Photo: Junior pitcher Cole Bartels.

A throwing miscue with two outs in the bottom of the fourth allowed a pair of unearned runs to cross the plate and ended the 2015 season for Belmont High School Baseball, as the Marauders came out on the short end of a 3-1 loss to host and number-one seed Danvers in the Division 2 North sectional tournament on Monday, June 8.

“Unearned runs will do you in all the time,” said long-time Belmont Head Coach Jim Brown.

The anticipated pitching duel between Belmont High School’s Cole Bartels and Danvers High’s Andrew Olszak – their respective league’s MVP – didn’t disappoint as the aces battled from the mound with Bartels throwing a hard-fought one-hitter only to be matched by Olszak’s two-hit gem.

“Coming back on three days rest (after winning the playoff opener in Wilmington this past Thursday) Cole pitched a great game. I think they had a single infield bleeder,” Brown said of his junior ace, who collected six strikeouts in his six-inning stint.

While Bartels battled deep into counts against Danvers, Olszak – who led his team in hits, runs, scoring and set a league record for stolen bases – threw a selection of pitches that Marauders hitters kept pounding into the ground.

“You have to tip your hat to their pitcher,” said Brown, noting that Olszak, 8-0 in the regular season with two saves, surrendered a total of four walks for the entire year.

“He can pitch inside, outside, low, high; he just hit his spots,” said Brown.

Danvers (19-3) took the lead in the bottom of the first on a sacrifice fly after the Falcon’s second batter went from first to third on a one-out single by Olszak.

Belmont (12-10) came back to even the score in the next half-inning as sophomore catcher Cal Christofori doubled a first pitch offering. He advanced to third on Nick Call’s sacrifice bunt and came home on Robbie Montanaro’s sac fly.

The Marauders defense stuffed out a threat in the bottom of the second when second baseman Trevor Kelly caught an attempted slap hit to double up the runner at first, followed by Christofori catching another Falcon player leaning the wrong way at first, resulting him to be tagged out at second.

But Bartels’ fielders failed him in the fourth as a routine grounder ate up Kelly to put the lead-off batter on first. A sacrifice, a walk and a stolen base placed men at second and third with one out. It appeared Belmont had the Falcon player who was heading home dead to rights on a missed suicide squeeze. But a slip by Call allowed the player to scamper back to the hot corner.

With two outs and a full count, Danvers’ DH drove the ball to shortstop Noah Riley, who rushed the throw just a bit. But that little extra push sent the ball over Montanaro’s reach.

Two scored, and Belmont faced attempting to score against a pitcher they had yet to solve. Kelly came close with a two-out double in the sixth, but he was stranded at second.

While Christofori kept the deficit to a pair coming in relief of Bartels – twice gunning down runners at second – Belmont could only get one runner on the bases with two outs in the ninth before yet another ground ball out from Olszak finished the season.

“I was proud of the way we battled. We always play [Danvers] tough,” said Brown.

“It’s always a close game. You’ve got to play a clean game, or they’ll capitalize on your mistakes,” said Brown.

Photo: Junior Cole Bartels pitching Belmont to first-round victory over Wilmington.

Belmont High School Baseball played its best game of the season at the most opportune time as the Marauders handed hosts Wilmington High School Wildcats an 8-1 loss in a first-round of the Division 3 North Sectional playoffs played under sunny skies on Thursday afternoon, June 4. 

Belmont’s battery, junior right-hander Cole Bartels and sophomore catcher Cal Christofori, led the way as Bartels kept the Wildcats silent for all but the third inning, striking out 10 during his six inning stretch on the mound.

“It was great. I could find my spot and threw hard,” said Bartels after the game.

Christofori went three for four at the plate with an RBI triple in the third to bring in Belmont first run before scoring the Marauders second run on an error. Christofori finished the game in relief of Bartels.

“We did the little things; get your bat on the ball and good things will happen,” said Belmont’s long-time Head Coach Joe Brown, winning a first-round post season game for the third consecutive year. 

“We really were focused since the end of the season and we’ve had some great practices,” said Brown of the error- free effort by his defense behind Bartels.

Next up for Belmont (12-9) is a match up with number one seed Danvers High which sports a 18-3 record, after disposing of Tewksbury, 7-0, on Thursday.

The game will take place at Twi Field in Danvers at 4 p.m., Monday, June 8.

“I’ve coached against [Danvers’] Roger Day six or seven times and he’s gotten the better of me most times,” said Brown. “I expect a lot of small ball and quality baseball on Monday.” 

Belmont broke open the game in the fourth after surrounding a run in the bottom of the third, getting to the Wildcat’s ace, southpaw Jackson Gillis, with Christofori sending home Bartels, then coming home on the error. Third base Nick Call scored the third run on shortstop Nick Riley’s double.

The Marauders’ scraped together a run in the fourth as center fielder Ben Goodwin scampered home on Christofori’s second RBI. 

But the rally ended after Call ripped a Gillis fastball into the left center gap. Since Wilmington High could not use its new baseball field due to the construction of the new school building limited parking, the game was played at a middle school field which does not have an outfield fence. Had a barrier stopped the ball, it would have been unlikely Call would have tried to stretch a double into a triple. An outstanding throw from the outfield caught Call before Christofori crossed home. 

The Marauders provided the knockout punch with three in the fifth inning, highlighted by Goodwin’s two-out, two-run double, scoring juniors Trevor Kelly and Matt Kerans. 

It was then up to Bartels to secure the win, as he made quick work of the heart of the Wildcat lineup in the sixth.

“[Bartels] was phenomenal today. He had his control on,he was mowing guys down. He pitched out of a jam early and then was untouchable,” said Brown.