Rams top Townies 2-1

The Rowley Rams won a tightly contested game at Eiras field 2-1. Rowley's Nick Liguori(6IP, 8K's, 2H,2BB, 1ER) locked into a pitchers duel with Marques(5-2/3, 4K's, 5H, 6 BB,1ER) of Rockport. A scoreless game into the 5th Brock Currier led off with a walk, advanced to 2nd on a wild pitch and scored on a 2 out single by Junker. Liguori limited the damage to 1 run and the Rams sent 8 men to the plate in the 6th highlighted by Ben Brink's bases loaded walk to break the tie. With 2 outs and the bases still loaded Brent Currier went to the mound and recorded a K in his 1/3 of an inning to end the threat. Rockport's 2 hits were credited to Anderson and Junker. Dave Mariani had 2 hits for the Rams, Dan Berube, Joe White and Jeff Wood contributed hits for the Rams, and Shane Johnson pitched the 7th inning to record his 2nd save of the season.The Rams are off until Tuesday when they travel to Essex to take on the Mariners. Rockport is right back at it Friday night when they host Beverly.

Vitale Field Dedication, Thursday June 19th

Friends and family of former Hamilton resident and town employee Richard Vitale will gather before a newly placed memorial at the Patton Park Babe Ruth baseball field on Thursday, June 19, 5 p.m. Following the ceremony the Topsfield Tories will take on the Hamilton Generals, 5:45pm start.

The dedication ceremony is open to the public and all are welcome to stay for the game.

Vitale, better known as “Richie” around town, died last August after a long battle with cancer. He began working for Hamilton in 1971, serving as recreation director then as director of the Hamilton Public Works Department.

After he retired, Vitale continued to help get the ball fields at Patton Park ready each year by raking the dirt and doing the edging.

Manchester/Essex 5 - Topsfield 3

The Mariners escaped with a 5-3 win in Essex on Tuesday night over the Topsfield Tories. Ryan Marques picked up his first win of the season for the Mariners by going 5 solid innings and striking out 8. Dreesen was the tough luck loser for the Tories going 6 innings, striking out 4 and limiting the Mariners to only 8 hits, all 8 by the first four hitters in the lineup.

Jack Brancaleone pitched a perfect 6th inning for the Mariners and Mike Gibbon closed the door with a perfect 7th inning and recorded his 3rd save of the young season.

The Mariners were led by Joe Orlando's 3 hits, including a 2 run home run in the 2nd inning, and 2 runs scored. Rory Gentile and Nate Bertolino recorded 2 hits each, and Ian Buckley provided a 2 run double in the first inning. Ben Hathaway led the Tories with 2 hits on the night, and Bryan Green scored 2 of the Tories 3 runs. Lampik, Green, Gallugi, and Haines hit safely for the Tories. Hathaway made the defensive play of the night with a diving snag of Kyle Hildebrand's hard grounder up the middle, which started a 4-6-3 double play.

The 2 teams meet again on Friday night, 5:45, at Proctor Field in Topsfield. The Mariners improve to 4-2-1 with the win, while the Tories drop to 0-5 on the season.

Rowley - 7, Beverly - 6

The Rowley Rams (3-3) downed the Beverly Giants (4-2) by the score of 7 to 6 at Erias Field Tuesday night. Dave Leavitt earned the victory allowing 3 runs (2 earned) over 6 innings. Luke Deschamps dropped to 1-1 on the season for Beverly as he allowed 6 runs (1 earned) in 5 innings.

Rowley jumped out to an early 6-0 lead through 4 innings behind the bats of Dan Tomasz (2 for 4, 2RBI), Koby Thibault (2 for 4, 2RBI), and Nick Liguori (2 for 3, 2 runs). Dan Berube also made several fine plays at second base.

Beverly rallied in the late innings scoring 3 in the 6th and 3 more in the 7th. Offensive leaders for Beverly were Nick Adams (1 for 3, 2RBI), Kevin Harutunian (1 for 3, 2 runs), and Andy Hobin (1 for 3, 2 runs).

Rowley hosts Rockport (1-3-1) Wednesday night while Beverly travels to Rockport Friday night.

Generals 7, Chiefs 4

Jeff "Giraffe" Jensen picked up his first win this season by going six strong innings. Mike Drinkwater came in for a perfect 7th to record the save. Chris Lane pitched great for the home team recording 5K's in 4 IP but recorded the loss. The win moves the Generals to 4-1 on the season and in a tie for first, the Ipswich Chiefs drop to 2-2. The two teams meet again this Thursday at Patton Park, 5:45pm start.

The Chiefs got on the board first in the first. Dylan Durning brought in Sitiropolous on a sacrifice fly after Sitiropolous led off with a triple. The Generals got on the board and took the lead in the 3rd scoring 4 times. Potter got things going with a single just off the tip of the second baseman's glove. He was later brought in on a Maloney RBI single. Mark Provost followed with a 2-run triple. Vitale brought in Provost on a fielder's choice.

An Andre Painchaud sac-fly in the fifth and a Jim Maloney 2-out 2-RBI single in the sixth pushed the score to 7-1 Generals. In the bottom of the sixth the Chiefs managed 3 runs to close the gap to 7-4. Montecalvo delivered a deep double scoring Durning, a throwing error brought in another run on the play and allowed Montecalvo to advance to third. Matt Lane's sac-fly scored Montecalvo.

That's how the game ended as Mike Drinkwater came in for the perfect 7th. Hamilton came away with the 7-4 victory. Sitiropolous led the home team with 2 hits. Jim Maloney 3-4, 3 RBI's led the way for the Generals while Mark Provost and Judd Funchion each contributed 2 hits apiece.

Townies 7 Rams 2

On a hot Sunday evening at Evans, the Townies secured their first victory of the young 2008 ITL season behind the complete game pitching performance of Nate DeSantis and a 5-run sixth inning to beat the Rowley Rams 7-2.

Townies travel to Rowley Ram country on Wednesday for a 5:45 tilt.

Manchester/Essex - 6, Beverly - 3

The Manchester Mariners (3-2-1) dealt the Beverly Giants (4-1) their first loss of the season by the score of 6 to 3. Stout (3-0) earned the victory for Manchester throwing 6 innings of 3 run ball. Gibbon earned the save with a perfect 7th. Rocky Pisa (2-1) took the hard luck loss allowing 4 runs (1 earned) over 6 innings.

Manchester scored first in the top of the 1st as Joe Orlando, Byan Lafata, and Nate Bertolino strung together consecutive singles producing a run. Beverly answered with a run of their own in the bottom half of the first when Jeff Barricelli hit a solo homer to center.

Manchester took a 2-1 lead in the 2nd when Ty Haskell hit a sacrifice fly to center. Beverly tied the score at 2 when a Derek Scialdone single scored Nick Adams, who had doubled.

Manchester took another one run lead in the top of the 4th on a Rory Gentile RBI single. Beverly once again tied the score at 3 in the bottom of the 5th with another Scialdone single scoring Adams.

The Mariners scored the eventual winning run in the top of the 6th. The leadoff batter reached via error, then was bunted over to second base. After a strikeout, Rory Gentile delivered a two out go ahead RBI single.

Manchester added two insurance runs in the top of the 7th making the final score 6 to 3. John Boyle was victimized by some bad defense in his ITL debut. However, Boyle did manage to strike out 4 batters in his first inning of work (including an error charged to the catcher).

Beverly 8 Manchester/Essex 3

The visiting Beverly Giants improved to 4-0 with an 8-3 win over Man/Essex. The Mariners got on the board first with a Bryan Lafata homerun in the bottom of the 1st inning to give Man/Essex a 1-0 lead. Kevin Harutunian (1 for 4, HR, 3RBI) then connected for a 3 run homer in the bottom of the 3rd, his 1st of the season to give Beverly a 3-1 lead. With the score 3-2 after 4, Beverly exploded for 5 runs on 5 hits in the fifth inning. Andy Hobin (2 for 3) started it with a double to lead off the inning. The next two men were retired, but Nick Adams singled, Derek Scialdone doubled, and Mike Freni singled knocking in 2 runs to set up Pat Doyle's 2 run homer, his 2nd on the year, giving Beverly the 8-2 lead. The Mariners scratched a run across in the 7th to give us an 8-3 final score.

Luke Deschamps picked up the win for Beverly, going 6 innings, allowing just 4 hits, 2 runs, while walking 2 and striking out 4.

Generals Beat Rams 10-6

The Generals held off the Rams tonight at Patton Park, winning 10-6. Jon Jackson started for the Generals and pitched 4 strong innings. Tim O'Leary and Bobby Karpp pitched well in relief and were able to seal the victory for the home team. For the Rams, Wile pitched well but was charged with the loss, Liguori was also good in relief for Rowley.

Jon Jackson was able to strike out the side in the first, but not before the Rams took a 1-0 lead. Thibault hit a monster triple and was brought home by a Moore single. The Generals answered in the bottom of the first with 3 of their own while only recording 1 hit. Jered Stewart and Andre Painchaud contributed RBI's. Mark Provost added an RBI in the second for the home team.

A Liguori RBI in the second and a run by Tomasz in the third closed the score to 4-3 Generals after 3. The Generals exploded for 6 runs in the fourth while sending 11 batters to the plate. Provost, Painchaud, Tilley, and Potter all added RBI's during the rally.

In the seventh the Rams added two more to close out the scoring. Moore delivered a 2-run triple, but that wasn't enough as the Generals held on for the 10-6 victory.

Hamilton @ Rowley Cancelled

Tonight's game in Rowley has been rained out. The Generals will make up the game with the Rams at a later date. The two teams will play tomorrow night at Patton Park, 5:45pm start.

Manchester/Essex 10 – Rockport 3

On Tuesday night the Mariners were able to break open a close game with 6 runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to secure a 10-3 victory over the Townies in Essex. Steve Stout pitched 6 solid innings to earn his 2^nd victory, while only surrendering only 1 earned run. Mike Gibbon closed out the game with 1 scoreless inning. Pat Clark took the loss while keeping the Mariners in check until the 6^th inning. Andy Marques pitched 1 inning of relief for the Townies.

Offensively, the Mariners were led by Rory Gentile (2 hits, 2sb, 3runs), Bryan Goodhue (2 hits, 2runs, 1rbi), Joe Orland (2 hits, 2sb), and Bryan Lafata and Nate Bertolino combined to drive in 5 runs between them, with 2 of Bertolino’s rbi coming way of a 2 run homer in the 6^th.

Brent Currier led the Townes with a 3-4 night including a solo homer and a double. Dan Greel also contributed 2 hits on the day.

Game Change

The Beverly at Manchester/Essex game for Wed. June 4 has been moved to Thursday, June 5th. Start time 5:45pm at Memorial Field in Essex.

Chiefs - Torries Battle into the Bottom of the 7th

The Chiefs faithful watched a great game Monday night as the Chiefs topped The Torries 5-4 with some late inning magic.

Chris Lane and Bradly Eaton shared the pitching duties Monday night with Lane going 4 innings, and Eaton finishing up the job for his first win of the season. The defense of Ryan Montecalvo and Matt Lane was stellar in making some nice defensive plays and turning two double plays through out the game. M. Lane also had a nice 2 for 3 day at the plate. Dave Shoreman (1-3, rbi), Dylan During (1-3), and Tom Radzim (2-3) also added hits to help the Chiefs win.

With the score tied 4-4 in the bottom of the 7th, Dylan Durning got on with a lead off double. Which brought come back kid Gardy O'Flynn to the plate who smoked a line drive down left field line that hooked the foul pole perfectly to secure the walk off win for the Chiefs.

The Chiefs move to 2-1 on the season and will travel to Topsfield on Friday night for the second game of the series with the Torries. Hope to see you all there.

Rockport - Manchester 13-13 tie

On Sunday evening at Evans, Rockport Townies and Manchester-Essex Mariners played to 13-13 deadlocked affair. The Townies jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead after four thanks to home runs by Mike Anderson and Marc Bouchie, plus a two run single by Jeremy Spittle. Manchester cut the lead to three with a two run single to center by Joe Orlando. Rockport made it a 9-3 ballgame on a three run homerun to left by Dan Greel in the fifth.

In the sixth inning, the visiting Mariners put up six runs to tie the game 9-9, including a big game-tying two run single to right by Bryan Lafata. In the bottom of the sixth, Brent Currier hit a solo shot into the woods to make it 10-9 game. However, the Mariners rallied to score four runs (all with two outs) in the top frame of the seventh to take a 13-10 lead, including a big two run single to right center by Nate Bertolino. In the bottom half of the seventh, the Townies came right back to tie it up at 13 a piece, including a two run double by Anderson.

In the eighth inning, Rockport had a chance to win it with the bases loaded and one out, but came up short thanks to a game ending double play that sealed the game.

Rockport was led by Mike Anderson (3 for 5, HR, 2b and 3 rbis), Brent Currier (3 for 4, HR, 2b), Dan Greel (2 for 5, HR and 3rbis) and Marc Bouchie (3 for 5 with a HR).

Manchester was led by Rory Gentile (2 for 3, with 2 runs scored and 1rbi) and Joe Orlando (3 for 3, a 2b and 3 rbis).

Rockport visits Manchester-Essex Tuesday night in Essex.

Beverly - 18, Rowley - 7

The Beverly Giants improved to 3-0 with an 18 to 7 win over the Rowley Rams (2-1) on Sunday night at Cooney Field. Derek Scialdone hit 2 homeruns and knocked in 5 to lead the offense. Jeff Barricelli added a two run homer. Also contributing for Beverly were Jeff Giannino (3 for 4), Kevin Harutunian (2 for 5, 4RBI), and Andy Hobin (2 for 4, 2RBI). Rocky Pisa earned his second win of the season pitching 5 innings for the Giants.

Rowley was led by A. Mariani (1 for 3, HR, 2RBI), S. Johnson (2 for 4, HR), D. Berube (3 for 4, 2RBI), and C. Thibault (2 for 5, 2RBI).

Rowley 13 - Tories 8

In another high scoring affair the Rowley Rams defeated the Topsfield Tories in 5 innings last Friday. The game was called because of darkness in the top of the sixth after the Rams scored six more times. League rules caused the scoring and official outcome back to the fifth inning point, giving the Rams the victory.