LAWRENCE — At the end of February, Chase Lembo was a star for the Andover basketball team, with Ryan MacLellan and Lembo leading the Golden Warriors to a late regular season win over perennial state favorite Lawrence.
Just three months removed from his basketball days, Lembo is back to having huge games against Lawrence, now on the baseball diamond.
“Considering how our basketball season ended, losing in the first round in the playoffs to Springfield Central, it still gets me,” said Lembo. “Although it seems like a big transition going from basketball to baseball, I’m super-pumped about playing with my teammates during baseball season.”
On Friday afternoon, Lembo led Andover to a 13-5 win over the Lancers, going 3 for 4 with three doubles.
“Lawrence is always competitive, right down to the last swing, and they never give up,” said Andover coach Dan Grams. “They have been able to come back against us down 6-to-7 runs in past games, so we made sure to keep our foot on the gas pedal and not let up.”
This one took exactly three hours to be completed, and the final score tells the story. Andover began the game with a 7-0 lead, forcing Lawrence head coach Alberto Abreu to swap pitchers in only the third inning.
Mason Rosner delivered, driving in three of Andover’s first seven runs, and things were looking up for the surging Warriors.
The comeback kids from Lawrence sliced it to 8-5, heading into the 6th inning.
Cleanup hitter Carlos Rodriguez blasted a three-run home run that looked like it was going to land on I-495. Rodriguez’s home run made it a 7-3 game, and in the fifth, another double from the slugger plated two runs for Lawrence, making it a 8-5 game.
After Rodriguez’s double, Andover made a pitching change from Ben Workman — who pitched strong — to Chris Jaillet, who was throwing to his brother, Ryan, the catcher.
This pitching change was worthwhile, as Jaillet’s fastball overwhelmed the Lawrence lineup.
Andover’s John Bessette drove in two in the five-run Warrior sixth that put it away.
“We’ve been playing great baseball, and the credit has to go to Ben Workman, as he was really under the radar heading into the season,” said Lembo. “He filled in perfectly for me when I was out with my injury, and he stepped up big time on the mound today.”
Saturday afternoon, Andover takes on Billerica, but all eyes in the Merrimack Valley are on Monday afternoon’s stellar matchup, as the Warriors will travel to Northern Essex to take on Central Catholic at 4:30, with first-place in the MVC likely on the line.
“We need to win first tomorrow, but of course our guys are excited for Monday,” said Grams. “I’m not sure what we are going to do yet for pitching, but it’s going to be a fun early week matchup on Monday.”