Luppi, Redmen Right The Ship

came up with just what the doctor ordered for the Tewksbury High baseball team on Monday.

Luppi struck out a career-high 11 batters and did not allow an earned run in a 4-1 complete game victory over Billerica at Tewksbury's Strong Field.

For the Redmen, the win avenged an earlier loss to Billerica and halted a three-game losing streak. After starting the season by winning four of their first five games, the Redmen had lost six of their last seven going into Monday's game.

"We needed this one just to kind of get the wheels back on the bus," coach Ron "There was good energy yesterday. The kids felt pretty good about themselves. I'm pleased."

Luppi improved his record to 4-2 on the season and lowered his earned run average to 2.01 with a masterful performance, allowing only three hits.

"He (Luppi) was the show," Drouin said. "He threw his fastball for strikes and he had good command of his curveball. He was on his "A" game."

Billerica took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on an unearned run that scored on an infield out, but Tewksbury came back with two runs in the bottom of the third to take the lead for good. The Redmen added single runs in the fifth and sixth to seal the deal.

led the offensive attack with two hits while Luppi knocked in a run with a hit and shortstop Eric Heider brought a run home with a sacrifice fly.

Tewksbury improves to 6-7 overall, 4-7 in the with the win.

The victory also improves TMHS's chances of earning a state tournament berth. Tewksbury can qualify in a variety of ways, including winning 10 games, or finishing second in the MVC Division 2 standings.

"We're not done yet, not by any means," Drouin said. "We've still got a couple different options."

The Redmen now embark on a stretch of their schedule that could produce a winning streak, based on past results. They host MVC  Division 2 rival Dracut on Thursday, then host Peabody (.500 record) on Friday. They'll make up a rained out game at Wilmington on Sunday and play at Austin Prep on Monday. Two of Tewksbury's six wins to date have come against Wilmington and Austin Prep.

"We've got a stretch here where we could win three out of four, if we play good baseball," Drouin said.

The Redmen have seven regular season games remaining and could qualify for post season play by winning four of them.