Published in the April 19, 2018 edition

By DAN PAWLOWSKI

NORTH READING — If you thought the only ones working overtime at Carey Park were the NR DPW consider this: the NRHS varsity baseball team will have to play their first eight games of the season in just 16 days.

The real grind starts up on Friday when the Hornets travel to Manchester-Essex followed by another road matchup against Amesbury on Saturday, and two home games, against Ipswich on Tuesday and Hamilton-Wenham on Thursday.

Last week, the Hornets couldn’t slow down Masconomet in their first of a three-game homestand. The Chieftains came into town with a ton of hype and are currently 4-1 on the season after losing to Triton on Tuesday.

Felled by Vikings

JACK KELLER was solid in his first varsity start against Triton on Saturday. Also pictured is first baseman Derek Reilly. (Dan Pawlowski Photo)

The Hornets came back on Saturday looking to get on track against a tough Triton team (2-1) which is proving to be a difficult squad to score on this season.

North Reading turned to sophomore Jack Keller on the hill who was making the first start of his varsity career. It was a nice start for Keller who went six innings, struck out three and only gave up two earned runs.

“I thought he pitched really well,” said head coach Eric Archambault. “There were a lot of ground balls, defensively we made a couple of errors and some balls just got through, but overall for his first start as a sophomore I was really impressed. He stepped up to the challenge.”

Keller had plenty of big outs in high-pressure situations, which started in the first inning when he got a Viking batter to fly out after an RBI single gave the visitors a 1-0 lead.

North Reading tied it in the bottom half as an RBI groundout from Alex D’Ambrosio scored the leadoff man, Ryan Connor.

Catcher Matt DeBenedetto showcased his arm strength when he caught a Triton runner trying to steal second to end the second inning.

Triton really tested Keller in the third after a couple of unearned runs made it 3-1. With one out and a runner on second base, the Vikings were in position to take control. Keller snagged a ground ball heading for center and looked off the runner at second who was already breaking for third, so the sophomore made a nice throw to Connor at third who applied the tag for the second out. Keller struck out the next batter to end the inning. How’s that for a response?

The Hornets had a few chances to cut into the lead in the third and fourth but couldn’t come up with any clutch hits.

“Several times we had runners in scoring position with two outs and we just couldn’t get a timely hit,” said Archambault.

The Vikings tacked on two more runs in the fifth, before North Reading mounted a comeback in the sixth. A sacrifice fly from Joey Frammartino scored Keller to make it 5-2 and an RBI rip from Connor scored Matt Solecki to make it 5-3.

Both teams scored one in the seventh.

Overall, it wasn’t the best game North Reading will play all year, but often times it’s these types of games that push a team to work that much harder.

“The defense has played pretty well throughout the first couple of games and this one we weren’t as great,” said Archambault. “It was a tough one, but we’re ready to battle back, have a good practice on Monday and get ready for Newburyport on Tuesday.”

Crush Clippers, 11-4

The Hornets responded in the best way possible on Tuesday with an 11-4 victory over Newburyport. Senior Joe Wallace gave up just four hits in six innings of work. Look for a full story next week.

The Hornets’ game against Amesbury scheduled for Wednesday was postponed, an early theme for this young season. On top of that, North Reading’s scheduled trip to Cooperstown to play Manchester-Essex this weekend was cancelled due to poor field conditions.

Instead, the Hornets will visit the other Hornets on Friday and then travel to Amesbury on Saturday. Yes, it’s a tough early stretch for North Reading, but what can be better than more baseball? Let’s play two.