Drew Pulsifer doesn’t have an overpowering fastball.
He doesn’t have a 12-to-6 curveball that makes hitters buckle at the knees.
Rather, he relies on his impeccable command and location of his pitches, a superior infield defense, and lots of intensive fortitude.
All of that was on full display on a chilly Wednesday afternoon at Aumais Field.
The Andover High senior right-hander tossed 6.2 innings, giving up an unearned run in the Golden Warriors come from behind 2-1 win over Merrimack Valley Conference rival Tewksbury.
Pulsifer’s ability to change speed and hit his spots turned into 17 infield outs, two fly outs and a runner throw out at home.
He didn’t have a single ‘K’ in the scorebook.
Not one strikeout.
“This may be the first game I have ever had without a strikeout, but I’ll take the outcome. I’ll look forward to getting more strikeouts, but I’m happy to help get the ‘W’. That’s all that matters,” he said.
Last year, Pulsifer finished the season with a 4-1 record. Thus far for the 2-0 Golden Warriors, including a season opening 1-0 win over Billerica — he has recorded a win and a save, while his ERA stands at 0.00 through 8.1 innings of work.
“The defense today was awesome,” he said. “In our first game against Billerica it was the same thing. When we put runners on, we got a groundball, and they turned the double play to help us get out of jams. It’s great when the guys are there for me.”
Pulsifer gave up six hits, walked two and finagled himself out of several tough jams. In the first inning, it was a 6-4-3 double play which started with some smooth hands from shortstop Stefan Lembo, who had a combined eight putouts/assists.
In the third inning, it was right fielder Chris Jaillet making a sensational diving catch moving to his left on a tailing line drive.
In the fourth inning, it was Jaillet throwing out a runner at home, followed by an unassisted double play by third baseman Alex Berman.
Berman came through again on a slow roller in the next frame.
Then in the sixth, it was first baseman Charlie Trapp making a nice play hustling to tag out Logan Augstyniak on a slow chopper to the right of the bag.
“We have a great defense behind us. Stefan (Lembo) and (Chris) Jaillet made some great plays. I just threw strikes and let the infielders do their work,” said Pulsifer.
In the top of the seventh, Pulsifer got the leadoff hitter on a groundball to Lembo. After giving up a double, he got an infield pop-up. Andover head coach Dan Grams then called on Jaillet for the final out. He fired three strikes past leadoff hitter Anthony DiFranco to seal the victory.
“Drew threw the ball well. It’s all about location. When he’s on, it’s all location,” said Grams. “Not a lot of teams are going to beat him because he’s always around the strike zone and relies on his defense. It was nice to have Chris come on at the end. His velocity is different and gave (Tewksbury’s hitter) a different look.”
Andover 2, Tewksbury 1Tewksbury: DiFranco rf 4-0-1, Lombardi ss 3-0-1, Kingston 3b 3-0-1, Augstyniak lf 2-1-0, Cunha c 3-0-1, Barrasso 2b-p 2-0-0, Ghali ph 1-0-0, Barletta 1b 2-0-1, Durkin cf 3-0-1, Macauda dh-2b 3-0-0, Schofield p 0-0-0. Totals: 26-1-6.
Andover: Chris Jaillet rf 0-1-0, Drew Pulsifer p/lf 3-0-1, Will Norris cf 2-0-1, Alex Berman 3b 2-0-0, Ryan Jaillet c 2-0-0, Sean Napilitano dh 3-0-0, Matt Defeo 2b 2-0-0, Stefan Lembo 3-0-0, Charlie Trapp 1b 2-1-1, Nick Ilsley lf-rf 0-0-0. Totals: 19-2-3.
WP: Drew Pulsifer 6.2 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 0 K; Save: Chris Jaiilet .1 IP, 1 K; LP: Brady Schofield 5 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 3K; 2B: Durkin; 3B: Norris; RBI: T, Barletta; A, Norris 2.