White Sparkles but Lowell Nips Redmen In Pitchers' Duel, 1-0

In many ways, Tewksbury's and Lowell's Dan Cummisky were the unlikeliest of candidates to hook up in what should stand up as one of the best pitching duels of the entire 2011 season in the Merrimack Valley Conference.

Both teams came into Friday's game playing for the third time in five days, and both teams were using their No. 3 starters.

But you wouldn't have known that by watching, as Cummisky threw a complete-game, two-hit shut out at Tewksbury and White also spun a gem, allowing just one run on three hits.

A fifth-inning lead-off triple by Lowell's Rory O'Connor produced the game's only run and the Tewksbury High baseball team lost a 1-0 heartbreaker at Strong Field.

"Ryan White just pitched his rear end off," . "We couldn't have asked for anything more than what he gave us today. It's a big shame to not get a win out of a performance like that."

White faced only 24 batters in the game, struck out three and did not walk a single batter. He allowed one hit in the first inning and two in the fifth, but was otherwise flawless. A total of just five Lowell batters reached base against White.

"It was a great high school baseball game," Drouin said. "Both pitchers were extremely competitive. They got three or four hits and we got three or four hits. They just pushed a run across."

Ironically, Cummisky was making his first career start after Lowell's scheduled starter had a conflict with a football recruiting trip. Cummisky had appeared only in relief prior to Friday's game.

"We were in a pinch," Lowell coach Dan Graham said. "I was looking for maybe four innings out of him. I came in thinking it was gonna have to be a staff day, where I used three or four guys to get through the game. The next thing I knew we were going into the seventh inning and he's only thrown 60 pitches.

"He was in a zone," Graham added. "He pitched to contact, he mixed in his change-up a lot, and his fastball location is as good as any kid on our staff."

Tewksbury did have a few chances to score runs against Cummisky, getting runners to third base in the second, fourth and fifth innings. But a double play ended the second, an pop fly ended the fourth and two straight ground outs stranded White at third in the fifth.

"We're in a little bit of a funk offensively right now," Drouin said. "We scored two runs in our last game and we scored no runs today. We've got to do a better job when we're on the stage."

White did everything in his power to help his own cause, collecting two of the team's three hits. Senior left fielder had the third hit, a two-out triple in the fifth.

"We didn't play badly," Drouin said. "I couldn't be prouder of the effort and I couldn't be prouder of the way Ryan White competed. We'll be all right. We're gonna be OK. This isn't a bad baseball team."

The loss drops Tewksbury's record to 4-3 overall, 2-3 in the MVC. The Redmen have a critical MVC Division 2 showdown with Dracut High on Monday, in Dracut. Senior righthander Matt Luppi (3-0) will start for Tewksbury.

"We gotta answer the bell on Monday," Drouin said. "Let's hope Luppi can go down there and right the ship for us."

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