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Haverhill Hillies Baseball '14

Mon, Apr 21, 2014 11:00 AM @ Haverhill
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Final
St. John's 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2
Haverhill 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1

Burns, Hillies denied upset by Snyder, Prep

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Monday, April, 21 By Hector Longo

HAVERHILL – After a handful of relief appearances, strapped with the “closer” tag, Haverhill High’s Matt Burns lobbied for a start, any start.
 
Burns’ reward was a Monday matinee date with the No. 6 team in the state, St. John’s Prep.
 
The Hillie senior didn’t disappoint, baffling the Prep with a barrage of off-speed stuff and holding the Eagle bats to four hits.
 
The only problem was the other guy on the hill, Georgetown’s Justin Snyder. The Prep southpaw matched Burns pitch for pitch, and the Eagles gave him enough offense to survive in a 2-1 win over the Hillies here at Trinity Stadium yesterday.
 
“That’s a great lineup over there,” said Burns, who went the route, allowing four hits and walking one. “I just tried to keep it down against them. They jumped on my mistakes. I left one up to their three-hitter and he hit.”
 
That sixth-inning homer to right for Keith Leavitt put the Prep up 1-0, but it was just about the only hard-hit ball off Burns in the game.
 
Haverhill answered it, too, in the bottom half of the frame, ignited by Tommy Maguire’s leadoff bunt hit. Kyle Gosselin sacrificed him to second, and Maguire moved to third on Matt McIntosh’s tapper.
 
Hillie senior Juanel Oriach then stroked his second hit of the day, knotting things at 1-1.
 
In the seventh, the Prep flaunted not its power, but its versatility to scoop the victory with a little small ball.
 
Keith Etherington looped a single and stole second. A bunt and sacrifice fly later — and almost in a blink — the advantage was back at 2-1.
 
"We know when we get him on base with no outs, with his speed there's a good chance we're going to score him," said Snyder, who is heading to the Salisbury School next year. "Our guys just went out and executed."
 
Snyder took care of business to lock down his second win of the young season with a quiet seventh, finishing his four-hitter with seven strikeouts and only one walk.
 
"Their guy pitched well and really shut us down," said Snyder. "When you play here, there are expectations you just have to go out there and live up to. We're just going out there and trying to win every game."
 
Snyder's control was his friend in victory yesterday, along with a defense that made all the plays behind him without a miscue.
 
"I was able to get ahead with my fastball," said Snyder. "After that, I was able to throw all my pitches when I needed them."
The Hillie, now 3-4 but 3-1 in MVC play, return to the conference action on Thursday morning at Dracut.



Game Statistics:

Haverhill (1): Goldstein ss 2-0-0, Oriach 2b 3-0-2, Doherty 3b 3-0-0, Yale c 3-0-1, Budds dh 3-0-0, O'Sullivan rf 2-0-0, Maldonado ph 0-0-0, Maguire cf 3-1-1, Landry 1b 1-0-0, Gosselin ph 0-0-0, Matt McIntosh lf 2-0-0, Totals 22-1-4

RBI: H — Oriach

WP: Justin Snyder (7 ip, 1er, 4h, 2bb, 7k); LP: Matt Burns (7 ip, 2er, 4h, 1bb, 3k)

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