Andrew Fecteau | McClelland Miscellanea

Pitcher Mike Sloban (hands raised) starts celebrating after the Rowley Rams won the ITL title on Wednesday night at Eiras Field.

Anthony Conte sets to throw to first after taking flip from shortstop Jordan Silva and turns game-ending double play. Brock Currier (3 hits) is #99.

(Rowley) Records are elusive in the Intertown Twilight League and no one appeared sure of when the last Rowley ITL championship was. However, there is certainty that the Rams are the 2011 ITL champs.

The #1 seed Rams (18-5-2) completed a 3-game sweep of the #2 seed Rockport Townies (14-10) on gorgeous Wednesday night, 5-2, at Eiras Field in Rowley.

The only moisture I noticed on this night was dripping off Ram manager Jeff Wood afterwards as he and the contents of a fluid container connected just as he was underway with his team with post-game congratulations.

Pitcher Mike Sloban afterwards

There was plenty to like about the way Rowley played in the championship game. They got a complete game seven hitter from righty Mike Sloban. They were flawless in the field turning 6-4-3 double plays in the sixth and seventh. They took advantage of Rockport lapses in the field for three of their five runs.

Mike Sloban (Pentucket & UMassLowell) escaped two, one-out, first-and-third jams getting two of his four strikeouts in those situations.

The Rams made all the plays in the field. The short (Jordan Silva) to second (Anthony Conte) to first (Dave Smith) double plays in the 6th and 7th kept the Townies away from any ideas of late-game heroics.

Rockport opened the scoring in the second as Chuck Anderson’s infield hit scored Mike Emerson, who had doubled and gone to third on a fielder’s choice to give Rockport an early 1-0 lead.

Marco Luisi excapes Brent Currier’s rundown tag in the second inning and later scored Rowley’s second run.

Rowley took the lead for good (2-1) in the bottom of the second. Rockport messed up a rundown play between home and third and instead of being an out Marco Luisi would later tally the Rams second run. Three walks by Rockport starter Brett Smith contributed to the Ram opportunities in this inning. Anthony Conte got credit for an RBI when he walked. Andrew Fecteau brought in the other run with a sacrifice fly.

In the third, Ralph Renzulli reached on shortstop Derek Osmond’s throwing error and later scored Rowley’s third run on Marco Luisi’s single to right. Also in the third, Townie starter Brett Smith had trouble with a blister and Derek Osmond relieved him.

In the fourth Rockport got a run back. Dan Greel doubled to right and reached third on a sacrifice fly by Mike Emerson. Connor Ressel’s single through the drawn in Ram infield produced the score.

Anthony Conte heads past manager/third base coach Jeff Wood to home in the 4th inning.

With the lead cut to 3-2, Anthony Conte took second in the bottom of the 4th inning after Kurt Koerth’s bobble in right field of his single. Kyle McElroy reached the base of the left field fence and Anthony was home with Rowley’s fourth run.

Mike Sloban shut down the Townies the rest of the way. He pitched out of a first-and-third jam in the fourth and had double plays behind him in the 6th and 7th.

Rowley added their fifth and final run in the fifth inning. Andrew Fecteau ripped a two-strike single to center and two Derek Osmond wild pitches later was on third. Jordan Silva’s liner to center dropped off Tom Robertson’s glove and Andrew scored.

The Rams had to defeat the perennial iron (Manchester-Essex & Rockport) of the ITL to win the title. You had to go back to 2000 to find a team (Ipswich) other than those two to win the league.

Nick Curcuru in the Gloucester Times wrote a couple of days ago that the last Rowley title was in 1979. No matter, no one at this game seemed to remember it. It probably felt like 1929 (ITL’s founding year) to the Rowley fans! Manager Jeff Wood related that the Rams didn’t win a single game five years ago and he related that information like someone who had been there.

Jordan Silva, Mike Sloban, and Dave Smith are all on the UMassLowell baseball roster.

Last time I saw Marco Luisi he was hitting two homers against Newburyport in 2009 in the North title game for Georgetown.

The last time I saw Anthony Conte he was playing soccer for Georgetown against Hamilton-Wenham in the North finals.

Brock Currier led Rockport with three hits. Teammate Chuck Anderson had two hits.

Dave Smith (Amesbury) paced Rowley with two hits. Anthony Conte, Marco Luisi, and Andrew Fecteau each had a hit, an RBI, and scored a run.

Brett Smith blister problem

Dave Smith scores first run for Rowley

Jordan Silva slides into second

Rowley manager Jeff Wood

Mike Emerson scores first Rockport run

Rams celebrate

(I keep my own stats and take my own pictures. Mistakes are unintended. Use of any of the pictures elsewhere is fine with me as long as credit is given. All of the pictures in this post will enlarge if you click on them. Enjoy!)

Triton golf captain Andrew Fecteau

His list of golf accomplishments stretches three pages long.

He’s Andrew Fecteau, senior at Triton.

With Andrew on board, the Triton golf team has absolutely dominated the Cape Ann League rolling to 27 straight league wins, going back 2 ½ years, while being CAL champions the last two seasons.

Triton third year golf coach Rich Dube suspects that Andrew’s temperament is key. “He not only is talented but he has a calm disposition that helps in golf. He could put a bad shot behind him”

Coach Dube told me that the best round he ever saw Andrew play was recently in the Division 2 North Sectionals at Far Corner when he shot a one under par 71 to finish second.

Andrew claims that he first picked up a club when he was about 1 ½ years old. “My dad (Michael) cut down normal clubs and put the grips on them because I always broke the plastic ones.”

Andrew’s dad learned how to play golf from his brother Phil who is now the head golf coach at Division 2 Pfeiffer College in North Carolina.

Therefore, as Andrew grew up playing golf at Rowley Country Club with his dad he could watch a good golfer in action. When Andrew reached high school age, they switched to playing at Ould Newbury because that was where the high school matches were played.

“I played golf for fun when I was younger,” recalled Andrew of his times at RCC. “I never really practiced at the facilities there. I would probably be a better golfer now if I’d taken the sport more seriously back then.”

Andrew’s interest and abilities in other sports (basketball and baseball) have kept him active away from golf. He played basketball as a freshman and sophomore and told me that he may show up for tryouts on December 1st. He is also solidly entrenched in baseball and returns there as the starting catcher.

Therefore, for him to get “serious” about golf involved extra work in the summer. “The last two summers I have really worked at golf,” said the Newbury resident. “I practiced a lot and I lifted weights. Every day I’d hit balls for probably two hours. It paid off as I started to hit the ball real well and won a couple of tournaments this past summer.”

Andrew is not sure about his future in golf. He is certain, however, that he wants to go to college in the South where the weather is warm. His first choice is Duke and the National Honor Society member has applied for early admission – “I visited there and loved the atmosphere.”

Golf could well take a backseat at Duke although Andrew expects he will still play a lot privately and possibly try to be a walk-on to the golf team his sophomore year.

Until Andrew heads off to college, his most competitive golf could well be with his father at Ould Newbury. “I probably should let him win,” joked Andrew, “but I can’t. It’s very competitive. Last time I played him was in the club championship (which Andrew won). I’ve enjoyed being his partner in father/son tournaments.”

( Appeared in The Town Common November 19th )