3/28 – Andover 4, Dexter Southfield: 5
4/1 – Andover 5, St. Sebastian’s: 1
After a narrow 4–5 loss to Dexter Southfield (Dexter) in the second game of the season, Baseball (1–1) bounced back dominantly, overwhelming St. Sebastian’s (St. Seb’s) with a 5–1 victory and setting an early tone for the team.
On Saturday, the team faced Dexter 4–5 in a tightly contested game. The matchup went back and forth, highlighted by big hits from Matt Uliciny ’26, Caleb Penn ’27, and Miles O’Neil ’28. The game was defined by timely hits and two very close plays that could have changed the outcome.
“Caleb Penn got us on the board early with a sacrifice fly. He also had 2 hits in the game. Matt Uliciny had 2 hits, Miles O’Neil had a base hit up the middle that scored a run, and Jacob Honor came in as a relief pitcher and shut it down. He had a couple of strikeouts and was getting them to produce soft contact. There were also two very close plays at the plate. Dexter had very good, timely hitting. Overall, we might have played the better game, but they got hits when they needed them. They had a 2 RBI double down the right field line and took advantage of a misplaced fastball in the bottom of the 5th for a triple off the fence,” said Kaiden McNeice ’28.
Against St. Seb’s, Matthew Shampine ’26 led the charge on the mound, throwing four scoreless innings with four strikeouts. Thomas Perri ’28 recalled the impressive outing, especially noting a nine-pitch first inning.
Perri said, “It’s really hard to pitch in cold and rainy weather, and he threw four innings and only 45 pitches. He didn’t give up a run. He only gave up one hit, and he was just hitting his spots all game. He definitely stood out. Specifically, in the 1st inning, Shampine went out there and got three guys out on nine pitches. It really set the tone for the rest of the game because it was cold and rainy, and it’s hard to play baseball and that. When he went and got the first three guys out, that got everyone fired up.”
The offense followed suit, capitalizing early to take control of the game. According to Owen Prior ’29, a pivotal second inning saw Andover put up three runs, establishing a lead they would not relinquish.
“The 2nd inning is when we scored first: we scored three runs. That was really good because they had a good pitcher out there, but we were able to take control. Once we got out to that lead, we were able to hold onto it for the rest of the game,” said Prior.
With the team so early into the season, most of its practices are meant to build chemistry and communication. Prior noted that the team’s work on game situations and fundamentals built confidence.
“During practice, we worked on some game situations and fundamentals. Even if not all the situations show up and we don’t see all the little things we practiced, it still gives us a sense of confidence together. Another thing we worked on was pop-ups [which] are in between a couple of players that one player might go get, another player might go get, and we did a really good job of that, communicating with one another, and making sure we got the play done,” said Prior.
The team will face Winchendon on Saturday.
