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By Luke Wolford
PBR NE Scout

PBR New England is eagerly anticipating bringing the New England states the best high school coverage throughout the region.

We will have the 2016 Scout Blog, Spotlight Games, Inside the Recruitment Articles, Unsigned Senior Spotlights, The Recruiting Trail, All-State Selections, Full Coverage of the State Tournaments as well as numerous other articles throughout the spring.

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+ New Hampshire
+ Rhode Island
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To view the Team Power Rankings, click below:
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To view the full list of 2016 Team Previews that we have already completed, please click here.

For insider information and scouting notes from the PBR staff during the 2016 spring season visit the 2016 New England Scout Blog by clicking here.

Interested in attending a PBR New England event? Check out our schedule by clicking here.

PBR New England Spotlight Game: Peabody vs Westford Academy

In a great pitching duel all day, it was the Grey Ghosts of Westford Academy coming out on top of the Peabody Tanners in walk-off fashion.

On a day that zero runs were driven in with a hit, small ball and defense played a huge role in this one.

Senior RHP Colin Eddy picked up the complete game victory allowing five hits, an unearned run with six strikeouts and only one walk. Junior Patrick Maguire went the distance in the loss giving up seven hits, two runs with three strikeouts and four walks, which would come back to haunt him. Classmates, third baseman Zachary Bunker and catcher Max Silverman paced the offense with two hits apiece leading Westford Academy onto the next round.

 

After a quiet 1st inning, the Tanners would score their lone run in the 2nd inning.

With two outs, junior center fielder Zeuli Jacob reached on an infield single and moved to second on an errant throw by Eddy. Senior second baseman Jonathan Lawrence followed with a bunt single, putting runners on the corners. The next pitch, Lawrence took off for second and Silverman fired the ball high to Eddy, tipping off his glove and falling into the infield. Jacob took off for home and senior junior shortstop James McNamara sailed the ball over Silverman, allowing the run to score.

The Grey Ghosts had a great opportunity in the bottom half with runners at second and third and one out but had a run thrown out at the plate, keeping the score 1-0 Tanners.

 

Junior left fielder Anthony Iannuzzi started the 3rd inning with a double for Peabody but an out later he was picked off attempting to time the delivery of Eddy to steal third.

Westford Academy would also threaten with two runners in the third but could not cut into the lead. The Tanners got another leadoff double in the 4th by senior third baseman Benjamin Irvine but ended up stranding him at third. It would wind up being their final base runner of the afternoon as Eddy cruised through the Tanner lineup the final three innings.

 

The Grey Ghosts were able to tie the score in the 4th.

Senior center fielder Thomas Egan started the inning with a walk and moved to third on a double by Bunker. After an error loaded the bases, senior first baseman Scott Callahan hit a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Egan. Maguire was able to record a strikeout and ground out to avoid any further damage.

The score would remain until the bottom of the 7th inning.

Westford Academy had singles in the 5th and 6th inning but couldn’t move anyone past second base after a couple failed sacrifice attempts. With Maguire tiring, he allowed a leadoff single followed by a successful sacrifice by junior DH Thomas Giannasca. McNamara reached on an error to put runners on the corners before intentionally walking Silverman to load them up. Egan then worked his third walk of the contest bringing home the winning run for the Grey Ghosts.