By John Madigan
After losing two games in a row and allowing the Peabody Champions to find their way back in the series, the Beverly Recs got a much-needed win in game five of the North Shore Baseball League finals, 7-0, Tuesday night at Twi Field.
Beverly starting pitcher Alex Teal stole the show to give his team a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series. Teal pitched a complete game with nine strikeouts while allowing five hits and four walks in the contest.
Both teams were quiet offensively until the bottom of the third inning, when Beverly’s Chad Martin got things started after reaching on an error. A deep fly ball from that bat of Mike Davis advanced Martin to third and an RBI single by Dillon Gonzalez brought him home to make it 1-0 Beverly. Matt Burgess continued the rally with an RBI single of his own to increase the lead to 2-0. With two runners on base, Alex Toomey followed with a two-run double to give Beverly a 4-0 lead.
That was plenty of offense for Teal, who kept the Peabody bats honest throughout the night.
In the bottom of the fourth, Ethan Trowt reached for Beverly with a bloop single to center field. That ended the night for Peabody starting pitcher Greg Ladd, who went 3 1/3 innings while allowing four earned runs. Mike Gallo came on in relief and walked Matt Correale and Davis to load the bases. Gonzalez took advantage with a two-run single to increase the lead to 6-0. Burgess followed with a blooper that found a hole between the second basemen and the right fielder, to give Beverly the 7-0 advantage.
Gonzalez was the star at the plate for Beverly, driving in three runs in the contest.
Connor McRae came on in relief for Peabody in the bottom of the fifth and kept Beverly off the scoreboard for the rest of the game, but it was too little too late for the Champions, who couldn’t get a run to cross the plate.
Beverly will have a chance to win the series in game six, which will be played Wednesday at Cooney Field in Beverly. First pitch is scheduled for 8 p.m.