Sports

Andover Slides Into Trouble in Deerfield

Andover Boys Baseball fell 4-1 this past Saturday in the semi-finals of the New England tournament after splitting a double-header with Deerfield last weekend.

Andover went into the game with Tom Palleschi ’12 starting on the mound. Palleschi pitched a three-hit game, giving up two earned runs over the course of seven innings in the loss. Andover’s defense behind Palleschi was sub-par, however, committing five errors over the course of the game and accounting for two of the four runs.

The Andover bats were hot right from the start with Captain Chris Cameron ’11 leading off the game with a triple over the right fielder’s head and into the gap left behind him. To drive him in, Seamus O’Neill ’13 came up to bat and smashed a deep pop fly to knock in his captain for the first run of the game. After this first explosive inning, however, hits were hard to come by for the rest of the game.

The team held its lead until Deerfield tied the game in the bottom of the second inning to make it a 1-1 game, only reaching base five times the remainder of the game.

Deerfield increased its lead over the next two innings to 3-1 and then added its last run of the game in the sixth inning. Andover kept fighting until the end, but with a great performance from the opposing pitcher, the team wasn’t able to get itself back into the game with its bats or its defense.

Despite its struggles with injuries and rainouts throughout the season, Andover was able to find itself a way into the playoffs and make the most of that chance. “Although we didn’t win the championship this year, we overcame a lot of obstacles in order to win games and have a good season,” said Zac Elder ’11. “We had injuries and people playing out of position for most of our games, but we didn’t let that stop us. We were a scrappy team that bonded well and stuck together in spite of all the hardships we faced. I don’t think anyone on the team would disagree with me when I say that we had more fun this season than any of the other teams we played.”

Cameron, one of the many affected by injury this year, made it clear that he had a great season with the team and will always remember his experience with Andover’s Baseball program. “I’ll probably remember all the games I’ve played in for Andover Baseball, but I know for a fact that I will remember all the people I’ve come across over the last three years,” Cameron said. “I’ve had the pleasure of playing with a lot of great teammates, playing under a couple of legendary head coaches in Coach Cline and Coach Graber, and meeting a lot of great people along the way. Andover Baseball is a large part of what I’ll remember when I think of Andover.”