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DANVERS | It's all about attitude.

And if you play baseball at Danvers High School, that attitude is about believing that no matter the situation, you're going to find a way to win.

DANVERS | By the third trip to the mound for Danvers ace Bobby Dean last the night, Pentucket Regional seemed a bit unimpressed.

Sachem Jordan Silva tattooed a Dean fastball with two outs in the top of the seventh for a game-tying, RBI triple.

In yesterday's consolation game, Methuen High junior Tim Higgins belted a two-out, seventh-inning walkoff homer, lifting the Rangers to a 6-5 win over Pentucket.

Rubber-armed David Koerner earned his second win in the last four days, going the distance in an eight-hitter. Koerner helped his own cause with a three-hit afternoon, driving in one and scoring another.

For an effort like this, the North Andover High baseball team deserved more than just a quarter of a Cape Ann League large division championship.

The Knights, now 14-4 overall and 10-3 in the CAL, will settle for just that and a berth in tomorrow's first Lawrence Invitational Tournament semifinal (4 p.m.) against Tewksbury.

Clinching a state tournament spot will have to wait for another day for the Rockport baseball team as they lost, 11-5, to visiting Pentucket at Evans Field yesterday afternoon.   

The Vikings (8-6, 5-5) came back to tie it after being down 5-0 early but couldn't answer Pentucket's (8-4, 6-3) six runs in the last two innings.

Any time North Reading High sends either Kevin O'Leary or Brian O'Neil to the hill, it won't need much help pulling out victories.

Yesterday, the Hornets got plenty, capitalizing on seven Pentucket Regional errors to drill the Sachems, 9-3.

The state of the Newburyport and Pentucket baseball programs could easily be perceived as two teams moving in two different directions.

Starting with Newburyport, the Clippers are in the midst of rebuilding a program that won three straight Cape Ann League titles from 2004 to 2006. The Clippers struggled to a 10-11 mark last spring in their first season after the graduation of a strong senior class that included Joe Pace, Brendan Russell and Jared Notargiacomo. With yesterday's 2-1 loss at Pentucket, this year's Newburyport team dropped to 1-4.

2007 record: 13-8, lost in Division 2 North first round

Returning starters (6): Mike Sloban, Sr., P; Bobby Maguire, Sr., P; Peter Creamer, Sr., C; Jordan Silva, Jr., SS; Harry Shipps, Sr., OF; Justin Bolla, Sr., OF