Ipswich over Topsfield 10-1

Kevin Michael pitched 6 innings for the Chiefs allowing only 1 run, which was unearned, on only 2 hits for the Tories. Chris Lane got the save in relief. The score was 2-0 Ipswich going into the fifth inning where Topsfield made some costly errors to break open the score. Zack Lamkin took the loss for Topsfield. The season series ends 2-2 between the Chiefs and Tories who will be very busy with a handful of make-up games in the coming weeks.

Rockport 7 Beverly 6

Townies came back from a 6-1 deficit on Friday night in Rockport to defeat the Beverly Giants by a score of 7-6. Townies put up three in the 6th and three in the 7th to capture their seventh victory on the season.

More details to follow...

Manchester - 8, Beverly - 2

Steve Stout pitched 6 scoreless innings for the win. Manchester led 1 to 0 in the bottom of the 5th when Nate Bertolino hit a 2 run homerun to start a 7 run rally that put the game away.

Beverly's runs came courtesy of a Bill Boccuzzi 2 run homer in the top of the 7th. Gary Pisa allowed 4 runs (3 earned) over 4+ innings and was charged with the loss.

Generals bounce back against Rams

Jon Jackson pitched a gem as he was able to out-duel Matt Wile to earn the victory, 6-2. The Generals scored 2 in the first to get the scoring going. Funchion and Jones Scored on RBI's from Provost & Stewart. Generals manufactured one in the 3rd, Funchion scored once again on a Stewart RBI single.

The Rams then got two to make the score 3-2. Generals extended the lead to 6-2 in the bottom of the sixth. Jones worked a bases loaded walk, and Stewart delivered yet again with a 2-RBI single that landed after a great effort by the left-fielder. Drinkwater came in to get the 1-2-3 to end the game.

More details later as I forgot the score book.

makeup games

Rockport @ Hamilton Tuesday, July 14th @ Patton Park 5:45pm start

Hamilton @ Rockport will be played Friday, July 17th starting at 7pm.

Rowley 11 - Hamilton 0

On another damp and rainy night, the Rowley Rams got their first action in 21 days. Rowley showed no signs of rust as they brought 11 men to the plate in the first scoring 6. The 6 proved to be plenty of support for Joe Katin (6IP, 3h, 2BB and 7K's) who picked up his 3rd win of the season. Offensively for the Rams Ben Brink(2 for 3 2RBI), Andrew Barry(2for 3 3RBI, HR), Tim Moore(2for 4 1RBI) and Kyle Willett(2for 4 1Run) all had 2 hits. Devin Barry was 1for 3 with 2runs and 3 RBI. For Hamilton Jensen started on the mound and took the loss, while Luke Painchaud and Justin Tilley also chipped in on the mound. Offensively for Hamilton Maloney had 2 hits and Provost added the 3rd. The 2 teams will meet again tomorrow @ Patton Park as they wrap up their season series.

The only way this game got off tonight was through the hard work put into the field for the 2 hours prior to the game. Special thanks to Dave Leavitt and the numerous Hamilton players that arrived early to assist in getting the field ready. The recent weather has certainly put a spin on this season, it was refreshing to see the 2 teams come together to get the field ready for play, old town baseball at its best. Thanks to all that contributed!

Downtime affects Townies, Mariners continue to roll

Downtime affects Townies, Mariners continue to
By Jason Brisbois - Cape Ann Beacon

CAPE ANN - This is just what Jeremy Spittle was hoping wouldn’t happen.

After a 10-day layoff, it was apparent the Townies weren’t playing with the same fervor as when they had a streak of three wins in five days and pulled just above .500. Last Thursday, Rockport’s entry into the Intertown Twilight League fell to Beverly, 4-3.

“We had that layoff, and the layoff hurt us,” said Spittle, the Townies’ player/coach. “This is what I was worried about.”

Andrew Vafallo pitched admirably in a complete-game effort for the baseball team, but it wasn’t enough as Rockport mustered a total of only four hits.

“If we score runs, we’re going to win,” said Spittle. “But we need to score runs to win the game.”

It was a far cry from the team’s streak from a couple of weeks ago, one that helped them to overcome a slow start and get back on track. With numerous rainouts and postponements dotting the ITL landscape so far this summer, July’s schedule is loaded with multiple games on consecutive days. After seeing the Townies respond positively to playing four or five games in a short amount of time, this could be seen as an advantage for Rockport.

“The schedule starts to pick up from here on out,” said Spittle. “In July, we’ve got a boatload of games. It’s a good, little stretch. Hopefully we can start to get some momentum back.”

The Townies are far from out of it at this point. In fact, at 5-5, they are in third place in the league, with first-place Manchester Essex looming this weekend.

“There are a lot of teams under us who are struggling the same, if not worse,” Spittle said. “It’s not like we’re in danger here. We’re right where we want to be. I’d prefer not to have five losses at this point, but we’re playing catch-up to Rowley and Manchester. Those are the two teams right now. I’d be happy if we take two out of our next three.”

The Mariners, meanwhile, remained in first place with a dramatic, extra-inning victory over Hamilton last Friday. The 6-4 win put Manchester Essex firmly in first place in the league at 9-1.

Ipswich 6, Topsfield 2

Ipswich beat the Tories last night by the score of 6-2. Tonight's M/E & Rockport game has been postponed due to the weather. The teams are looking for a possible makeup date.

Hamilton Generals look to makeup ground in ITL

Hamilton Generals look to makeup ground in ITL
By Dom Nicastro - HW Chronicle

Hamilton - Rain is making for a busy second half of the Intertown Twilight Baseball League for the local nine.

But lumping a bunch of makeup games together because of weeks of rain may not be the worst thing for Hamilton.

According to player/manager Tom Jones, his team’s strength is its depth. And he’s counting on it to carry the Generals past the .500 mark in the latter half. The Generals went 4-6 in the first half and stand in fourth place of the seven-team league as of Monday.

“We have tremendous depth this year both in the field and on the mound, which has really paid off,” Jones said. “We've been in every game this year despite the fact that we haven't had the same lineup once this season. All the guys have stepped up and filled in spots they might not be as comfortable with to help out the team.”

The record says otherwise, but the Generals have been competitive. Of the team’s six losses, all but one have either been by one run or in extra innings.

“We compete in every game, which will start to pay off over the second half, I think,” Jones said. “With all the rain we will be forced to play many makeups in the second half, which I think we will have an advantage because we have such a deep team. It will help a lot to have so many quality pitchers when we start having regular four-game weeks.”

Hamilton’s Mark Provost leads the ITL in batting average so far. Jered Stewart is leading in home runs.

However, the Generals have not been able to get the big hit as often as they would like, Jones said. Last season’s MVP, Jim Maloney, has been out all season due to an injury. Jones said he might return soon.

“He is really missed in the lineup,” Jones said. “Offensively we have struggled as a whole. Specifically we haven't been able to deliver the big key hit as a team. Hopefully in the second half we will benefit from this as we haven't thus far in this season.”

Mike Drinkwater and Jon Jackson have been the team’s best pitchers statistically and are among the league leaders in strikeouts and ERA.

As always, the deeper pitching staff wins in the end, and Jones said his can compete in that department.

Manchester Essex (9-1), Rowley (6-2) and Rockport (5-5) are all ahead of Hamilton thus far.

“The league is really looking competitive from top to bottom this year,” Jones said. “Everyone can beat everyone on any night. Manchester Essex seems to be the team to beat so far based on their record. They've been in a lot of tough games and have been coming out on top. We look to push through and share in some similar success for the second half. There really aren't any easy games on the schedule this year. Teams will be battling for the four playoff spots right down to the wire.”

The Generals most recent win came over Topsfield, 10-2. Mike Drinkwater allowed only two runs over four innings of work en route to the win.

The Generals did most of its damage in the third inning, sending 11 men to the plate and scoring seven times. Jones and Provost had back-to-back RBI doubles. Jeff Jensen also contributed with an RBI double of his own later in the inning. The Generals led, 7-0, after three innings.

The Generals tacked on three more in the sixth. Bryan Vitale and Luke Painchuad both had RBI singles.

Jensen pitched the last two innings for Hamilton.

Jones, Provost, Vitale, Jensen and Painchuad all had multiple hits for the Generals. The teams were set to play Tuesday at Patton Park.

Vitale homered in an earlier, eight-inning 6-4 loss to Manchester Essex. Jered Stewart had an RBI single.

makeup game

Ipswich @ Beverly will be played on July, 15th. The game will be played in Ipswich with Beverly as the Home team. Usual start time.

Generals 9, Giants 6

Mike Drinkwater picked up the win for the Generals going 4 innings allowing 3 runs. Luke Deschamps pitched 5 for the home team allowing 8 runs in the loss. The Generals jumped out to a 4-0 lead getting 2 in the first and 2 in the second. Mark Provost (3-4, 3 RBI) delivered RBI singles in each of the first two innings. Judd Funchion got an RBI single and Jim Maloney added a sac-fly in his return off the DL.

The Giants struck back in the third with 3 runs, cutting the Generals lead to just 1. Scialdone got a sac-fly to get things started. A Boyle single, a few walks and errors later the Giants were back in the game. The Generals added 4 in the top of the fifth to extend the lead to 4 runs once again. Tilley got an RBI single bringing in O'Leary. Jones then got a 2-out, 2-RBI triple and was later brought home by another Provost RBI single.

The Giants would not go away, however, as they got 3 more in the bottom of fifth off Connor Sullivan. Boyle delivered a monster 2-run HR to dead center landing over the second fence. The Giants got one more and were still threatening when Sullivan was able to pick off the runner at second to end the inning. In the sixth Tilley worked a bases loaded walk to complete the scoring. In the bottom of the inning, some nice defensive plays and a strikeout ended the game with the Generals winning 9-6.

Rockport 6 Manchester-Essex 4

The Townies topped the first place Mariners 6-4 on Sunday night in Rockport. Brent Currier went the distance for his third win on the season. He allowed 4 runs on two hits while striking out two. Jack Brancaleone got the loss, allowing 4 runs in two innings of work on six hits. Mike Gibbons went four innings in relief allowing 2 runs on seven hits.

Rockport was paced offensively by Brock Currier (2-4, hr), Dan Greel (2-3, 2 2bs), Tom Robertson (1-3, 2rs) and Conor Ressel (1-3, 3b, 2 rbis). Manchester-Essex lone hits came from Joe Orlando and Ian Buckley.

Rockport visits Manchester-Essex for the fourth and final game of the regular season against each other on Tuesday night beginning at 5:45pm.

Topsfield @ Rowley Doubleheader

Makeup Dates: Topsfield @ Rowley will be Saturday, July 18th as a doubleheader starting at 1PM

Makeup Games: Rowley / Ipswich

Ipswich and Rowley will be making up their two rain outs on Friday, July 24th in Ipswich, and Friday July 31st in Rowley. Both 5:45pm starts.

Rockport @ Hamilton Postponed

Today's game has been postponed due to the weather.

Topsfield @ Rowley Postponed

Make up TBA