NORTH ANDOVER - Both No.1 Central Catholic and No.6 Lowell played their ace cards right off the bat yesterday at Merrimack College, but it was the top-ranked Raiders who slapped down a second ace late to take this high stakes MVC showdown, 3-2.
Leading 3-1 heading into the top of the sixth, Central saw Lowell’s Keith Lynch lead off with a towering homer to center off Central starter Steve Hajjar (4-0, 5 IP, 5H,2R, 9K, 2BB) and Lowell starter Henry Funaro follow promptly with a triple to chase the lefty standout. Enter Sam Lara.
“Steve threw a heck of a game for us and I wanted to get this for him,” said Lara of his first relief performance of the year. “That was a big win for us because they had the momentum going and I wanted to put an end to that.”
Mission accomplished. With the tying run just 90-feet away, the hard-throwing St. John’s University commit fanned the first two batters he faced and then got the final out on a routine comebacker. Lowell (9-3) would not go quietly in the following inning putting two on with two outs, before the hosts turned a nifty 6-4-3 twin killing to complete the season sweep of their talented MVC foes.
“That is one quality opponent and they go home run, triple and we leave the guy at third base,” marveled CC coach Marc Pelletier of Lara’s heroics.
Central (11-2) got to Funaro (5 2/3IP, 6H 1 ER, 7K) for a pair of unearned runs in the first and added what proved to be a huge insurance run in the third on Mike Pierro’s RBI sacrifice fly. With runs at a premium, Lowell attempted a steal of home in the third only to see Lynch called out on a very close play. Lowell third baseman Harrison Silva had a pair of web gems in the loss.
