Andover cruised to three straight victories this past week, stomping Northfield-Mount Hermon in a double header on Saturday and beating Brooks, 11-0, for Coach Andy Cline’s 300th career victory. On Saturday, Andover hosted NMH and defeated the Hoggers with a cumulative score of 18-2. Andover pitchers allowed just four walks in both games combined and Andover hitters struck out just five times. In the first game, Glenn Stowell ’09 took the mound in his third start of the season, helping Andover to an 8-1 victory. Stowell allowed only one run on four hits in his first complete game of the season, striking out ten NMH batters along the way. Stowell’s impressive performance on the mound was matched by the Andover batting squad. The team came out strong in the bottom of the first inning. Mike DiFronzo ’11 led off with a single, and a wild pitch eventually allowed him to cross the plate. Sam Clark ’09 followed with a double that knocked in Co-Captain Anthony Morlani ’09, giving Andover the 2-0 lead by the end of the first inning. The game remained close until the sixth inning, when Andover rallied for four runs to cushion its lead. Zach Burdeau ’09, Co-Captain Geoff Lynch ’09 and Clark all drove in two runs in the game. Stowell got the win, improving to 3-0 on the season, with a 0.72 earned run average. Burdeau was the offensive star in the game with three hits, and DiFronzo, Clark and Sam Auffant ’09 each added two of their own. Jack Doyle ’10 took the mound in Saturday’s second game for his third start of the season. Doyle threw six innings for Andover and shut out NMH while allowing just one hit. The 10-1 victory improved Doyle’s record to 3-0 on the season. Once again, Andover’s offense exploded, providing the defense with an overabundance of run support. DiFronzo and Morlani each contributed with two hits, while Chris Cameron ’11 and Tom Palleschi ’12 each knocked in two runs of their own. “This was a big day for our two big guns in or rotation, as both Glenn and Jack stretched out their pitch counts. They both clearly showed why we can count on them in big games,” said Cameron. These two wins against league rival NMH were crucial for Andover. With the sweep of the doubleheader, the team improved to 7-2 on the season and 5-1 in the league, and Cline earned his 299th win going into Monday’s game at Brooks School. In the top of the first inning, Andover knocked Brooks’ pitcher for an early four runs and never looked back. “As soon as the first inning was finished we knew we had the game in our hands,” said Clark. Offensively, Burdeau had another three hit game for Andover, and everyone else chipped in another display of offense in Andover’s 11-0 shutout victory. Palleschi pitched four strong innings in the start, and he was relieved for two innings by Auffant and one inning by Tom Hamel ’10. With the win, Cline earned his 300th career victory, and the team improved to 8-2 on the season. “Today was a special day for Coach Cline, who got his 300th win,” said Clark. “I had to really take a step back and think about how many wins that is. It’s quite an accomplishment.”
