The Peabody Veterans Memorial Tanners will challenge the Beverly Panthers at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both teams are coming into the match red-hot, with Peabody Veterans Memorial sitting on eight straight wins and Beverly on three.
On Thursday, Peabody Veterans Memorial needed a bit of extra time to put away Lynn English. They came out on top in a nail-biter against the Bulldogs, sneaking past 3-2. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory the Tanners have posted against the Bulldogs since May 11, 2015.
Meanwhile, Beverly beat Marblehead 8-5 on Wednesday. That's two games straight that the Panthers have won by exactly three runs.
Jonathan Reyes was a major factor no matter where he played. On the mound, he pitched 1.2 innings while giving up no earned runs or hits. He also tossed no earned runs, which is notable because Beverly is 3-1 when he allows at most two earned runs, but 5-6 otherwise. Reyes was also big at the plate, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with one stolen base, one run, and one RBI. That RBI was his first of the season.
In other pitching news, Graham Gavin tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run while striking out eight over 4.1 innings pitched. He also tossed no earned runs, which is notable because Beverly is 3-1 when he allows at most one earned run, but 5-6 otherwise.
Back at the plate, the team relied heavily on Micah McMannus, who went 2-for-4 with one triple, one run, and one RBI. Charles Salerno was another key player, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with two runs and one stolen base.
Peabody Veterans Memorial's win was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 13-3. The road victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.3 runs on average over those games. As for Beverly, they now have a winning record of 8-7.
Peabody Veterans Memorial skirted past Beverly 4-2 in their previous meeting back in April. Do the Tanners have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Panthers turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
