6-0-1, Adam Ravenelle 3b 2-0-0, Matt Antonellis 1b 3-0-0, Erik Watkins 2b 5-0-1, Ryan Wood p 0-0-0, Eli Libby p 0-0-0, Carl Anderson p 0-0-0. Totals 38-6-10
RBI: CC — Wheeler, Crowley, Mann, Pelletier; L-S — Quinn 2, Baranowsky 2, Tatkow
WP: Anderson; LP: Adamopoulos
Central Catholic (16-6):0 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 — 5
Lincoln-Sudbury (20-2):0 0 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 2 — 6
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