Andover comes up short against Lawrence

ANDOVER — Heading into this season, it was evident that Andover, as well as North Andover and Chelmsford would have enough pitching arms to challenge for Merrimack Valley Conference baseball supremacy.

Lawrence was an after-thought after losing so much firepower off last year’s 12-win season.

The Lancers are no longer an afterthought.

They are a problem. A big problem.

After knocking off a strong North Andover team 24 hours earlier, No. 18 Lawrence knocked off No. 6 Andover, 6-2, in a huge MVC showdown played a week ago.

The win now puts Lawrence in the driver’s seat in the jammed-packed league standings. The Lancers are 11-3 in league play, while Andover falls to 10-3, and Chelmsford is right behind at 9-3.

All three teams concluded their league schedules last Monday, which included an Andover-Chelmsford match-up.

“This is a team that we wanted to beat, so it feels good to get the win. They owed us one from the last time,” said Lawrence High senior shortstop Isaias Romero, referring to the 10-8 loss to the Golden Warriors back on April 28.

“This (win) is huge, just huge,” said Lancers’ first-year head coach Will Carrasco. “When we lost 1-0 to Chelmsford that could have been one of those losses that derailed us. But it didn’t. The kids bounce back pretty well after losses. I’m happy for them and they make me proud.”

In the box score, Romero was 0 for 2, but he had a hand in everything. He knocked in runs in the first and fifth innings on a groundball and a fly out.

In the fourth, with the Lancers trailing 2-1, he got himself into a pickle between third base and home, but got out of it when he took a hard throw right into his chest.

“I wasn’t expecting that to happen but it ended up being the best thing that could have happened,” he said with a smile.

Romero was also a star with the glove. He fielded a tough hop off the bat of Will Norris to start a big 6-4-3 double play to end the third. Later on, he showed off his range and strong arm with several other gems.

The defensive play of the game belonged to sophomore third baseman Anderson Silverio. Andover’s Stefan Lembo put down a perfect bunt in front of the plate and Silverio came charging in to scoop it, and from the first base line he threw a dart over Lembo’s head for the out.

“Anderson has some talent, some real talent,” said Carrasco. “He makes plays out here where it makes everyone stare at each other and say, ‘did you just see what Anderson just did’? That play was just incredible.”

Certainly the defense was again “incredible,” and so was Gonzalez, who kept the Golden Warriors’ batters off balance throwing curves and sinkers.

After giving up back-to-back singles to start the bottom of the sixth, he struck out the next three batters. In the seventh, Andover again had two on, but Gonzalez nailed it down, retiring the final two batters.

“Honestly we have arms. We have a bunch of arms and they all compete. Some are young and some are older, so we’re excited with what we have on the mound,” said Carrasco. “If we can continue to push, we can do something special,” said Carrasco.

Lawrence 6, Andover 2Lawrence: Anderson Silverio 3b 3-0-1, Christopher Berroa cf 4-2-1, Isaias Romero ss 2-1-0, Jose Sanchez 4-0-0, Daoneal Garcia 1b 3-2-2, Malvin Jimenez dh 3-1-1, John Hidalgo lf 2-0-0, Yendy Rivero c 3-0-1, Darren Rodriguez 3-0-1, Arien Placencia p 0-0-0, Dariel Gonzalez p 0-0-0. Totals: 27-6-7.

Andover: Chris Jaillet rf 3-1-1, Sean Napolitano dh 4-1-3, Will Norris cf 3-0-0, Ryan Jaillet c 3-0-0, Drew Pulsifer 2b 4-0-3, Alex Berman 3b 3-0-2, Nick IIsley lf 2-0-0, Will Dever ph 1-0-0, Stefan Lembo ss 2-0-0, Matt Defeo ph 1-0-1, Charlie Trapp 1b 3-0-0, Max Dyer p 0-0-0, Kyle Olson p 0-0-0, Zach Pawlowski p 0-0-0. Totals: 29-2-10.

2B: L, Garcia and Jimenez; RBI: L, Romero 2, Jimenez, Rivero, Rodriguez; A, Napolitano, Pulsipher; WP: Gonzalez 3.2 IP, 0 R, 5 H, 0 BB, 5 K; LP: Max Dyer 3.1 IP, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 3 K; Records: Lawrence 11-5; Andover: 11-3