WRENTHAM — During the 2023 season, a young nucleus of North Andover High baseball players took their lumps, as the Scarlet Knights finished with a 7-13 record. After the final game, head coach Todd Dulin said that the talent was there to take major steps.
He was right.
That group put together back-to-back 17 wins seasons, however, win No. 18 and win No. 2 in the Division 1 state tournament fell short on Wednesday.
In the bottom of the fourth inning of a tied game, King Philip batted around, scoring six runs while taking advantage of three Scarlet Knights’ defensive miscues. That was more than enough for the No. 4 seed Warriors (19-4) to come away with the 9-2 win over the No. 20 seed Knights in a Round of 16 match-up.
“It was a really good game until the bottom of the fourth inning,” said Dulin. “I wished we had pushed across a few more runs and flip the script so the pressure was on them. We made a couple of big plays (but in the fourth) you just can’t make — in a regular season game, never mind a playoff against a team like this — the mistakes that we made.”
North Andover took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first as Zach Faro doubled and three batters later was driven in on a RBI-single by Dylan Lawrence.
The Warriors scored a run in the bottom of the first to tie it, and were held off the scoreboard the following two innings thanks to the strong pitching from Cole Mullen, who struck out four mostly with his fastball.
After Trey Martin singled in Lawrence to take a 2-1 lead in the the top of the third, King Philip tied it in the bottom of the fourth. The Warriors put the first two batters on in the fifth, and Dulin pulled Mullen.
“Cole pitched well. He didn’t have his curveball, but he gutted it out and gave us a chance to win,” said Dulin.
King Philip then broke it open behind three hits, three errors and two stolen bases to make it 8-2 before adding one more in the bottom of the sixth.
North Andover had seven hits with Mike Phelps leading the way with two singles. The Scarlet Knights also left 12 runners on bases, including seven in scoring position.
“A lot of these kids have been four-year guys on varsity,” said Dulin. “These kids have really been a great group to be around. They hung out together and just enjoyed one another.”
“I remember in 2023, we were struggling towards the end of the season but at the Lawrence tournament, we won the first game and then lost in the championship game to Methuen, and they went on to the (Division 1) Final-Four,” Dulin recalled. “We knew we had something then and these kids really made a lot of strides over the last two years.”
King Philip 9, North Andover 2
Division 1 Round of 16
North Andover — Zach Faro ss 3-0-1, Jake Jackson 1b 3-1-1, Mike Phelps c 4-0-2, Tom Perrone pr 0-0-0, Dylan Lawrence lf 4-1-1, Jeff LaVolpicelo 2b 4-0-0, Sean Kilcoyne dh 4-0-1, Trey Martin 3b 4-0-1, Brayden Salach rf 3-0-0, Ben Iglesias cf 2-0-0, Cole Mullen p 0-0-0, Gabe Polonsky p 0-0-0, Luke Yorba p 0-0-0. Totals: 31-2-7.
King Philip — Dewling c 4-1-2, Menendez ss 3-1-2, D. Herlin 1b 2-0-0, Asterino lf 4-1-1, Gately 2b 3-2-1, B. Herlin rf 4-2-2, Luffy dh 3-0-2, Heine 3b 4-1-0, Pratter cf 3-1-1, Pennini p 0-0-0, Higgins p 0-0-0, Cody p 0-0-0. Totals: 30-9-11.
2B: NA, Faro; KP, Gately, Luffy; RBI: NA, Lawrence and Martin; KP, Luffy 2, Pratter, B. Herlin, Asterino, Menendez; WP: Pennini; LP: Mullen.