ESSEX — Manchester Essex has been hot all summer on the diamond, and they kept the fire burning in a big way during Thursday night’s home tilt with rival Rowley.
In what was a late regular season ITL clash, the Mariners came away with a 7-0 shutout victory over the Rams behind an excellent pitching outing from Zack Abbott.
Abbott delivered from the jump, pitching all seven innings for the Mariners while allowing zero earned runs and totaling four strikeouts.
Abbott’s complete game shutout was buoyed by a terrific effort from his teammates in the field, who gobbled up a good amount of pop-ups and ground balls throughout the evening.
“It was a good complete game for us,” said Manchester Essex manager Cory Burnham, his team now 13-3. “Zack Abbott was excellent all seven innings which is great to get out of our pitcher. We had some timely hits ... overall it was a strong, complete game for us.”
Caulin Rogers got the scoring started for the Mariners in the fourth inning with a two-run single to break open a scoreless game and send both Nick Glass and Adam Mcleod home.
Manchester Essex played a clean game in the field and put together an excellent team performance on both sides of the plate.
“We played error-free baseball,” Burnham said. “The collective effort of everybody to keep runners from advancing, I think that’s what stood out. Not one individual person; it was a total team effort.”
Townies hoping to finish strong, sneak into playoffs
Alone in first place throughout the 2026 campaign, the Manchester Essex Mariners have already clinched a playoff spot for this summer's ITL session.
But outside of them, four other teams are vying for the final three spots, and realistically, it could go a variety of ways as we head down the regular season home stretch.
One of those four teams, the Rockport Townies, controlled their own destiny heading into Wednesday night's doubleheader against Hamilton. But after two consecutive losses in those games (by 5-2 and 8-3 scores, respectively), the Townies now need a little help, too.
"Between us, Ipswich, Rowley and Hamilton, now there's three spots available for four teams," said Rockport manager Joe Dapper, his team 8-10. "Hopefully we can take care of business at Beverly on Sunday for a doubleheader, and then we'll see what happens."
Even if Rockport wins both games against Beverly this weekend, they wouldn't be guaranteed a playoff spot.
Ipswich (8-7) and Hamilton (8-9) both have the chance to finish with better records, while Beverly (1-14) has struggled this summer and has already been eliminated.
The Townies have endured an up-and-down campaign overall, with usual suspects Jack Sperry, Jack Guelli and Warren Adams leading the charge in Wednesday's losses with two total hits on the night. Rockport certainly has the talent to compete should they make the playoffs, but for now, all they can do is bring their best on Sunday and hope the final standings shake out in their favor.
"We've had ebbs and flows all season, and when we're on we're really on. When we hit well we win," said Dapper. "The good thing about the league (this year) is that it's competitive and on any given night anybody can beat anybody else. We're just hoping to finish .500 with two wins on Sunday and let the chips fall where they may."
