RallyNorth.net

Dean fans 12, leads Danvers past Tewksbury and into North semis

Monday, June, 02 By Phil Stacey
Sports editor

DANVERS | The answer: pressure and losing.

The question: What two things do Danvers High senior right-hander Bobby Dean seem impervious to?

As the calendar turns to June and the stakes in high school baseball circles get greater with each new game, Dean remains as calm and carefree as someone laying on the beach of some remote island. He spun another gem yesterday, fanning 12 Tewksbury hitters in a complete game outing to lead the Falcons to a 3-1 triumph in a Division 2 North quarterfinal contest at the Twi-Field.

Dean was asked afterwards what the keys to the game were.

"Execution and getting it done with runners in scoring position," the Vermont-bound hurler said modestly.

His fellow captain, Chris Perry, was having none of that. He interrupted his teammate to set the record straight.

"Pitching," Perry said emphatically in response to the same question. "It was Bobby's pitching. They were a real good hitting team, but when he pitches like that he's real tough to beat."

Dean, who scattered five hits and walked just one, also helped himself offensively with an RBI single past a drawn in Tewksbury infield in the bottom of the fifth, giving his team their all-important third run of the day.

All of this puts second-seeded Danvers (19-3) back where they were exactly one year ago: facing Belmont in the Division 2 North semifinals tomorrow (7 p.m.) at Fraser Field in Lynn. Last year, the Falcons were knocked out of the tournament by the Marauders, 4-2.

"We needed Bobby to come out and pitch a gem for us | and that's exactly what he did," said Danvers head coach Roger Day, whose team scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back.

"He's so tough that pressure doesn't faze him at all. In fact, the greater the pressure, the better he is. He's got the mental side of the game down cold."

In running his career record to 16-0 yesterday | yes, Dean still hasn't lost a high school game in his life | he lowered his earned run average to 1.01 and opponents' average against him to .148 while upping his strikeout total to 80 in 48<2/3> innings this spring.

He also leads the Falcons in batting average (.409), hits (27), walks (17) and RBIs (20), and his 23 runs scored are second only to leadoff hitter Jake Korthas' 25.

"He's not only our best pitcher," said Day, "but also our best athlete. He's so competitive, so savvy."

Tewksbury head coach Ronnie Drouin could only lament about what might have been for his team after the game. For the third time in the last five years, his Redmen came to the Twi-Field for a postseason contest with Danvers, and for the third time they boarded their bus with their season cut short.

"They made the plays when they needed to and we didn't. They got the clutch hits when they had to and we didn't. It's very, very disappointing," said Drouin, whose seventh-seeded team finished up at 16-6. "We botched a play in the first inning and that gets them two runs. We botch another one in the fifth and that leads to another run.

"We're a good team | just not good enough. For whatever reason, we can't get over the hump at this place."

An infield error, a sacrifice, another error and a sacrifice fly from catcher Jeff Eldridge brought Korthas home with the game's first run in the bottom of the first. Perry made it 2-0 by slamming an 0-2 fastball back up the box to plate Dean.

Armed with that lead, Dean retired the first eight Redmen in order before two hits and an error on a winding fly ball that landed in short center allowed the visitors to get on the board. Only one Tewksbury hitter reached second base from that point on, though, as Dean fanned eight of the game's final 16 hitters | thanks to a devastating curveball that came alive in the second half of the contest.

"I was overthrowing it a little bit at the beginning," said Dean of his breaking ball, "but I finally got it down and started throwing it for strikes. Jeff (Eldridge) was a huge help as far as that went; he's been catching me since I was 10 years old, so he can help me through stuff like that."

Perry had two of his team's four hits and now has three of the Falcons' eight through two postseason games. Sophomore right fielder Greg Ladd also hit safely yesterday and had two nice putouts in the field.