RallyNorth.net

Sat, Jun 13, 2015 07:00 PM @ Lawrence

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Final
Chelmsford	0	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	6
Lawrence	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	4

Lawrence falls in 11 innings, game ends at 1:25 a.m.

LOWELL – What began so brilliantly for the Lawrence High baseball team at 9:43 p.m. ended in heartbreak, nearly four hours later at 1:25 a.m., as the Lancers dropped an 11-inning epic to Chelmsford in the Division 1 North championship game, 6-4, here at LeLacheur Park.

A game that none of the players under 18 could drive home from legally ends the Lancer season at 16-8, three victories shy of a state title and sends Chelmsford to the Eastern Mass. Championship against South champ Norwood.

Extra innings earlier in the day, games that ran longer than expected and simply slow baseball forced last night's Division 1 game to roll deep into the night and ultimately into early Sunday.

The Stanley Cup Final, Saturday Night Live and UFC 188 all were completed, yet Lawrence and Chelmsford played on.

It had to end sometime, and it did in the 11th, right after Lawrence had the winning run thrown out at the plate in the bottom of the 10th.

With one out and things knotted at 4-4, Jordaly Vasquez walked and Ronny Velasquez unloaded a bomb to the right-center gap. Vasquez never stopped and tried to end it right then and there.

But the relay from shortstop to catcher Derek Adamson was perfect, and Vasquez was out.

“We're an aggressive running team, and tonight they made the plays on us,” said Neilon. “Credit them, they made the plays.”

The out at home was a recurring theme at the most costly times for Lawrence, which had three runners gunned down at the plate and another two caught trying to steal second.

Energized, Chelmsford broke the tie in the top of the 11th when Jack Campsmith singled with one out, moved up when a fly to left was misplayed, went to third on a wild pitch and raced home on Jack Hansbury's sac fly. Derek Adamson plated the unearned insurance run with a two-out RBI hit to center off tough-luck loser Abel Acosta.

Lawrence could not muster a rally off Chelmsford reliever Jesse Ashley, who was immense with four shutout innings for the win.

Lawrence took a quick 3-0 lead in the first, but could and should have had more.

The Lancers strung together a walk and six hits to open the game but ran into a pair of outs – one on an attempted steal at second and one at home plate.

Jose Jimenez, Edgard Vasquez and Jordaly Vasquez smacked RBI singles in the frame.

From there, Lions' right-hander Joe Levesque settled in nicely.

Lawrence freshman Jairo Vasquez pitched pretty well, but just couldn't figure out Chelmsford catcher Derek Adamson. The senior laced a pair of RBI triples, then scored the lead run, making it 4-3 Lions on a daring steal of home in the fourth.

Lawrence oozed character, tying things in the 6th.

Edgard Vasquez slapped a one-out double and Jordaly chased him home with an RBI single.

At 4-4, both teams had their chances, time and again.

As was the case in Lawrence's last trip here to this game (2010), the umpires played a serious role in the Lancers' demise.

With two on in the Lawrence seventh and one out, Jose Jimenez took a pitch to his arm to load the bases.

Only the homeplate umpire called it a foul ball. The welt on Jimenez' shoulder area told differently, but instead of the bases loaded and one out, there was a strike on the hitter.

Jimenez went on to fan, and the game extened into extras.

The defeat overshadowed some incredible Lancer mound work.

Jairo Vasquez started and went 5.2 innings, allowing the four earned runs on just three hits and five walks with five strikeouts.

Thursday's complete-game winner Mike Guerrero then charged in to end a threat in the sixth and add three more scoreless frames before departing. And Abel Acosta definitely deserved a better fate, pitching a pretty 10th before the roof fell in on Lawrence in the 11th.

Neither of the runs the sophomore allowed were earned.