ANDOVER — When former major leaguer Matt Antonelli took over a three-win Brooks School baseball program in the fall, he said his goal was to emulate the nearby baseball dynasty at Phillips Andover.
Tuesday, Antonelli’s Brooks team met Phillips Academy in Andover for the first time, earning a 4-3 win.
It was Brooks’ first win over Phillips in quite some time, improving to 6-4, already doubling the number of wins from last season.
“When it comes to the highest level of high school baseball in New England, for me, Phillips Andover sets the standard for that,” said Antonelli, a first round pick by the San Diego Padres out of Wake Forest University in 2006, who spent the last two seasons coaching Bishop Fenwick.
“They’re a fantastic program with great players and great coaches. Talking to our guys, we haven’t had a ton of success against them and none of our players had ever beat them, so it was a huge game for our guys and obviously a huge win for us.”
This game featured some of the best high school talent in not only the area but New England, said Antonelli.
Phillips, coming off a 17-win season, has a number of players committed to top collegiate programs, including two to Boston College, another to Princeton and Robert Brown of North Andover, who will be playing at Penn State, among a handful of others.
“I’ve seen a lot of high school games over the last ten years as a coach, and (Tuesday) there was just a ton of talent on that baseball field,” said Antonelli, a St. John’s Prep alum. “Their shortstop Luke Gallo, who is going to Boston College, made incredible plays the whole game. He’s the best defensive shortstop that I have seen in a long time.
“They have a third baseman Isaac Lamson, who is going to Princeton, and he’s such a tough kid to get out. Their catcher Jace Roossien is another Boston College commit and he’s one of the better all-around high school catchers that you’ll see. Their entire team is just athletic, they are super smart, they run the bases well and they are just so tough to handle for seven innings. I give both teams a lot of credit and it was just such an awesome game to be a part of.”
Gallo made a number of impressive plays, but the biggest defensive play of the game came in the fifth inning when Brooks’ right fielder Ethan Simpson made a perfect one-hop throw to catcher Joe Bucci of Andover, who applied the tag to save a potential run.
Offensively, Haverhill’s Henry Hebert provided the big hit, a two-run double coming in the three-run fifth inning which erased a 1-0 deficit. Brooks made it 4-1 with a run in the top of the sixth and Phillips did add two runs late in the home half but that wasn’t enough.
“We had seven games cancelled at the beginning of the season so we played a game and then went fifteen days until we played another,” said Phillips’ head coach Chris Powers. “I think we struggled to get any kind of flow going early on. Now we’re playing on a more regular basis and we’ve played in a lot of tight games and we’re just looking for that key hit. We’re leaving too many runners on base.”
Making his first start on the mound, Phillips’ pitcher Michael Gilligan, of North Andover, was impressive tossing four scoreless innings, giving up one hit, while walking two and striking out two.
Twitter:@JamiePote