Baseball (6-14) was narrowly defeated by Dexte- Southfield in the semifinals of the Central New England Prep Baseball League (CNEPSBL) Tournament. Despite a strong pitching performance from Michael Gilligan ’26 and a double from Jacob Honor ’27, Andover struggled. Against Middlesex, due to an effort to save personnel for the highly anticipated matchup against Phillips Exeter Academy (Exeter), Baseball suffered a tough loss.
The game against Dexter-Southfield was a defensive endurance match, according to Co-Captain Luke Gallo ’25. With a final score of 1-2, Andover remained within reach of victory the entire game. Gallo described the back-and-forth nature of the game and recognized key contributors.
“It was a hard-fought game on both sides, for the first few innings, nobody scored and it was a pitcher’s duel. Michael Gilligan, who is an upper, was battling. He got the start for us and he went out firing and shut the other team down. Then at the top of the fifth Jacob Honor hit a big double for us with no outs and then Michael Doherty [’27] had a hit for an RBI [runs batted in], and we took the 1–0 lead. Then it got later in the game and they got a couple of lucky hits and strung together two runs in the bottom of the sixth. And then at the top of the seventh, we got shut down,” said Gallo.
Nathan Dubuc ’28 added to Gallo’s description. He highlighted Honor’s hit and the increase in momentum it brought.
“Jacob Honor hit a double on Saturday against Dexter [Southfield], which really got the boys buzzing in the dugout. He was our life that game, with that absolute tank to left field, he got us going and on our feet, giving us a boost of team morale and chemistry that we needed at that moment to push us,” said Dubuc.
Caleb Penn ’27 emphasized the importance of teamwork in baseball. Even with impressive showings from several players, he shared that it takes a team working with cohesion to win.
“It’s hard to shout out a specific player. Baseball is truly a team sport. It really takes the whole team to pull our weight. Unfortunately, we were not able to come out with the win, but we did have a few bursts of light. Matt deBenedictis [’25] had a good day at the plate, hitting the ball hard. Despite our pitching struggles, Michael Doherty had a good outing, and Jacob Honor was also able to hit the ball hard,” wrote Penn in an email to The Phillipian.
Despite being eliminated from the tournament, Gallo highlighted the team’s resilience. He reflected on the game and the team’s performance with pride.
“I would say overall, I’m pretty proud of the way we came out and battled. I know we didn’t come out with the win, but, looking on the positive side, I’m really happy with the way that our team fought and the way we presented ourselves on the baseball field,” said Gallo.
In the game against Middlesex, Baseball rested the majority of its star players. Even at this disadvantage, Andover fought hard but faltered on its offense, resulting in a 3-7 loss.
“Knowing that we have a big [Andover/Exeter] (A/E) game on Saturday, we tried to preserve most of our Senior pitchers. For Middlesex today, even though they’re an [Independent School League] (ISL) team, going in, we knew they were going to be a tough team to play. So, in the first inning, we scored three runs and we didn’t score after that. It wasn’t too good of a game offensively. The team morale really wasn’t there due to the fact that our pitching; we didn’t have our studs go out there and throw. But even despite that, we still gave it our all and persevered until the very end. We just didn’t get the result that we wanted,” said Dubuc.
Baseball will play at Exeter on Saturday for the highly anticipated final game of the season.
