Beverly 10 Hamilton 8
Beverly defeated Hamilton 10-8 Tuesday night at Patton Park. Dan O'Connor went five innings to get the win for the Giants, while Jim Love took the loss going six innings in relief for the Generals. Patton Park's fence was recently put on the disabled list due to wind damage suffered in the recent storms, leading to new ground rules at the park.
John Boyle put the Giants up 1-0 in the top of the first with an absolute bomb to RF off of Generals' starter Cam Charette. The blast struck a spectator of the nearby little league game in the side of the neck, and would have easily been a two run HR if Patton Park's fence had been in place. Boyle had to settle for an RBI ground-rule double and an arrest warrant may be out on him for his assault on the innocent bystander.
Hamilton answered with four runs in the bottom of the first. Three straight singles started the game leading to backstop Bryan Vitale's sacrifice fly to tie the game. Mark Ruggerio followed with a two-run double and Luke Ransom later delivered a blast to left-center which probably would have cleared the fence. Instead Ransom settled for a ground-rule double giving the Generals a 4-1 lead after one.
Charette left the game after one inning due to shoulder soreness and Love was forced into relief duty. Beverly plated five runs in the third to take a 6-4 lead. Derek Scaildone and Erik Drown had RBI hits to lead the Giants' offense. Hamilton attempted to answer in the bottom of the fourth, but with two-on and two-out Boyle tracked down a fly ball off the bat of Jim Maloney just to the right of the gazebo in centerfield for the third out end the Generals' rally.
In the fifth the Giants extended the lead to 9-4 highlighted by a mammoth homer by Drown that landed halfway across the pond in left center. Brendan Fullerton added a solo HR into the base of the willow tree in the sixth to give the Giants a little insurance. Hamilton cut the lead to 10-8 by scoring four in the sixth. Provost had a RBI double, Maloney followed with a RBI single and two more runs later scored on a wild-pitch sequence. However, Drown came in to slam the door on Hamilton pitching the final 1.1 innings and striking out four, while earning the save.
