DANVERS – They were arguably the two top teams in the Northeastern Conference coming into the season and for the fans who braved chilly temperatures at Twi Field on Monday, Danvers and Swampscott treated them to a classic.Like a pair of prizefighters, the Falcons and Big Blue traded counterpunches before Danvers landed the final blow as pinch hitter Larry Saggese singled home Chris Perry with two outs in the bottom of the sixth for a 3-2 Falcon win.”We finally got a hit when we needed it,” an unusually excited Danvers coach Roger Day said. “This is a sweet win because Swampscott is really good and they’re playing well right now.”Greg Ladd got the win on the mound; he was brilliant after a slow start, retiring 11 of the final 13 batters he faced en route to moving to 5-0 for the season.”Greg pitched tremendous. You saw in that last inning how he attacked the hitters with a tremendous amount of confidence. He’s been a huge plus for us in the second half of the year. He’s 5-0 as a No. 3 guy,” Day said.Ladd’s opposition, Ryan Squires, was just as good on Monday in holding Danvers (12-2, 11-1 NEC South) to seven hits while striking out six.”Ryan pitched excellent,” Swampscott coach T.J. Baril said. “It just was a well-played game. We played well enough to win but just came up short.”Swampscott (5-9, 4-7 NEC), which now needs to win five of its last six games to make the state tournament, started off on the right foot as Justin Mitchell belted Ladd’s second offering in the top of the first over the left-field fence for a home run.The Falcons responded quickly, striking for a two-out run against Squires. After Jake Korthas had been thrown out stealing second and Bobby Dean struck out, Tom Marini reached on an infield hit. Catcher Jeff Eldridge drove him in with a double up the gap in left that tied the game.Danvers took the lead for the first time in the second. Chris Perry, back after missing a month with an injury, singled before Ladd sacrificed pinch runner Ben Pasquariello to second.John Gikas delivered Pasquariello home with a single to center that made it 2-1, Falcons.Swampscott came right back in the top of the third to draw even. Mitchell singled with one out and headed to third on Steve Moran’s base hit. Hunter Gordon then flew out to the fence in center, easily scoring Mitchell with the tying run.After that, however, the game belonged to the pitchers as Squires and Moran began dueling with each other.Each team left a runner at third in the fourth inning before Danvers put the first two men on in the fifth. But Squires got Marini, Eldridge and Matt Pasquariello in order to defuse that threat.In the sixth, Danvers put the leadoff runner on again when Perry singled up the middle. After a Ladd sacrifice and a Gikas strikeout, Day called on Saggese to bat for Troy Thibodeau.The move worked when Saggese singled past a diving Dean Dennis into right field and Perry beat Keith Morgan’s throw to the plate to make it 3-2.”We’d had chances galore and couldn’t get a hit. And then we finally got that hit with two outs,” Day said.That was all the cushion Ladd needed as he struck out Morgan and Dan Nellhaus before getting Squires on a comebacker to the mound for the final out.”They got a couple of timely hits and that’s the way baseball is,” Baril said. “We’ve been playing strong baseball for the last two weeks and have been in good games. And when you play good teams, that’s what is going to happen.”