HS Sports: Baseball and Lacrosse Championship Previews

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Saturday, June 08, 2013

Matt Metcalf, GoLocalWorcester Sports Contributor

With a number of important Central Mass high school playoff games coming up this weekend, here are a few to look forward to.

Baseball

Leominster and Nashoba will play at 7pm on Saturday at Tivnan Field in Worcester, Massachusetts.

In head coach Emile Johnson's final season, his Leominster team is making a magical run, knocking off second and third seeds Shepherd Hill and St. John's to make it to the finals. The Blue Devils have been paced by Neil O'Connor, who hit .424 on the season and drove in 14 runs.

Top seeded Nashoba has powered its way through tournament play with wins over Algonquin and Wachusett, outscoring the two teams by a combined 21-2. They are led by Jack Sarnoski on the mound, who has compiled a 5-0 record with a 1.07 earned run average, while Nick Campana drove in 17 runs this season and hit .382.

Boys Lacrosse

Top-seeded St. John's and second-seeded Grafton will face off in the Central Division II boys lacrosse final at Foley Stadium in Worcester, Massachusetts on Saturday.

St. John's comes in as the favorite, knocking off the two-time defending division champion Algonquin Tomahawks in the semifinals. The Pioneers are paced by Hunter Burdick and Drew Smiley, who is fourth in Central Mass with 76 points this season. The junior Smiley is committed to play at Navy, while Burdick, a senior, is committed to play at Nazareth College.

Grafton was able to get by Shrewsbury in the Central Division II semifinals, and will now have the opportunity to win a title after losing to Algonquin in the finals a season ago. Grafton is led by two of the top 10 scorers in Central Mass in Tyler Reilly and Bryan Rotatori. The tandem of Reilly and Rotatori is committed to play at Keene State next year.

Girls Lacrosse

Shrewsbury and top-seeded Algonquin will face off in the Central Division I girls lacrosse final on Saturday at 4:30 at Foley Stadium.

Shrewsbury is led by Devan Michael, who is second in Central Mass in scoring with 88 goals and 108 points on the season. Lauren Ineson has also been an offensive threat this season, compiling a total of 46 goals and 86 points on the season.

Algonquin, last year's district champion, will look to repeat last year's performance to punch their ticket to the Division I state tournament. The Tomahawks are led by Hannah Lindgren, who has a total of 60 goals and 80 points on the season, while Jacklyn Healy also chipped in with 61 points on the year.  

Related Articles

• Algonquin Boys and Girls Advance to State Lacrosse Championship
• Central Mass DII Boys Lacrosse Championship Preview

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