Fighting for its third title in four years, third seed Andover Baseball fell 11-4 against first-seed Worcester in the Central New England Prep School League finals last weekend. The team, however, defeated Tabor 4-1 in the semifinals en route to its second place finish.
Facing off against Tabor for the third time this season, Andover tallied six hits in the matchup and did not commit any errors, with runs batted in by Travis Lane ’18, first baseman Robby Cerulle ’17 and Co-Captain Matt Hosman ’15.
Starting pitcher Thomas Lane ’15 recorded his fourth complete game of the season, holding the opposition to three hits and allowing only one earned run.
Prior to the league finals, Andover had a 1-1 record against Worcester, splitting its doubleheader against the team earlier in the season. Last weekend’s competition made Worcester the only team to beat Andover twice this season.
After being held scoreless in the first five innings of the game, Andover made a comeback rally late in the game; however, the effort was not enough to overcome Worcester’s 11 runs. The team ended the game with four hits and two errors.
Catcher John Simourian ’16 led the team with two R.B.I, while Taylor Beckett ’17 batted in a run as well.
Pitchers Tim Salvadore ’15 and Jake Nelson ’15 split the game evenly on the mound, giving up five and six runs in three innings, respectively.
Sam Zager ’15 said, “[Nelson] didn’t get a lot of breaks in the field. Some softly hit balls fell in that just couldn’t be helped, and it just created some sticky situations, pitching in tight jams.”
Worcester chose to start pitcher Gus Culpo who led the team to victory against Andover earlier in the season, making him the only pitcher to record two wins against Andover this year.
Zager spoke of Culpo after the game and said, “We didn’t slow down the game at the plate, and [Culpo] got into a groove and was able to shut us down until the sixth inning where we finally broke through a little late.”
After the tournament, Andover was victorious in its last home game of the season with a 2-0 shutout against Dexter.
David Gaetano ’15 pitched the team’s second complete game of the week, striking out eight batters and giving up five hits in the process. John Simourian and Cerulle contributed to Andover’s offense, batting in the two runs of the game. The team finished the game with four hits and an error.
Gaetano said, “The changeup was really working well today. I threw it a ton, and it helped keep the hitters off balance. The defense was also terrific today. They did a great job having my back.”
Andover will cap off its impressive season with a game at Phillips Exeter Academy on Saturday.