Eagles Soar Past Falcons for Town Bragging Rights

St. John's Prep baseball coach Pat Yanchus isn't quite sure what triggered the Eagles' 17-hit barrage in Saturday night's 14-7 non-league win against crosstown rival Danvers at Twi Field but knows that kind of hitting could carry his club a long way in the upcoming State Tournament.

The Catholic Conference co-champion Eagles have relied heavily on pitching and defense throughout the season on the way to a 15-5 record.

"I don't know where that came from – we were hitting .237 as a team going in. Hopefully we can continue it in the tournament," said Yanchus, knowing the Eagles' chances will be enhanced dramatically if they continue to swing the bats well. "We have a number of kids doing a good job on the mound and we've been playing good defense all year."

Junior catcher Jake Barosin, playing in place of injured senior captain Tyler Coppola (thumb), powered the offense as he belted three doubles and drove in three runs. Brandon Bingel contributed a double and triple and drove in two runs while Andrew Donahue had two hits and three RBI. Sean Patrikas, Dillon Gonzales and Brandon Coppola added two hits and an RBI each. Rob DiFranco picked up the win.

"It's the game for yearly bragging rights. It's always well-attended and it's a lot of fun. It's not quite a tournament atmosphere, but it's close," said Yanchus.

NEC South champion Danvers (16-5) found itself in a 10-2 hole through four innings and was unable to cut into that margin. Zach Ryan, Dan Connors, A.J. Couto and Joe Strangie paced the Falcons with two hits apiece.

Sunday morning at Merrimack College St. John's needed only one inning to complete an 8-5 non-league win against Central Catholic of Lawrence. The game was suspended last Thursday night after nine innings, tied at 5-5.

Gonzales struck the key blow, a two-run double in the top of the 10th. Mike Driscoll struck out the side in the bottom of the inning for the win after Rob Woodward recorded the hold with five stellar innings of relief on Thursday. Pat Connaughton drilled a two-run homer, Andrew Capuano had three hits and two RBI and Bingel added two hits and an RBI.

TRACK

St. John's finished eighth in Saturday's EMass. Division 1 Meet at Andover High School with 36 points. Senior Sean Enos won the discus by more than 15 feet with a throw of 158-10 and added a fifth-place finish in the shot put (52-11).

The Eagles' Bryan Browne also figured prominently as he clocked 22.74 to place third in the 200 and anchored the fourth-place 4x100 relay team (43.82) that included Luis Soto, Nick Pesaturo and Joy Dumas. Other St. John's placers included Scott Sheehan (2^nd, javelin, 166-1), Morgan Johnson (7^th, discus, 131-7) and Jarret Harrigan (8^th, 2-mile, 9:34.77).

In last Friday's EMass. Division 3 Meet at Oliver Ames High School, Amanda Caldarone scored in three events to help the Danvers High girls finish 16^th with 16 points. Caldarone won the long jump (17-4), placed fourth in the 100 hurdles (15.7) and combined with Lexi Bean, Xanthi Pantazelos and Lauren Sundquist for an eighth-place finish in the 4x100 relay (51.77). On the boys side, Joe Mason was the only Falcon to score points, finishing fifth in the shot put with a throw of 46-11 1/2.

SOFTBALL

In a battle of respective league champions, NEC  South kingpin Danvers  (15-5) captured the North Andover tourney for the second year in a row on Saturday. Erica Fleming's grand slam in the top of the seventh carried the Falcons past Cape Ann League Division Two champ Newburyport, 8-6, halting the Clippers' (16-4) eight-game win streak.