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Former Malden Catholic and Kimball Union Academy hockey standout Nick Roberto has switched his commitment to Boston University, after de-committing from Maine in the recent weeks. He will join the Terriers for the 2013-14 season.

Roberto, a Wakefield, Mass. resident, tallied 23 goals and 48 points in 29 games for the Wildcats last season.

"Nick has worked very hard to attain this goal," KUA head coach Mike Levine said Monday. "The KUA community is very happy for both him and his family."

Roberto played the previous three seasons with Malden Catholic, where he was a part of the Lancers' Super 8 championship team in 2010-11, before enrolling at Kimball Union. He also was part of the Wildcats' Piatelli/Simmons Tournament victory in 2011-12 and was named Flood-Marr Tournament Most Valuable Player in 2012.

He joins former KUA teammates Doyle Somerby and John Macleod as BU commits and becomes the seventh player with Massachusetts roots joining the Terriers next year, including Robbie Baillargeon, Brendan Collier (former MC teammate), Tommy Kelley, Dalton MacAfee, T.J. Ryan and Somerby.

Roberto's change in commitment was first reported by Jasper Kozak-Miller of the "Over the Boards" hockey blog.

Four Central Mass boys' lacrosse teams are joining for a doubleheader of games to benefit the One Fund on Friday, May 17.

Here's more from the release from Northbridge lacrosse head coach Steve Falconer:

Four Central Mass boys' lacrosse teams have agreed to play a Varsity doubleheader on Friday night, May 17th, 7 p.m. at Kevin Vulter field on the campus of Grafton High School to raise funds for the “One Fund” created by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and City of Boston Mayor Tom Menino in the wake of the tragic events surrounding the Boston Marathon.

This event was conceived by the Northbridge High School boys' lacrosse team as their annual community service project and has quickly grown into an event supported by three other schools.

In lieu of admission, donations will be collected at the gate and given to the One Fund in the name of all four programs.

All teams will wear the Boston Strong stickers on their helmets to show their support for the victims of the attack.

We hope to attract a large crowd that is reflective of the participating schools and their communities. The schedule of events will be as follows:

Grafton vs. Westborough 5 p.m.
Northbridge vs Blackstone Valley Regional Tech, 7 p.m.

JV level games between the four schools will start in the afternoon at Grafton High School also, Grafton vs Westborough @ 3:30 and Northbrigde vs BVT @ 5:00 on an adjacent field.

There will also be two half-time exhibition matches featuring youth lacrosse players from Grafton, Northbridge and Westborough.

For additional information or to donate to this cause, contact Steve Falconer, Varsity Lacrosse Coach. Northbridge High School, 427 Linwood Ave., Whitinsville, MA 01588 or by email at sfalconer@nps.org.

We updated our statewide MIAA Top 25 baseball poll this morning. To view it, CLICK HERE.

The next poll update will be Monday, May 6.

A few notes and observations about this week's poll:

St. John's Prep is new No. 1: Following its 6-5 thriller over BC High last Wednesday, St. John's Prep ascends to the top spot in the land for the first time since last season. The Eagles have won 10 straight since their season-opening loss to rival Xaverian, and a big reason is for the explosion of bats. Offensively, they are averaging 8.5 runs per game.

Catholic Conference reigns supreme: Catholic Memorial makes its season debut at No. 18, following a 5-0 upset of Xaverian on Friday. With the Knights' entry into the poll, as the fifth Catholic Conference school, this marks the first time since 2011, a league's full membership has been represented in the poll. Along with Prep's ascent to No. 1 the Catholic Conference also boasts BC High (3), Malden Catholic (8) and Xaverian (10) this week.

For the unfamiliar, the last time all five Catholic Conference schools were represented was in ESPNBoston.com's very first baseball poll of existence, the 2011 preseason poll. That list had none other than CM, with three Division 1-bound arms, as the top team in the land.

SPM making moves: St. Peter-Marian scored a huge victory on Saturday afternoon when they knocked off Malden Catholic 2-1 in extra innings. It marked the first time all season they have reached .500, and it also avenged a 3-1 loss to the Lancers back on April 13. With the win, SPM makes its season debut this week at No. 17.

The Guardians had a brutal start to their 2013 campaign, opening at 1-5 with losses to Hudson, St. John's (Shrewsbury), Billerica, Shrewsbury and the aforementioned Lancers -- all of whom are currently ranked, or have been ranked, in our poll this season. Since then, the Guardians have won four straight, getting excellent production out of its pitching staff led by D1 commits Zach Zona (UMass) and Jack Riley (UConn).

Making returns: SPM and CM are the lone teams making debuts this week, while a number of teams make returns after short absences. Westfield (20) returns after a one-week hiatus, followed by Braintree (22), Coyle-Cassidy (23) and Hudson (25).

Here's how the poll breaks down by league affiliation:

Catholic Conference - 5
Bay State - 3
Central Mass. Conference - 2
Northeastern - 2
Old Colony - 2
Southern Worcester County - 2
Valley League - 2
Atlantic Coast - 1
Cape Ann - 1
Eastern Athletic - 1
Merrimack Valley - 1
Mid-Wach B - 1
Patriot - 1
Valley Wheel - 1

SUDBURY, Mass. - For a moment in the early minutes of the second quarter, Lincoln-Sudbury lacrosse fans would have been excused if they suddenly experienced flashbacks to the team's previous meeting against Acton-Boxborough.

On April 4, the Colonials came storming back after L-S had opened up a six-goal advantage, actually taking the lead late before the Warriors rallied to come back for a 12-11 victory.

Saturday, L-S came flying out of the gates once again and built a 6-0 lead with 3:03 left in the first quarter. Thomas Cotter scored twice in a row, followed by a dodge-and-rip by Scott Rogers that cut the deficit to 6-3 with 5:36 left in the second.

This time around, however, there would be no comeback as the second-ranked Warriors reeled off seven of the next eight and went on to finish with a 19-8 victory over No. 5 A-B at Myers field.

"No one was worried," said L-S midfielder Greg Roder, one of three players to score four goals in the game. "We knew what happened last time and how it was a close game and we knew we were going to take it right back from them."

Take it right back L-S (9-0) did, as Henry Guild (four goals, three assists), Jordan Dow (two goals, three assists) and Roder all scored to close out the first half with a 9-3 lead.

Guild and A-B's (10-2) Hunter Arnold traded goals to open the third, then L-S stuck three in a row - two from Roder around one from Dan Delaney (four goals, two assists) - to push the advantage to 13-4.

Cotter completed his hat trick to temporarily stop the bleeding, but the Warriors responded with scores from Dow, Guild and Delaney to push the lead back into double digits (16-5), before both coaches mutually agreed to start emptying the benches.

"I think they are a very good team," L-S coach Brian Vona said of Acton-Boxborough. "I think they are a well coached team but I think our kids were just ready, they were ready for tonight. They’ve been practicing hard. I know its age old stuff, but they’ve been practicing hard, they’re working hard, and they’re playing together."

WORCESTER, Mass. -- With the minimal amount of run-scoring opportunities each team had, both Malden Catholic and St. Peter-Marian needed to play beyond the Saturday’s seventh-inning affair to claim a victor.

It finally came in the bottom of the ninth. With two out and Jon Roy standing on first base, Guardian right handed batter Desi Garcia ripped a Joe Velozo fastball deep into the gap between right and center field. With Roy, who was running on contact, chugging around the bases, the senior was sent all the way home by head coach Ed Riley once Riley noticed Lancers’ center fielder Dan Marini slip on the grass after retrieving the ball of the fence.

As Roy crossed the plate, the senior was mobbed by jubilant teammates in celebration of SPM’s hard-earned 2-1 triumph.

Velozo and Guardians starter Zach Zona refused to give an inch against one another in this duel between two of the state’s top hurlers. Both were outstanding in attacking zones and shutting down the opposition’s offense. Velozo, a Merrimack College commit, allowed six hits and struck out 10. Zona, who is UMass-bound, worked eight innings, surrendering five hits and also recorded 10 Ks.

"This was an absolute team win," said Riley, his team now 5-5 after starting the season 1-5. “The pitching on both sides was phenomenal. Zach came out and pounded the strike zone. That’s a very good baseball team on the other side and, to date, the best team we have played against this year.

"They’re a very good fastball hitting team so our game plan was to pitch a little backwards to them where we go off-speed early and fastballs later in the count. For Desi, he really deserved that. He’s been with me since his freshman year and this is the first year he has had an opportunity to get into the lineup regularly. I couldn’t be more happier for him to come up with a hit like that."

In the top of the ninth, MC (6-4) threatened to grab the lead after loading the bases with one out. After issuing a single and walk to begin the frame, Zona was removed for Steve Albert. Following a sacrifice bunt and a walk, Albert, a junior, got out of the jam after striking out Nick Turco and Jeremy Roberts.

In the bottom of the inning, Velozo opened by walking Roy. After retiring the next two Guardian batters, Garcia, on an 0-1 pitch, lined his run-producing shot as the Lancer outfield was playing straight up against him.

"I had been seeing the ball good all day but just hadn’t hit the ball square," said Garcia, a senior. "(Velozo) had really good movement on his ball so I tried to stay back. I was able to hit a nice seed the other way into the outfield and Johnny Roy got in to win the ball game. As a team we feel really good right now. We have momentum and we are a team. We’ve all been working very hard and now we’re starting to get wins. Hopefully more will come."

Zona and Velozo were locked in from the outset, keeping the game scoreless through the first five innings. SPM had an opportunity to go up in the first inning after loading the bases. But Velozo, a lefty, got out of the fracas unscathed.

"Velozo pitched a great game," said Lancers coach Pat Driscoll, whose club defeated SPM 3-1 back on April 13th. "That’s how he has been all year for us. He throws strikes, attacks the zone and gives us a chance to win every time he’s out there. It was two great pitchers going at it today. They capitalized in the end and we didn’t.

"When you have two good starters on the mound for both teams like today it’s going to be a difference of who gets a timely hit with two outs and who executes. Today they got that hit and we didn’t."

In the top of the second, MC's Steve Passatempo doubled to lead off the frame and took third following Cam Lanzilli’s sacrifice bunt. But the junior got no further as Zona rung up Dan DiMare and Paul Garozzo to get out of the inning.

The Guardians would break up the scoreless deadlock in their half of the sixth. Velozo quickly retired the first two batters he faced before Brandon O’Connor belted a triple to left. Roy followed with a ground single up the middle for a 1-0 lead.

Just three outs away from a complete game victory, Zona began things by striking out Passatempo. With Lanzilli next up, the junior drove Zona’s first offering deep over the left field fence to knot the game at 1-1. Following the home run, MC put two more runners on base with only one out. But Zona bore down by getting the next two hitters and avoid further damage.

"To hold a team like that to one run over nine innings, that’s no mistake," Riley said. "It says you have some pretty good pitching. Both Zach and Steve Albert did a great job today."

St. John’s Prep will hold an open house at 11 a.m. on Sunday in honor of Jared Coppola, a former Eagles’ football player who was originally paralyzed from the shoulders down after he fractured the C-5 vertebrate in his back. Guests will be asked for a $100 donation, the cost of one hour of his summer therapy.

The story of the Coppola triplets took to the national stage, when the Eagles made their run to the MIAA Division 1 Super Bowl in 2010. Jared was paralyzed from the waist down in a September 2009 scrimmage, just a year after Brandon fractured his own C-5 vertebrae, though he made a full recovery. The third triplet, Tyler, was the catalyst for Prep's journey to the title game, leading the state in rushing and earning a spot on ESPNBoston.com's annual All-State Team.

In 2011, the Coppolas' story was featured on "E:60", narrated by Michael Smith and discussing Jared's long recovery:



Jared, now a student at the University of New Hampshire who has full use of his arms, can now also walk short distances and drive a car—he drives himself from UNH to Boston Medical Center and Journey Forward in Canton every weekend for therapy. He has set high standards for himself in his recovery, and would like to attend the Beyond Therapy program at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta from May until July.

The Shepherd Center is considered one of the world’s leaders in spinal cord injury research and therapy. Therapy costs $100 per hour and is not covered by insurance. Jared, who has his eyes fixated on being able to once again walk without help, says therapy at the Shepherd Center is the only way for him to have the opportunity to reach his goals. The therapy includes access to a weight-training facility, a pool for him to work out in, and state of the art treadmills.

“The reason I’m going down there is that it’s very structured," he said. "For me, I work very well with structure, I do better when there’s someone there to push me and make sure I don’t take breaks and that I work hard. They also have a lot of equipment and knowledge because they’re a spinal cord rehab facility."

He says he has made gradual significant progress on the treadmill -- which, thanks to a harness, supports whatever percent of his body weight is entered into the connected computer. There was a point in time where he needed the harness to support almost half his body weight while on the treadmill -- including having help from two people assisting him. Now, the harness supports around 20 percent of Jared’s body weight -- which means that outside of therapy he can walk by himself with a walker for short periods of time.

To get to classes and the vast majority of places that require a lot of walking, though, he still needs a wheelchair, which is something he would like to put to rest.

“I just want to get rid of the wheelchair, at all times," he said. "To walk with a walker unassisted, I just want to get out of the wheelchair and not need it anymore. I’m also at a point in my progress that this will be good for me because when I go down the first couple days I set my own goals for the program."

Jared recently had tendon-lengthening surgery to help strengthen his left leg. The procedure paid off, as seen in this video of him taking steps a couple of weeks ago at his home in North Reading:



There was once a point in time where doctors were unsure of whether or not Jared would walk again. They told him that a lot of people don’t recover from his level of injury, but behind positive support from his parents and four siblings, he continues to make significant progress. He says he never once remembers seeing his family show a lot of emotion about the injury in front of him, which has helped him keep a positive mindset over the course of a rigorous, often brutally challenging recovery.

“The doctors said ‘your level of injury is really bad, a lot of people don’t recover from these injuries,’ but the whole time I was just telling myself: I’m gonna’ be fine, I’ll get better,” he says.

Jared will be speaking at the open house about his recovery, where he’s come from, and how far he still wants to go. He has spoken at several sports injury conferences, but this is his first time speaking in front of St. John’s Prep alumni, students, friends and family.

“It will be weird and I’ll probably be a little nervous about it, but it’s just about me and how I’ve been doing and everything," he said. "What’s also different too is that my recovery takes awhile. They’ll see that I’ve made so much progress; I see the little small things that went behind it."

Open house will be held at Milano Dining Room in Memorial Dining Hall at St. John’s Prep. If you're unable to attend, please help Jared with his mission by making a contribution and sending it to: The Jared Coppola Fund, c/o Reading Cooperative Bank, 170 Park Street, North Reading, MA 01964

DOVER, Mass. -- Medfield senior Sarah Honan thrives in situations where most keepers would feel uncomfortable.

Succeeding against a medley of free position shots and one-on-one breakaways last night, Honan made 12 difficult saves as she battled defending Division 2 state champion Warriors (8-2, 5-2) to a 10-6 besting of Tri-Valley League foe Dover-Sherborn (6-2, 3-2), at Nora Searle Field.

“I love free position shots,” said Honan. “I like to stay on my toes, just watch the ball all the way to my stick and hopefully I come up with the save. Crashing together as a team and moving together.”

Honan's impressive outing was aided with five goals from fellow senior Katelyn Noschese and a strong showing from the Warriors' man-to-man defense.

Looking Like Defending Champs: The Warriors were looking to bounce back after a poor second half on Wednesday that lead to a tough 14-9 loss to fellow league power Hopkinton (6-2). Medfield was ahead for 46:01 of the 50 minutes on Friday as they edged away for good off a four goal streak in the first half.

Sophomore Lauren Tschirch crashed the net then lowered her head into a group of defenders to draw Medfield's first free position. She buried the effort top-net for a 2-1 lead at 18:11.

Noschese cradled her way past two straight defenders to net a 5-1 goal and end the run with 7:13 left in the first half.

“Not only does it physically prepare us, but it mentally prepares us to stay in games and not let up,” said Noschese. “First of all move the defender (and) get her off track then fake the goalie and just shoot to the corner she is not protecting. It forces them to crash on you.”

Noschese cut out in front of the goal from behind the crease and nailed a 10-yard effort to help clinch the game at 10-6 with 5:07 left in the game. The Warriors moved into their "stall" offense after that score as they wasted of the rest of the clock.

“I was very proud of how smart they were,” said Medfield coach Kathleen McCullough. “It is kind of like a stall if we are in a situation where we need to maintain possession. No shots (allowed).”

Senior Management: Lauren Harrity's two goals and one assist did little justice to show the senior midfielder's influence on Medfield's offensive management. Harrity played a role in half of the Warriors' scores, including the two straight tallies that put her team ahead 9-5 with 13:47 left.

The senior looped around the crease to setup both goals as she lobbed passes to freshman Grace Crowell and sophomore Hailey Tschirch for 10-yard scores and the 9-5 advantage.

“She is just very dynamic,” said McCullough. “If she gets covered too hard she knows that she is going to have to feed the ball and if they are not playing hard defense on them she knows to go to goal.”

Unable to Gain Ground: Dover-Sherborn struggled to pull even as they twice scored two scores then gave up a pair of goals.

Senior Nora Klemmer (three goals) converted a breakaway off a personal draw victory with 21:50 left in the game. Within 44 seconds, she lost two defenders as she cut away from net and produced enough space to sneak a 7-5 score along the post to finish the second run.

“Her first two shots did not go and she was able to adjust to the type of shot that was going to work,” said Dover-Sherborn coach Erin Newton. “We need to make sure we are capitalizing on fast breaks. Our offensive end needs to be quicker in terms of our cuts and our of ball movement.”

TVL As A Playoff Standard: Five of the eight teams in the Tri-Valley League made last years' postseason. The TVL has represented both of the two available girls' lacrosse state titles for the past two years.

In league games like last night's represent a good example of postseason play especially for the two Division 2 squads that played.

“We know that every team comes out strong against us (and) we can't really let up,” said McCullough. “We learned a lot just from our last game against Hopkinton.”

WALPOLE, Mass. -– Friday afternoon’s showdown was full of clutch hitting and timely defensive plays -- as any Walpole-Norwood matchup should be. Walpole took an 8-1 lead after three innings, watched Norwood (5-3) tie the game one inning later, and in the bottom of the ninth Johnny Adams drove in the winning run to seal an 11-10 victory for the Rebels (9-1).

Adams was 0-for-5 going into his last at-bat, but was able to put all that behind him with the game on the line. With a base knock up the middle, he drove in the winning run, doing just what his coach told him to do.

“He’s the man we’d want up every time, I don’t care if he’s 0-for-10," Walpole coach Bill Tompkins said. "[I told him] just take it up the middle, don’t try to do more than you can, just take it up the middle."

Adam’s game-winning single was just one of several big-hits in what was a spirited offensive affair. Walpole scored three runs in the first inning, then added five more in the third inning -— four of which came via a grand slam to left field by rightfielder Matt Bender.

"He just jumped on a fastball and got all of it...the reason why Matt got that hit and the other kid got a home run is that the balls are up," Tompkins said. "Not good location, and that’s what happens when you leave the ball up."

All the momentum was in Walpole’s dugout at that point, but Norwood refused to quit. The Mustangs put seven runs on the board to come back from what originally appeared to be an unanswerable deficit.

“We’re a real good team, we’re gonna’ be there when it’s all said and done," Norwood coach Kevin Igoe said. "Give [Walpole] credit too, when we came back they stole the momentum; we’ve got to step on their neck when we’ve got them. They’re too good a team to let them go."

Nearly all of Norwood’s lineup got involved in the rally: Anthony Perriello legged out an RBI-triple early in the inning, Mark Saulnier ripped a double to drive Perriello in, while Tyler Gover drove in a run on a base hit and Rourke Flynn drove in two of his own on a double to bring the score to 8-6.

Flynn scored on the next play when two Norwood runners came around on a wild play, tying the game at eight.

“That’s a very typical Walpole-Norwood game,” Tompkins said. “A lot of comebacks—give Norwood credit, they were down 8-1 and they didn’t quit. They bounced back for that big seven-spot in the fourth inning.”

In the bottom of the sixth, Walpole catcher Rick Ordway (4-for-4, RBI) smashed an RBI double to left field to give the Rebels a 9-8 lead. Norwood, on cue, came back once again, tying the game on a two-run homer by Saulnier in the seventh.

Walpole managed to tack on two runs to win the game. In the eighth, following a single, Ordway came around to score on a triple by designated hitter Jim Smith.

“Some big hits in that eighth inning, [Ordway] got his fourth hit of the game, right after a double play too. He didn’t give up,” Tompkins said.

In the bottom of the ninth, Walpole’s Mike Rando got on base on what appeared to be a controversial call by the homeplate umpire on a pop-up inbetween first base and right field. Rando reached base, and eventually came around to score the winning run on Adams’ RBI single. Tompkins appreciated the win and effort from his players, but emphasized that they should not get ahead of themselves.

“It’s a nice boost, but it’s still midway through the season," Tompkins said. "We talked about win or lose, this wasn’t gonna be the end of the season, there’s still a lot of baseball to play. We’re 9-1, and we haven’t played an A-game yet. We hung in there, we didn’t give up, just like Norwood didn’t give up, and we came back and go the W. Good win, but it’s just one win.”

CHELMSFORD, Mass. -- Norm Walsh thoroughly understands the importance of depth. The longtime BC High head coach is cognizant of the fact that you can never have enough of it when the situation calls for it.

On Friday, Walsh summoned two players from his deep bench who, in turn, performed remarkably in helping lift the Eagles to a thrilling 4-2 extra-inning victory over Chelmsford at Ayotte Field.

With his starter Zach Dunphy having already thrown 75 pitches in just 2 2/3 innings, and the season still in its early-stages, Walsh needed save his senior’s arm for the stretch run. Senior reliever Dan Cobban was brought in with his club trailing 2-1. For the remainder of the afternoon, Cobban was nothing short of brilliant in his 6-1/3 innings, allowing no hits and striking out five. The righty did his part, keeping BC High within striking distance until the offense flurried late.

“I just went out there throwing strikes and I knew my team could come back and get this,” said Cobban. “As long as I kept them in the game I knew we could win it. We really needed this after our loss to St. John’s Prep (6-5 on Wednesday). We had to get a bounce-back win and what better way to get it.”

After the Lions plated a pair of runs against Dunphy, Cobban came in and stifled Chelmsford the rest of the way with a mix of fastballs, curves and change ups.

“Cobban was just unbelievable,” Walsh said. “He completely shut them down by hitting his spots and keeping the ball down for the most part. He was simply outstanding.”

In spite of Cobban’s heroics on the mound, the Eagles were clinging to life support, down by a run with two out and no one on in the seventh inning. But good teams always seem to find way to come through and BC High (6-1) did just that.

Chelmsford pitcher Andrew Knightly, getting his first start of the year on the hill, was equally impressive. The senior limited the Eagles to a solo run on just two hits through his first six innings of work.

But in the seventh things changed dramatically. BC High senior Tommy Landry led off the frame by singling to left. Walsh had Nick Valicenti pinch-run for Landry. Valicenti advanced to second on a ground out and, following a botched pickoff attempt, took off for third. Lions centerfielder Tommy Bishop made a perfect throw to third baseman Conor Barry, who appeared to apply the tag on Valicenti just before the junior reached base. However, umpires called Valicenti safe.

Still in control, Knightly induced Sean Webster to pop out on the infield for the second out. Hoping for a miracle, Walsh opted to send out junior Andrew Jaehnig from the bench to pinch hit. The strategy worked to perfection as Jaehnig drove a Knightly outside fastball to right for a single to score Valicenti and even things at 2-2.

Knightly recorded the next out to avoid any further damage. But after Chelmsford failed to score in the bottom of the frame, Knightly, showing signs of fatigue, came out for the eighth and promptly issued a walk to No. 9 batter Nick Petchell. Lions head coach Mike O’Keefe made the decision to bring relief pitcher Joe St. Hilaire in.

“Andrew pitched a fabulous game for us today,” said O’Keefe, his team dropping to 5-3. “He’s a true pitcher who uses all of his pitches and changes speeds. He’s not an overly intimidating presence on the mound but once you get up to the plate you realize how quick he is. He never beats himself. Every time he pitches he gives you a battle. After today he deserves to get some more starts for us. I’m very proud of the performance he gave us.”

After Petchell was thrown out at second on a steal attempt, Hilaire surrendered a double to Dan Dougherty. But the senior managed to escape further trouble by and got out of the inning unscathed.

In the top of the ninth, however, he wasn’t as fortunate. Hilaire set down the Eagles’ first two batters with ease before Jaehnig singled to keep the inning alive. Luke Catarius followed with a long double to left plating Jaehnig and give the Eagles a 3-2 advantage. Billy Mitchell, pinch-running for Catarius, would later came around to score on Dougherty’s ground single to right.

“After our loss to St. John’s Prep on Wednesday it took us a while to get our act in gear," said Walsh. “Their pitcher did a very nice job keeping us off-balanced. It was getting somewhat frustrating but we were able to hang in there. Besides Cobban, Jaehnig was also unbelievable today. His hit ties it for us and later on he scores the winning run."

In the bottom of the inning, Cobban allowed a lead off walk before punching out the next three Lions batters to earn the victory.

Ryan Tufts put BC High ahead 1-0 in the first after stroking a Knightly fastball over the left field wall. But Chelmsford knotted things in the bottom of the inning courtesy of an opposite field RBI single from Mike Rosa. The Lions would take the lead in the third. Mike DeDonato tripled and scored moments later after Eagles left fielder Mike Roberts failed to corral Russell Olive’s hard liner.

“Give BC High credit,” O’Keefe said. “They’re a very good team and very well-coached. We hung with them to the end but it just didn’t work our way today. BC High will be in contention throughout the year but I truly believe we proved that we can play with them.”

BOSTON -- ESPN Boston videographer Greg Story caught up with Oakland Athletics first baseman and Wellesley native Nate Freiman, before Wednesday afternoon's rubber match with the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Freiman was Massachusetts' Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior at Wellesley High in 2005 and went on to a decorated career at Duke University, becoming the school's all-time leader in home runs and leading the team in homers, batting average and RBI for three straight seasons. He was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the eighth round of the 2009 MLB Draft, and after four seasons in their system was claimed by the Houston Astros in the Rule 5 Draft last December. On March 22, Freiman was claimed off waivers by the A's, and made his Major League debut on April 3.

St. John's Prep hockey junior forward Jack McCarthy announced his verbal commitment to Brown University Thursday afternoon via his Twitter account.

McCarthy, who posted 10 goals (tied for second) for 16 points in 24 games for the Catholic Conference champion Eagles, becomes the second Prep skater this academic year to give a commitment to Bears, joining fellow junior forward Tyler Bird.

"Committed to Brown University. Thanks to everyone who helped me over the years!" McCarthy wrote in his Tweet, announcing his decision.

It is unknown which year McCarthy, a Wakefield resident, will join the Bears.

CONCORD, Mass. -- Acton-Boxborough lacrosse trailed by four goals with less than six minutes to play in Thursday’s Dual County League rivalry game against Concord-Carlisle.

The Colonials attack was snuffed out for the great parts of three quarters before breaking off a string of three goals within a minute and nine second to get themselves within a goal. A-B parlayed the momentum into the game-tying goal, scored by T.J. Kelly with 2:34 remaining in regulation. After playing through one overtime period, Scott Rogers (2G, 1 A) made it a happy bus ride home, scoring the game-winner at the 3:14 mark of overtime No. 2.

As for the sudden change in the Colonials’ attack? A-B head coach Pat Ammendolia swears he had nothing to do with it.

“This is word for word,” Ammendolia said, emphatically gesturing with his hands. “I told them that I’m not good enough a coach to get them out of it [the deficit]. Fact, that’s verbatim.”

There was no magic wand that cured all of the Colonials’ ill from the first half. Instead, A-B (9-1) began doing the little things. The decided ground ball advantage the Patriots (5-5) enjoyed in the first half diminished in the fourth. Colonials face-off extraordinaire Joe Cormier won draws – directly or indirectly – setting up their string of three-straight goals from 5:16 to 4:07.

And then, there was the matter of patience on the attack.

“All season, we’ve been averaging pretty high in terms of scoring,” Rogers said. “We were shut down pretty much the whole game and we kept forcing plays, trying to do everything ourselves. We just needed to play as a team and move the ball around, dodge, throw it back, re-dodge.”

MASTER OF THE X
Cormier had as big a hand as any in the Colonials’ comeback with a key stretch of five straight face-off wins in the fourth quarter. It’s a performance that Ammendolia has come to expect.

“He’s excellent,” he said of Cormier. “He was great for us again today. He’s guy that we can count on and usually that’s at 75-, 80-percent [won faceoffs] each game. He’s meticulous and he’s really technical.

“But he’s a hell of a complete player, not just a face-off guy.”

PLAYING TO PACE
C-C did its best to control the pace of the game throughout the first half. Although the Colonials attack didn’t do themselves any favors at times, the Patriots pressed the issue and won nearly every ground ball that was to be had behind long-stick midfielder Nick Brozowski, who scooped up five ground balls in the first half alone.

Cognizant of C-C’s willingness to grind down a high-flying A-B attack, which had scored 102 goals in nine games entering Thursday’s action, the Colonials sought to respond with a bit of the same.

“They like to hold the ball on offense,” Rogers said of C-C. “So we wanted to counter and get it the offensive zone and hold it. Again, we really weren’t doing that. We were forcing plays, taking shots that weren’t there.”

TAUNTON, Mass. -- It's a luxury for high school teams to have a burly, overpowering, Division 1-bound ace the top of the pitching rotation, an intimidator who can take on a big workload and quiet the opposition's bats on days when one's own aren't working.

To have two of them? That's an extravagance.

One day after 6-foot-5, 240-pound Niagara-bound lefty Mac Curran went the distance in a win over Bishop Stang, the Warriors turned to senior Donny May, a 6-foot-3, 235-pound righty bound for Fordham, in their tussle with unbeaten Bishop Feehan. May went the distance, striking out seven, as they beat the visiting Shamrocks 3-1 at Hopewell Park to claim first place outright in the Eastern Athletic Conference.

Along with the seven K's, May allowed four hits, walked none and allowed one earned run. But perhaps most impressive was the fact he needed just 76 pitches to do it.

"My fastball was up there, everything was pretty much in synch," May said. "Feehan's a great team, I knew had to come here and compete. Especially having a great trainer here at school, getting me stretched out and loose really helps, loosening up the arm, getting going. Today everything was stemming off my fastball. When I can do that, game over."

Coyle (8-1, 3-0) spotted May three runs in the first two innings to give him some room to work with.

In the bottom of the first, with two outs senior catcher Ryan Kowalski reached first safely on a throwing error, setting up Curran for the longest hit of the day. Facing a 1-2 count, Curran blasted Teddy O'Heir's fastball deep to the right-centerfield gap, the ball one-hopping off the fence for a stand-up RBI double.

"I figured he'd throw me a curveball, because I got fooled on that, but he threw me a fastball down the dish," Curran said. "It was literally right down the middle, so I took it and hit it. I came off my front foot a little bit, but I still got a good piece...I looked up and said, 'I gotta go, I gotta start running'."

Coyle plated two more runs in the second for a 3-0 lead. First, senior third baseman Hunter Klugh drew a walk with the bases loaded to send home Cam Dorsey, with one out. In the next at bat, senior centerfielder Robby Robinson hit into a 4-3 putout at first base to score Alec Turner on a sacrifice.

Feehan (7-1, 1-1) got one back in the next stanza on a one-out RBI single from Alex Perry. But they were unable to muster another hit the rest of the way, going down 1-2-3 the final four innings -- including three straight flyouts to Robinson in center in the top of the seventh to end the game.

"We always circle [this game]," Warriors coach Ken Lalli said when asked about the magnitude of this win. "One of us is probably going to win the league, but we always circle these. Feehan is our rivalry, so this is always a big game."

Little Laboring for May: Two factors continually contribute to days like today for May, where he needed just the 76 pitches to go the distance.

For one, May demonstrates surgery with his pitch sequences in at bats. His fastball has been clocked as high as 88 miles per hour so far this spring, and has movement that cuts inside on right-handed hitters. Mixing that in with a slider that moves hard in the opposite direction made for many a quick at-bat this afternoon.

"Donny's one of the smartest pitchers I've ever had the privilege of working with, because he understands about pitch efficiency," Lalli said. "He doesn't waste any pitches at all. Every pitch has a purpose, and that's why he's able to go the whole game all the time at only, like, 76 pitches."

The other major contributing factor is the speed with which he works. At 235 pounds, his legs can carry him deep into games -- "I honestly felt like I could go another three innings today," he quipped -- but he doesn't waste a lot of time on the mound getting ready for the next pitch. Think more Mark Buehrle, less Josh Beckett.

"He likes to get the ball and work," Lalli said. "Sometimes we've got to slow him down a little bit, but he just wants to get it done. He knows what he has to do, he's got a job to do, and he goes right at it. There's no messing around.

"He has great composure, so if the umpire calls it a ball it doesn't affect him. He's already thinking about the next pitch, where most guys would take their time and walk around. Great composure out there."

AGAWAM, Mass. -- There are many adjectives you could attach to Reilly Weiners: fierce and competitor are a few that quickly come to mind.

A senior catcher at Agawam High School, Weiners is considered by many to be the best at her position in the state, let alone New England.

The Brownies are a perennial state softball power and Weiners is a big reason why. Last year, she batted .531 with 32 RBI in 77 plate appearances, helping guide Agawam to the Division 1 Western Mass. title before falling in the state semifinal to pitcher extraordinaire Shannon Smith and the Milford Scarlet Hawks, who went on to capture the state crown.

Weiners says the bitter taste of that defeat still remains and will only disperse should the Brownies get back to the state championship round and a possible rematch with Milford.

“I think talent-wise we are a better team than we were last year,” said Weiners. “We were thrilled to win Western Mass. last year because that is always one of our goals. But we want to go beyond that. I’d love to get back to the states and face Shannon Smith again. As a team we think about it all the time and it is definitely something that drives us.”

With Weiners orchestrating the leadership among this club, a second meeting with the Scarlet Hawks (albeit it would be in the state final this year now that Milford has now moved to Eastern Mass.) remains a possibility. Presently sitting at 4-3, the Brownies still have some work to do in the hotly-contested Valley League.

Few catchers are able to master their position the way Wieners has. Not only is she exceptional defensively, whether it be blocking balls in the dirt or throwing out would-be base runners, but also has the high IQ to control a game. Earning the trust of her head coach Kathy Georgina, Wieners has been handed the responsibility to be the coach on the field. Quite often you will find her moving her defensive mates around the infield in preparation against a particular opposing batter or lining up players up on cutoffs and relays. Offensively, she is a natural contact hitter with power.

“She really is amazing,” said Georgina, now in her 11th season at the helm, and a star in her own right at Springfield College. “I’ve known Reilly since kindergarten and watching her throw a ball as a first-grader in my physical education classes, I knew then she would be a good one someday. She is very sound technically. It is a blessing for me to have a player like her on this team. She knows the game inside and out and is one of the best high school players I have ever seen. It is also a luxury to have a catcher who can run the team on the field the way she does.”

Of all the things Wieners has accomplished on the field, perhaps the biggest, and most-difficult, one took place off of it. Admitting she was not pleased with her physical stature a year ago, Weiners was determined to do something about it. Her struggles with obesity, she believed, was limiting her abilities as an athlete. Once the high school season was over last June, Weiners adopted a daily ritual of distance running, weight lifting, cardio-vascular drills and maintaining a healthy diet. The end result was her shedding more than 80 pounds over the fall and winter.

“I felt good hitting last season but I just didn’t feel I was able to give 100 percent of my physical self everyday,” Weiners said. “After last season I started to work out hard every day. I think what I have done and still doing is only going to make me better. I am one who wants to get better at something each and every day. I feel like I have proven to myself and those who had doubted me wrong. I feed off of that every single day.”

Weiners admits she wasn’t proud in having difficulty taking part in team conditioning drills. On numerous occasions she was unable to finish jogging laps or run wind sprints, often finding herself short of breath. Realizing she would be going into her senior year as a team captain and leader, Wieners knew her lifestyle and eating habits had to change immediately. Now, with the excess weight gone, Weiners says she feels like a completely different person.

“I go out now and lead both physically and mentally and it feels great,” she said. “I feel I get a lot more out of the practices now than I ever did before. I can do all the conditioning drills without any problems. I feel a lot better about myself. I enjoy being out here playing and having fun instead of struggling just trying to get through it like I did in the past. [My weight] really held me back. Now I am a lot more excited to come out here every day and show that I have been working very hard with my conditioning and it is starting to pay off for me.”

From a softball perspective, because she is such an imposing force at the plate, Georgina says some opposing teams have already decided to pitch around her, which, in turn, has limited her production at the plate up to this point. Teams seem complacent to put her on base rather than feel her wrath with the bat. But sooner or later teams will have to pitch to her and take their chances.

With five new faces on the Brownies roster this season, Weiners, along with the other returning players, are making a point to remind all of them what the Brownies mission is for this year.

“We relay a message to them all the time about the hunger all of us returning players have to get back [to the state tournament],” she said. “We want to make sure they understand that. It sucked losing 13-0 to Milford last year and we want to be the team that beats them this year. We have great team bonding sessions here and we talk about that goal all the time.”

While Weiners has been nothing short of spectacular during her time at Agawam, freshman pitcher Allison Wheeler has also begun to open up some eyes. Sporting a blazing fastball, to go along with a baffling change-up and curve, Wheeler says having a veteran player the likes of Weiners as her battery mate has made her transition to the varsity level much smoother.

“I feel so comfortable pitching to Rielly,” Wheeler said. “As a freshman playing on varsity, I am so lucky to have a catcher like her behind the plate. She has helped me out in so many ways and keeps me calm when I get into tight situations. I feel it is a real honor for me to be pitching to her. Our relationship is very good and I think it will only get stronger moving forward. She is the best catcher that has ever caught for me and probably will be the best that I will ever pitch to.”

There is no arguing the fact that Wieners is a Division 1 college talent. Enough so that she was heavily recruited by a number of quality programs, including national powers Tennessee and UMass-Amherst. An honors student, Wieners has remained true in her beliefs that academics holds a higher importance than softball. That being said, she has committed to attend and play for Wesleyan University next season, majoring in English/Journalism.

“Reilly has made it clear from the beginning that she wanted to go to a college that had her major and also had a solid academic reputation,” Georgina said. “She didn’t want to somewhere to just play softball. Wesleyan had everything she was looking for and I think is a perfect fit for her.”

Weiners is the latest in a line of outstanding catchers who have played here. In the early 2000s, Teresa Bonavita was a much-heralded backstop who went on to star at AIC and later Temple University. Amy Mantha followed Bonavita and carved her own notch at Agawam before moving on to a successful career at Post University. Says Wieners, both left an indelible mark at Agawam and to her personally. Having grown up watching Bonavita and Mantha only heightened her desire to follow admirably in their footsteps. Another inspiration came from her father, Don. Also a catcher in baseball, Weiners says she would watch her father play in a local 30-and-older league and quickly noticed the style in which he played and started taking mental notes.

“You could say playing catcher is sort of in my blood,” laughs Weiners. “I used to watch his games and he was very assertive behind the plate. He would take control of a game as catcher and I guess I picked up that trait from him.”

Weiners says her biggest fan is her mother, Dion Berte, who regularly attends Agawam’s games, cheering both her daughter and the Brownies on.

“My mother is truly amazing,” Weiners said with a smile. “She doesn’t know a lot about the game but is here all the time rooting us on. To be totally honest I don’t think I would have been able to do any of this without her and her support. She is so awesome.”

And in turn, Agawam would not be in the position it is in without her.

DUXBURY, Mass. -- Despite enormous turnover on the roster that left coach Chris Sweet with mostly first-year starters, the on-field product seems to indicate that members of the Duxbury lacrosse team must be acing their chemistry tests.

Both offensively and defensively, the Dragons showed tremendous cohesion and seemed to have a knack for anticipating where teammates would be despite having just half a season to get used to playing with one another.

That chemistry was certainly evident on the attack where senior C.J. LoConte and sophomore Mickey Fitzpatrick often set each other up, each finishing with three goals and two assists to lead top-ranked Duxbury to a 13-5 victory over nonleague rival Billerica at Calabrese Stadium Wednesday night.

Brendan Burke and Nick Sisioan each added a pair of goals for the Dragons (7-3), while Jeff Trainor paced the Indians (6-3) with two goals and an assist.

"It's definitely been a process but I think we're definitely starting to perfect it," LoConte said of the bond developing between himself and Fitzpatrick. "We've been working a lot after practice just feeding each other. We've been working pretty hard all year to perfect this."

That they've been working hard together was evident in the first quarter as LoConte scored twice, both with assists from Fitzpatrick, and the senior returned the favor by assisting on Fitzpatrick's tally as the Dragons built a 3-1 lead.

Fitzpatrick would add his second in transition and Burke scored off a turnover to push the Duxbury lead to 5-1 before Kyle Leclair stopped the bleeding for Billerica.

Duxbury junior Trevor O'Brien slowed any hopes of the Indians gaining momentum, athletically dodging his way through three Indians defenders to make it a 6-2 game. Freshman Drew Laundry scored a transition goal for Billerica and the Dragons closed the half on a score from Sisioan.

Despite strong efforts from faceoff man Kevin Farrell and goalie D.J. Smith (seven first-half saves), it was all Duxbury in the second half. LoConte (from Fitzpatrick), Bobby O'Brien and Burke all cashed in during the third, and Fitzpatrick (from LoConte) Hunter Marston and Sisioan buried chances in the fourth.

The Dragons formula was simple: once they got the ball, they didn't do anything to hurt themselves while relying on a terrific ride to force Billerica into making errors that they were able to exploit.

"We were patient with the ball," Sweet explained. "We did a great job of valuing possession and didn't mistakes by throwing the ball away and that's huge. Just be patient and let the other team make the mistakes and then capitalize on them."

Added Indians coach Craig Flynn, "I don't know if it was their ride or if we were just dropping balls. We were just throwing the ball away and giving them the ball right back." We had a tough time winning the faceoffs at first. Kevin was beating them on the initial faceoff but on the loose ball fight, we were losing the ball on that. D.J. [Smith] played great in that first quarter. We just didn't help him enough defensively."