From the GDT News

 ESSEX — Fall down, get back up again.

That just about sums up the Manchester Essex Mariners’ mentality, not only in Wednesday night’s Intertown Twilight League (ITL) Game 3 championship tilt, but all summer long.

The Mariners — who finished atop the league’s regular season standings and eliminated the four-time defending champion Hamilton Generals along the way — scrapped their way to victory on multiple occasions throughout the campaign. And in a potential title-clinching clash on their home field at Memorial Park, they did it again to hoist the trophy.

Trailing the Rowley Rams on three separate occasions throughout the evening, Manchester clawed its way back before walking it off in extra innings on an RBI single from Caulin Rogers for a thrilling 8-7 win.

The decisive, game-winning knock came in the eighth inning just before darkness and gave the Mariners their first ITL crown since 2021.

“It was everything and anything I could’ve asked for from all these guys. It took a total team effort for this one,” said Mariners manager Cory Burnham, his team making its 15th straight finals appearance this year before finally getting back over the hump. With the win, Manchester completed a 3-0 sweep of Rowley.

“This is what we do; we never quit,” he continued. “We played hard and that’s exactly what this team’s all about.”

Rallying from a three-run deficit to knot things up at 6-6 heading into the sixth, Manchester again fell behind by a run in the top of the frame on an errant pick off attempt that allowed Rams’ Curtis Putnam to score.

But they tied things back up at 7-7 in the bottom of the sixth as Rogers hit a sacrifice fly to right field.

Both teams then went down quick in the seventh, sending the game to extras where the Mariners worked their magic one more time.

Theo Masella started the party by reaching first on an infield single and promptly stealing second. Then with two outs, Kevin McKenna strung together a phenomenal at bat, nearly ending things with a hard hit ball down the third base line that bounced just foul, and ultimately reaching with a walk.

Rogers then stepped up to the plate and played hero, mashing one over the infield into shallow right to score Masella for the game-winning run.

“It’s poetic justice at its finest,” explained Burnham. “Kevin McKenna, generally a bench player all year, he gets the call tonight to go into this game, plays the majority of the game, then has a huge at bat to get on base. And then we get our veteran captain up in Caulin Rogers and he finishes the job. It’s everything we expect.”

The extra inning, walk-off victory was sweet in itself. But considering how things unfolded throughout the evening, it was that much sweeter if not improbable.

Manchester turned to their ace, Brett Moore, for the start. But he was uncharacteristically roughed up in the opening frame before exiting with an injury. It was an unfortunate start for the Mariners, who fell behind 4-0 after that top of the first thanks in large part to a 3-run bomb over the fence in left by the Rams’ Justin Ziolkowski.

Zach Abbott swiftly came on in relief and got his team out of the first inning before grinding his way through the remainder of the contest with aplomb. He had 1-2-3 frames in the second and third, and got out of the fourth clean with just one single allowed.

Rowley plated two in the fifth to take a 6-3 lead at the time; one via an RBI single from Aidan Gracey and another on a wild pitch. But all in all, Abbott was phenomenal on the bump and gave his team a chance all night.

He finished with four strikeouts while his defense backed him up with some great plays in the infield.

“He was awesome. All our pitchers are nails,” said Burnham. “They carried us all year. Some days we didn’t have all the bats, some days we did, but the pitchers always showed up, always had our backs, and in the end we ended up picking (Abbott) up tonight.”

Manchester had made it 4-2 in the bottom of the first on an RBI single from Caz Ostrowski and another single from Lukas Albano that allowed Ostrowski to cross home. The hosts then got it to 4-3 in the third on a sacrifice ground out from EJ Field to score Ostrowski.

Trailing 6-3 in the fifth, Rogers roped an RBI double to deep center and Albano added another RBI knock with a hard hit ball to left to cut the deficit to one. Field then hit a sac-fly to deep center to tie it.

Three comebacks in one game, the latter of which gave Manchester the championship sweep and an ever elusive title.

Not a bad way to finish.

“Super satisfying,” said Burnham. “It’s hard to come back (every year). We lost some guys, sometimes it takes years to rebuild but we just kept reloading and finally we got back on top.”

Manchester has now won 13 ITL championships since 2000, the most out of any team in the league. They won three straight from 2008-10, five in a row from 2012-16, won again in 2019 and most recently, 2021.

Sports Editor Nick Giannino may be contacted at 978-675-2712 or ngiannino@northofboston.com.

Mariners are Champions

Skipper Cory Burnham led the Manchester Essex Mariners to their first ITL title since 2021 with sweep of Rowley Rams 

Caulin Rogers the hero, RBI single in bottom 8 to walk it off, 8-7 

Zach Abbott was a dog on mound, going the distance after coming in in relief early in first

From the news

 After what unfolded in Game 2 of the ITL championship series at Eiras Park in Rowley on Sunday night, it’d be tough to bet against the Manchester Essex Mariners moving forward.

And when looking at their season as a whole, this most recent positive result shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.

With both pitchers dominating, Manchester went into the seventh and final frame locked in a scoreless tie and searching for its first hit of the night. Brett Moore delivered that knock, Caz Ostrowski followed suit with a textbook bunt, and a few batters later the Mariners found themselves leading 2-0.

Tom Elliot then slammed the door in the bottom half of the frame to not only secure the win for his team, but a 2-0 lead in the best-of-5 series against the Rowley Rams.

“It was a real nail-biter,” said Mariners manager Cory Burnham. “Caz Ostrowski pitched great for 5 2/3 for us but ended up getting a pretty gnarly blister on his finger, forcing me to take him out. But Tom Elliot came into the game with the bases loaded, two outs and got a huge strikeout then finished out the game (in the 7th). He was absolutely nails. Just a great win.”

Zach Gilmore toed the bump for Rams and was on cruise control until the decisive seventh.

That’s when Moore provided the necessary spark, coming through with his team’s first hit of the game in a huge spot by drilling one to right field. Ostrowski — who was still battling through the blister on his throwing hand — then laid down the bunt on the very next pitch and the Mariners struck some good fortune when the Ram’s throw ricocheted off a players helmet and into the outfield.

That not only allowed Ostrowski to get all the way to third base, but sent Moore home for the game’s first run.

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Recent GHS graduate Lukas Albano then stepped up the plate and came through with another base hit to drive Ostrowski in and supplant the scoring at 2-0.

All this came just 24 hours after Manchester had seized a 1-0 series lead with a convincing 9-2 victory at Memorial Park in Essex in Saturday evening. And they accomplished that with one decisive stanza at the plate, too.

All knotted at 2-2 headed into the third of that one, Manchester erupted for seven runs in the bottom half of the frame to win going away. Moore and Burnham both finished with two hits on the evening while EJ Field took one for the team on two separate occasions, reaching base via hit by pitches twice.

Defensively, Zach Abbott picked up the win on the mound, striking out six and allowing just three hits across five innings pitched. Mikey Harris, a current Manchester Essex High standout, then came on for the save with two strong innings of no-hit ball (1 K).

Now it’s on to Wednesday’s Game 3 back in Essex, where Manchester can clinch its first championship since 2021 with another win.

“We just have to continue to play the confident brand of baseball that we’ve been doing all year,” said Burnham. “We know what we’re capable of, we’ve been here before and we know how to handle this situation and I know we’re gonna do just that.”

Burnham says the plan is to start their ace Moore in that one, with Abbott coming on to close things out if necessary.

“Those guys have been carrying us all year,” added Burnham. “We’re always calling on ‘Big Game Brett’ when we need a win, and here we are with a chance to win the whole thing and he’s getting the start.”

Mariners 2 Rams 0

Caz Ostrowaki pitched great 5 2/3 innings but the Rams loaded the bases with 2 outs in the bottom of the 6th, the Mariners called in Tom Elliott who was able to get the last out.

Still tied at 0-0 in the top of the 7th, Brett Moore leads off with the Mariners first hit of the game. Ostrowski then laid down a bunt and third baseman hit the runner going to first, Moore ran all around and scored. Lucas Albano got a base hit to score Ostrowski to go up 2 to 0.

Manchester-Essex spun a massive double play in the bottom of the 7th to quell a Rowley comeback.

Game 3 is Wednesday in Essex.

Mariners take Game 1

 9-2 win for Manchester-Essex over Rowley

Abbott 5ip win 6k 3 hits

Mike Harris 2ip save 1 k 0 hits 

Brett Moore 2 hits 

EJ field 2 hbp

Cory Burnham 2 hits 

2-2 game going into the 3rd 

Mariners scored 7 in the bottom 3rd

From the news

 ESSEX — Win or go home.

After a walk-off Game 2 playoff victory by the Rockport Townies on Wednesday night, that was the situation both they and their worthy playoff opponent, the Manchester Essex Mariners, faced on Thursday evening at Memorial Park.

The winner would head to the Intertown Twilight League championship series to face the Rowley Rams, the loser would see their summer season come to a close.

Despite another valiant effort by the fourth-seeded Townies, it was top-seeded Manchester that held on for triumph, securing a 3-1 decision on their home diamond.

With the win, Manchester advanced to a remarkable 15th straight finals.

“I told you what we were going to do and we did it,” Manchester Essex manager Cory Burnham said, referring to his discussion with the Gloucester Times after Wednesday night’s loss. “We showed up and we played our brand of baseball and now we’re on to the finals; we knew we were going to be here.”

The game started off slow for both teams with both pitchers putting together a couple of strikeouts early on. Manchester Essex’s Brett Moore, who finished with four Ks, and Rockport’s Derrick MacDowell (5 Ks) were both in a groove out of the gate.

The first run wasn’t plated until the bottom of the fourth inning when EJ Field drew a walk and ended up scoring on a single from James Dolan for a 1-0 Manchester lead. Dolan would get some help from Caulin Rogers, who would return the favor by driving him in with an RBI single to double the lead.

The Mariners would then add another insurance run before the frame was over, as Lukas Albano singled, stole second and third base, then followed his base run by scoring on a passed ball to make it 3-0.

At that point, the energy seemed to deflate from Rockport and the momentum had shifted all to the Mariners.

“That’s a good team over there,” said Rockport manager Mike Frontierro. “They (were) in first place for a reason. We didn’t hit like we should have tonight, we had a few too many walks. Hats off to them, that finals should be good.”

Rockport would not go down without a fight with Ben Sperry starting the sixth inning off with a double and Zach Oliver hitting him home on a two-bagger of his own to give Rockport their lone run of the game.

“This season was a roller coaster ride for us,” said Frontierro “We had some ups and downs, but when we made the playoffs, I didn’t think we were gonna make it.”

Zack Abbott came on to close for the Mariners and delivered for his team, ending the game on a strikeout to secure them a spot back in the finals.

“We have to stay confident in what we can do,” Burnham said. “Keep playing our brand of baseball and everything’s going to go our way.”

The Mariners will look to get over the hump and capture their first finals win since 2021, and this team appears to have what it takes to do just that.

“The grittiness of this team, everybody, all 15 that’s on the bench,” Burnham said, “everybody’s down to get down and dirty. Total team effort for every win and that’s just what we do. We’re a full, complete team. So we got to the finals.”

This year’s championship round will begin this weekend in Essex, with an official time and date for Game 1 yet to be determined.

- Sports Editor Nick Giannino contributed to this report

THANK YOU TOWNIES FANS!

 The Rockport Townies thank our fans for supporting us all season long. Means SO much to us to have you in the stands every Sunday nite, and we look forward to seeing you again in May!

Mariners advance

 Mariners 3, Townies 1

Mariners advance to the finals for the 15th consecutive season 

Townies 5 Mariners 4

 Rockport walks it off in bottom of the 7th on a single by Will Cahill to tie the series 1-1. Game 3 is in Essex Thursday, 8/6 at 5:30p. Winner of game 3 will face Rowley in the best of 5 Championship Series.

Rams advance to finals

 Rowley swept the Ipswich Chiefs to advance to the ITL Finals, it is the Rams first trip back since winning the championship in 2020.

Congrats to the Chiefs on a great season, they had not made the playoffs in over 10 seasons.

Townies schedule update update

 ***Updated schedule for Townies vs Mariners playoff series:

Game 2: at 6p on Wednesday 8/5 at Evans Field in Rockport

Mariners-Townies Game 2 Postponed to Tuesday

Rockport and Manchester/Essex Game 2 Postponed to Tuesday in Rockport at 6pm.

Mariners 7 Townies 3

 Zack Abbott pitched the Mariners to a first round game 1 victory 

Mariners 14 Generals 0

 Caz Ostrowski picked up the win as the Mariners clinch first place heading into the playoffs

Ipswich 13 Rowley 11

 Zack Lampkin leads the Chiefs to victory.

Rockport sweeps DH @ Beverly

 Townies sweep double header vs Giants Sunday 7/26 at Cooney Field in Beverly winning game one 10-1 and game two 12-2. Rockport finishes regular season at 10-10 and awaits results of other league games this week to determine playoff status.