Great Weekend of Baseball

Finally after months and months of terrible weather we had two beautiful days for base ball, and the Essex Base Ball Organization took full advantage. On Saturday the Live Oaks of Lynn and the Clamdiggers of Newburyport traveled to Dorchester to participate in the triple header against the Boston Beaneaters and on Sunday the Rockinghams of Portsmouth and the Lowell Nine squared off at Spencer Peirce Little Farm after an epic Revolutionary War Battle.

On Saturday the Clamdiggers won game one 20-8 over the Boston Beaneaters. Matt “Queen of Diamonds” Larrabee hit numerous long balls to deep left to pace the offensive attack for the Clamdiggers. Kevin “One Wheel” Byrne pitched a solid game with good defense from shortstop Paul “No Dillydally” Chiozzi.

In game 2 of the day the Lynn Live Oaks took on the Newburyport Clamdiggers.  In a very back and forth game that saw multiple lead changes Lynn fought their way to a 15-13 victory.  Every player for Lynn checked in with a hit and in a total team effort were able to end the game victorious.

In game 3 the Lynn Live Oaks challenged the Beaneaters of Boston. Lynn jumped out to a big early lead but was not able to hang on to it.  The Beaneaters were able to chip away and make the game very close in the end.  A bases loaded line drive double play made by Brett “Hardcore” Zanni helped the Oaks to stay in front going in to the 9th inning. Derek “Whiskers” Boutwell lead off the inning with a double and Lynn was able to plate 3 runs to go into the bottom of the 9th up 5 runs.  The Beaneaters put together a small rally, but could not come all the way back giving Lynn the victory 16-13.

On Sunday the Rockinghams and Lowell Nine had to wait for the Red Coats to attack the Colonial encampment in the Escape from Boston Battle. Game one saw a back and forth battle with each side displaying strong hitting and solid defense. In the end Lowell captured an 8-6 victory.

In game two the Lowell offense exploded thanks in large part to Payton Garbarino’s grand slam home run and the short choppy hits of Giuliano “Baltimore Chop” Pizzo. Going into the bottom of the 9^th Lowell held a commanding 16-5 lead but the Rockingham bats came alive to score 6 runs to make it a 16-11 final score.

The Essex Base Ball Club will travel to CT to take on the Red Onion’s June 3^rd.

*Photos by Jennie Lynch

Soggy Opening Day

On a rain soaked day in early May all four teams of the Essex Base Ball Association took to the field to kick off the 2017 campaign. The first two games saw the Clamdiggers of Newburyport matched up against the Rockinghams of Portsmouth. Both clubs marched out to respective leads in the game that each ended up winning. In game one the Clamdiggers won 14-4 and in game two the Rockinghams won 29-9.

Games 2 and 3 the Lowell Nine were able to contain the Live Oaks of Lynn to take both games 7 to 3 and 9-0. The offense for Lowell was strong and solid defense was seen across the field. The defense was so sharp in game two that the Live Oaks were not able to score a single run.

The next time out for all of the clubs will be May 20^th and 21^st. May 20^th the Clamdiggers and Live Oaks will travel to Boston to participate in a triple header. Also on Saturday Cappy and Monkey will be on hand at the Revolutionary War encampment at the farm playing 18^th century cricket around 3pm. On Sunday at 1pm at the farm the Rockinghams and Lowell Nine will square off.

The Live Oaks of Lynn will be wearing new uniform shirts

*photos by Jennie Lynch