On April 1, 2022, Morbius was released in theaters. I got to watch the film on opening night with a couple of friends. I figured I would review it, and give my thoughts on the film. While Morbius has been doing decently financially, making about $84 million on its opening weekend, it has been doing very poor critically. Only having a 16% on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 5.2/10 on IMDb. Going into this movie, I was expecting a bad, but at least very entertaining film. I quite liked both Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage, when it came to Sony’s other Spider-Man villain movies, so I was hoping for at least the same thing: A film that’s bad, but still a lot of fun.
I didn’t even get that. It was worse than I expected it to be.
Now first up, the story and writing. It was really bad on both ends. It wasn’t even a bad story with at least funny dialogue. To me, the story was very generic and predictable. It’s a narrative that I’ve seen countless times and I predicted almost everything to happen in it. The pacing and editing are also all over the place. It moves either too quickly or drags a bit, and there are even some scenes that felt awkward in terms of placement. Not even the comedy was all that funny in my opinion. Going back to the past two Venom movies, I thought both had quite funny moments and ended up making the experience more enjoyable for me. I don’t know what it was, but the comedy just didn’t work for me here sadly.
How is the film in the action department? Not good in the slightest. It feels so obstructed, and the camera shakes so much and is extremely difficult to see. More specifically the final battle is what I am referring to. The other fights are not great, as they have similar problems, but the final fight is the worst offender of this. I didn’t even know what was going on throughout this fight because of how disorienting it was. Even the action scenes have odd cuts that happen when an interesting moment happens, which causes the scenes to be more disorienting and not feeling as cool as they should.
There are still some positives to say about the film. Despite finding the story generic, I found the concept cool, since Morbius is a cool Marvel character mainly to the fact he’s a vampire. Jared Leto does a very good job as the titular character, and I think some of the visuals look really nice when I can see them. While I didn’t care about this movie, I still found some good things to enjoy about it.
Overall, I really didn’t like this movie. I was still hoping for a bad but very fun film, but it is just really boring. I would say to still go and check it out, however. There may be something that one might see in it that I didn’t, but this is how I felt watching this movie. It’s not the worst comic book movie I’ve seen, but it could’ve been so much more fun.
Pastor Craig and Agnes Mattheson Courtesy Changing Lives Christian Church
Located at 17 Newcomb St. in Haverhill, MA, Changing Lives Christian Church has found multiple ways to help its surrounding community, as well as ways to serve people in communities abroad. Founded by Pastor Craig Mattheson of Methuen, MA, Changing Lives Christian Church has implemented various outreach programs through its ministry over the years, which aim at spreading the message of The Gospel while simultaneously helping those in need.
Changing Lives Christian Church, which is nestled between Town Hall and the Haverhill Public Library, has come to represent a place in the city where one can not only build a relationship with God but also a place where one can receive help, guidance, and support. Mattheson, along with his wife, Agnes, have dedicated their time and energy to create important outreach programs through the church. Changing Lives Christian Church offers a weekly food pantry to the citizens of Haverhill, as well as a donation-based outreach program that raises money for people in Uganda who need food, Bibles, and other necessities. The church also funds and participates in a radio broadcast in Uganda that works at educating a potential audience of 5 million listeners about the Gospel, Jesus Christ, and aims to bring as many of those listeners to salvation as possible.
Changing Lives Christian Church has come a long way over the years, and the wonderful forms of service that it is able to now provide to a vast portion of people is a testament to how much the church has grown since its humble beginnings over 20 years ago. “The church started off in my living room – we only had maybe three or four people when the church had first started,” said Mattheson. “Then the church started to grow and it outgrew the living room, so we started renting a building on the corner of Oakland avenue and Broadway in Methuen. The church outgrew that spot, so then we ended up on 446 Prospect St. We were there for 18 years.”
It was at 446 Prospect St in Methuen when Changing Lives Christian Church began running a weekly food pantry. The idea for a food pantry was suggested by a church member, and the church has been running one ever since, even after having to find a new place to run the church after an unexpected fire destroyed the Prospect Street location. “The building unfortunately in the middle of the night burned down. That was God telling us we needed to get another place. That’s why we’re here now at 17 Newcomb Street,” said Mattheson, with no sense of regret or defeat in his voice.
Since being in Haverhill, Changing Lives Christian Church has cemented itself in the community landscape of the city, and has continued to offer its food pantry services to anyone in need. The food pantry, which is open to the public every Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., aims to provide people with various canned and boxed goods, among other non-perishable necessities. No identification or documentation is needed for anyone who is in the Haverhill area that wants to attend the food pantry at Changing Lives Christian Church. All that is required for anyone seeking food is that they provide their first name. Haverhill has a large homeless population, which Changing Lives Christian Church is happy to try and accommodate. “There are a lot of homeless people in Haverhill,” said Mattheson, “and they count on the food pantrys, so its a real blessing for us to reach out and say ‘Hey, we’ve got some good stuff for you here.”
Changing Lives Christian Church in Haverhill. Courtesy of Changing Lives Christian Chur
The service doesn’t stop there – Changing Lives Christian Church has set up a ministry outreach program through the church that raises money for people in Uganda who are low on resources, like food, and don’t have access to Biblical literature or other Christian resources. A locked donation box is located within the lobby of Changing Lives Christian Church where money can be dropped in order to provide these things. Every cent raised by the church goes to the ministry’s affiliates in Uganda, where it is spent on food, water, Bibles, and other things the people need. Many of those who the money goes to are starving children who do what they have to in order to survive.
“There’s actually, 7, 8, 9 10, 15 year olds that are on the street and have no parents or anywhere to go. These people look through dumpsters for food. We feel really bad.” said Mattheson. “We’ve given them money in order to buy food and to feed these kids as well. It’s working out great, so we thank God for that.” Changing Lives Christian Church sends every penny raised in donations straight to Uganda – the church keeps nothing. “We don’t take anything out for costs or expenses. Everything 100% goes to them.” said Mattheson.
The Uganda outreach ministry at Changing Lives Christian Church isn’t the only tie to Uganda that the church has. After learning how to live stream its worship services as a response to the drop in church attendance during the March 2020 COVID-19 lock downs, Mattheson ended up connecting with a live stream viewer who had a special proposition for him. The viewer, from Uganda, messaged Mattheson after a live streamed Sunday worship service. The viewer had a faith centered radio program that they wanted him to teach on. The radio station, known as Grace Radio 92.6 FM in Uganda, reaches the potential of 5 million listeners in the Uganda area.
Mattheson agreed to do a virtual teaching online for the broadcast, where listeners got to hear the pastor teach about Jesus Christ, salvation, and the Gospel. “I do a teaching for the first half hour. The second half hour, the people call the station live, and they give us prayer requests.” said Mattheson. “People were calling in saying, ‘I’ve accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior!’ The testimonies are unbelievable.”
Such testimonies were recorded by Grace 92.6 FM and sent to Changing Lives Christian Church, and they show how effective Mattheson’s preaching the Word of God was to the people in Uganda. After a September 2021 broadcast with Mattheson, 3,000 phone calls and SMS messages were dialed and sent in to the radio station declaring salvation and acceptance of Jesus as their Lord and Savior. One listener in Uganda, named Tom, wrote in to Grace FM to share how he was moved by Mattheson’s preaching. Tom testified that “the preaching has been an inspiration for him. He feels he doesn’t get enough of listening to them. He believes the Lord has visited his home.”
Another listener in Uganda, a Pastor Tumwiine, wrote into Grace FM to share how he was moved by Changing Lives Christian Church’s broadcast. Tumwiine said that the radio program was “an answered prayer. He bought a big radio and placed it in his church compound for the people to listen, and the Christians doubled and he bought more chairs to accomdoate all the people.”
The radio broadcast got such a good response that the station asked Mattheson to return the next month, and the month after that. Gladly, the pastor obliged. Soon after, however, the radio program told Changing Lives Christian Church that they couldn’t afford to continue to broadcast. “They contacted me and said, ‘We got some bad news – it costs $120 to be on the radio for one hour and we can’t finance it.” shared Mattheson. This is when Changing Lives Christian Church decided to help sustain the radio broadcast in Uganda by volunteering to finance all future broadcasts for Grace 92.6 FM.
“We said we’d pay that $120 dollars in order for this thing to keep on happening. And that’s what we’ve been doing,” said Mattheson.
The church continues to think of other new ways to bring the local community of Haverhill into the church, to build fellowship and a sense of togetherness. One Saturday each month at 6pm, Changing Lives Christian Church hosts a free movie night with free refreshments. A Christian themed movie is played on a large projector screen in the church, and it is open to the public. “Our movie night is bringing a lot of people in from Christian singles groups and other churches, so everybody can get together and have a really good night of fun with a really good evangelistic movie in a really good environment.” said Mattheson.
Changing Lives Christian Church holds worship services every Sunday morning at 11a.m., as well as a Bible Study group every Wednesday night at 7 p.m. There is also a prayer meeting every Thursday morning at 7:30 a.m. Changing Lives Christian Church encourages anyone seeking to grow in their faith to go out to the church and take part in the many services they offer to the public.
It is this dedicated commitment to bettering the community of Haverhill and the community abroad that truly shows how public service, and ultimately service to God, is at the heart of what the church does. “Jesus told us to preach the gospel to every creature,” said Mattheson. “He says ‘Go make disciples, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them what I’ve taught you’…Go doesn’t mean to stay.” And that is just what Changing Lives Christian Church has done.
For Dan Blair, who serves as the Northern Essex Athletic director, there is no offseason, he has a hand in every sport and sporting activity at NECC (Northern Essex Community College). Blair is entering his fifth school year as of 2021-2022 as our school Athletic director. Daily tasks for Blair include scheduling practices and officials for games, overseeing all facilities and communicating with other Athletic directors from different regions.
Before arriving at Northern Essex in 2018, Blair was employed for ten years at Franklin Pierce University located in Rindge, NH serving in various roles. He began as the university’s NCAA compliance coordinator in 2007. In February of 2009 he was promoted to Assistant Athletic director. In Early 2015 he rose to the position of Associate director of the athletics. During this time, he supervised all the Franklin Pierce’s sports activities over his final two and a half years at the university. Then Blair departed from Franklin Pierce University to join Northern Essex in the fall of 2017.
Blair successfully led the sports program throughout the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. Northern Essex was among one of just two schools in the region able to play.“Being the only community college in Massachusetts and one of only three in New England to play last year, we became a model for how to run the athletic program through COVID for other schools in the region to follow” Blair said.
During Blair’s tenure the sports department has thrived. The baseball team is considered among the best in the country. In Blair’s inaugural year at Northern Essex the baseball team claimed an XXI region championship and later achieving a District F win which advanced them to the college world series in Nashville, TN. The volleyball team has also claimed a pair of region XXI championships. In the 2019-2020 season Men’s Soccer and Women’s basketball teams made a return to Northern Essex and for the first time esports appeared at NECC.
The number of students participating in the athletic program have risen exponentially. “we’ve grown from 43 student athletes to about 150 and we have over 200 enrolled students interested in the program each year.” Despite a top-notch sports program, the aspect he is most proud of is “seeing the students succeed both in the classroom and athletics.”
Blair graduated from Bridgewater state university in 2006 earning a degree in Psychology and special education. Then he went on to Franklin Pierce University where he received his master’s degree in sports facility management. Over Blair’s time at Bridgewater state, he took part in the school’s track & field and cross-country teams for four years while he was a student. He also spent a single year coaching the track and field team at Bridgewater.
Blair lives in Newburyport, MA with his wife Amy, as well as his two daughters, Kennedy, and Mackenzie. Outside of NECC he enjoys golfing, traveling with his family and doing yard work
The on-going conflict between Ukraine and Russia has been well-documented by several high-profile media outlets. Many Americans feel compelled to share their disapproval of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and stand in solidarity with Ukraine from afar.
Local college students share their perspective on the war and elaborate on their understanding of the conflict occurring abroad.
Nicole Smith Discusses her feelings and understanding of what’s happening overseas.
“It’s awful. I don’t watch the media often. I get bits and pieces and what I hear from it is upsetting. I do know that innocent people are suffering.”
Smith goes on to explain that she’d need more information before determining the best course of action in terms of finding a solution to this conflict.
“The situation is extremely complex. I would have to research further and contemplate possible solutions and outcomes.”
Another local student, studying Biotechnology, Sarita Sanchez, shares a similar sentiment to Smith in regard to understanding the gravity of the war in Ukraine.
“I don’t think there is a thorough understanding- one it’s dangerous to be in Russia and Ukraine for reporters to fully describe what is happening and two I think it’s hard to wrap our minds around why anyone would entice violence like this on innocent people.”
Despite Sanchez’s mention of the barriers and challenges reporters abroad may face when getting news to United States citizens, she shares some possible tactics to resolve this conflict.
“Overall, some solutions might involve: eliminating nuclear weapons, preventing the practice that one leader can be in office for so many years and have the ability to make decisions that directly kill innocent people, regulate military activities, and full support of Ukraine from all countries regardless of political agendas.”
Craig Sullivan, a horticulture major, shares “what the Ukrainian people are suffering at the hands of Putin is unfathomable. I can’t imagine living with that fear and uncertainty.”
Sullivan also admits his lack of total understanding regarding the war “I feel I know only the information that’s been given to us through media outlets. I don’t have any first-hand or inside knowledge, but I know that it has been a long-standing conflict between the two countries.”
The general consensus amongst the three college students is that despite there being a lack of understanding of the politics behind the war in Ukraine, what is occurring is deplorable and the people of Ukraine are suffering immensely.
“I’m driven to be constantly improving myself – growing into a better person, a more caring, contributing, productive member of society.” says UMass Lowell’s Graduate Programs Advisor and psychology and philosophy professor here at NECC, Elizabeth Casanave, who has long been fascinated with the mind and life’s large ideas.
Casanave received her bachelor’s degree from Principia College in Elsa, Illinois and went on to accept her master’s degree, which combines the areas of psychology, philosophy and education, from UMass Boston. She is currently working on obtaining her Ph.D. at UMass Lowell.
She says “I’m working on my Ph.D. and my research is focused on integrating diverse perspectives of self-knowledge into the higher ed. classroom to improve social and emotional well-being.”
From rural Arkadelphia, Arkansas, young and inquisitive Casanave grew up with memorable childhood friends, a love for animals and many talents. She sang in the school choir, swam on the swim team for 18 years and was even editor of her highschool newspaper.
She says “I had very supportive parents who always encouraged me to learn, grow, do my best but they never made me feel pressured or anxious.” Now with a family of her own, she is most proud of raising her two boys.
Casanave enjoys the outdoors, anywhere from walking and gardening to swimming and hiking. She’s also fond of reading and her dog. She’s also passionate about learning and her teaching and strives to increase her patience both in and out of the classroom. She stands for civil rights and abhor’s narrow-mindedness, greed, arrogance, prejudice, violence, and discrimination.
Casanave says “I think a lot about what gives life meaning, about reality versus perception, about what it means to be a good person, about how best to support the people I love, and what it means to be a good friend. I think about how to improve my courses, help students social and emotional learning and critical thinking skills, and support student success. I think about how we can make the world a more equitable place, better protect the environment, and improve animal rights.”
NECC’s eighth annual Speechapalooza event is Thursday, April 21 from 1-2:30 p.m. in Lecture Hall A in the Spurk (C) building. Hosted by NECC Public Relations students, Speechapalooza was created in the hopes of bringing back the sense of community so many of us have lost because of the pandemic.
As a student in a Public Relations course this semester, I have gotten a behind-the-scenes look into what goes into making those events — the ones we always see in our weekly newsletters—come to life. From press releases and venue booking, to flyers and mass-texts, I have come to learn that planning an event is no easy act. Add on the pressure of this being the first in-person Speechapalooza in two years, and you’ll understand the chaos that has been this planning process.
Throughout this process, we as a class have worked through our beginner confusion, as well as our mid-semester stress to create a solid plan for Speechapalooza. One of these fellow classmates, Leiliana Igartua, a NECC journalism major, has always been the person to plan family events and keep everyone on track.
When her Public Relations class began the process of planning this year’s Speechapalooza, Igartua knew her organizational and planning skills would be put to good use; she was given the title of PR Director.
As PR Director of Speechapalooza, Igartua was responsible for overseeing all communication with others on the team as well as participants and advisors. She also played an integral role in the creation of flyers and other promotional tactics.
This event acts as many of our first involvement in a professional event, and with this comes responsibilities and chaos. “It’s nerve-wracking,” Igartua shares, though she finds comfort in being part of a team.
“I enjoy working as a team with my fellow classmates” said Igartua. “If I ever came across a challenge, all I had to do is send them an email and we all get to work to fix it.”
This year’s Speechapalooza planning has been quite the contrast from the past two years; the pandemic had once again changed the trajectory of an event, which has been around for nearly a decade. Igartua shares that one of the best parts of this process has been sharing the same space with classmates. “From seeing the venue we will host this event in, to brainstorming in class, we are definitely creating some fun memories together in our classroom!”
Though the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 put a damper on in-person events like this one, we are more than excited to share a space with our fellow students and amplify our voices!
NECC Knights Baseball team went to Florida during spring break.
They played 11 games and went 9-2 including going undefeated the first five games.
This was their best start since the 2015 season.
Coach Jeff Mejia told his players “We worked really hard when it’s game day when we’re playing games relaxed and let yourself play you’re best don’t get too high don’t get too low battle no matter the situation cause you always going to face adversity during baseball season, it’s a long marathon…” he said.
During the trip Coach Mejia told me that Matos Richard de la Cruz of Boston and Logan Burilli of Amesbury got hurt.
“Both of them we lost due to injury during Florida looks like Richard is going to be back in another week which it is great and it’s a good possibility we pick Logan back up before playoff run it is always hard when you lose a player we have another player that he is hurt because he is sick…” Mejia said.
de la Cruz has an injured wrist, Mejia said.
Logan’s injury was diagnosed with a clean break of forearm that they casted in his due to take the cast off the first week of April which it will give him a month to rehab before the playoff,” he said.
Lucas Berube during the trip in Florida he was hitting 2 of his last 23.
Coach Mejia and his coaching staff are not worried in his recent struggles because they feel confidence he will turned around. “… He probably had seven line drive right at guys in the first few games of the season so that happens Lucas got he deals with failure very well and he understand baseball what his done defensively behind the plate makes it valuable as any player we have in the team and his hitting it’s going to come I am not to concern about it,” Mejia said.
He also said “We played solid defensive our pitching was really good and you always can get better you never get perfect in baseball…”
On March 15 NECC Athletic Director Dan Blair was named National Association of Collegiate Athetic Director of the year.
They only give that award to one person of each division of each athletic department.
This school year the women’s volleyball and the men’s basketball team went to the region 21, but finals eventually they lost.
“It is a nice honor to received honestly I think it’s an award for the whole college with the administration support, student, coaches, faculty and staff, none of it would’ve been all possible so the college provides everything the students and coaches I’m just guiding the ship,” Blair said.
He never thought off winning this award.
“I’m pleased to be recognized with the other winners across all seven divisions and to be recognized with some of the folks of Division 1 at NCAA 4 year level. It is great and you know I look forward whenever the award presentation is out in June I’m looking forward to go to the convention again its going to be my first time since 2019 in person, when we had it in person so just to see people again to it is exciting,” he said.
One of his first people he told when he won the award was his wife “I think the president’s office found out before I did, the first award. I think first person that I told was my wife and I’ll tell her other people… she told some people and then some other athletic director in the league they got the public announcement the same time I did they reach out to me as well…” he said.
I asked Dan Blair if he is comfortable where he is at right know in the Athletics Department.
“ I don’t think I am speaking to myself, I think I am speaking small college athletic director all around New England and all around the country honestly we need more female student athletes,” he said.
“We’re always trying new things to get them, we’re heading in the right direction but it can always be better. I wish I can get every women athletic program in the college to be successful and competitive as our volleyball program for women that’s kinda the bench mark for all the women’s program here were making stuff in the right direction…” Blair said.
First pitch for the Knights game 2 of a doubleheader was at 2:50 p.m. on April 2. The Knights were looking for a sweep after winning the first game. The Knights defeated Quinsigamond Community College 16-0.
In the first inning, the Knights’ Kevin Rodriguez of Manchester, N.H., walked. Chris Bear of Boston ground out for the second out. Rodriguez was on second base when Nicholas White of Townsend hit a double that landed in front of the left field. Rodriguez had to move just 90 feet not knowing if the left fielder would catch it or not. The Knights had a runner in scoring position with one out when Jared Coppola of Lynn hit a deep fly ball between right center field on the warning track that scored Rodriguez from third. Joseph Settle of Melbourne, Fla., hit an RBI double. Richard Matos De La Cruz of Boston hit a groundball to short for the third out of the inning.
The Knights had Todd Tringale of Saugus on the mound. The last time he pitched he threw a no hitter on March 27. Tringale walked Jose Curet of Worcester. He struck out Steven Thomas of Worcester swinging Colin Fitzgerald of Auburn ground out a short roller to the pitcher. Tringale threw it to first in time for the out. Luis Rodriguez of Maynard hit a ground ball to the first baseman for the final out of the inning.
Jarred Coppola of Lynn at the plate with runners in scoring position. Photo by Editor-in-Chief/ Sports Editor Jose Rodriguez
In the second inning Coppola hit a single through left field. Lucas Berube of Dighton got in first on a throwing error by the shortstop. Clay Campbell of Goffstown, N.H., went to third. The Knights had runners in the corners with nobody out when Kyle Hsu of Brookline N.H., hit a double that scored Campbell to make it 3-0 Knights. Rodriguez struck out with runners on second and third. Bear connected for a 2 RBI double to make it 5-0 Knights. White connected with an RBI single to make it 6-0. Coppola was at the plate when White stole second and Coppola struck out looking on a high pitch. Berube hit a fly ball to center field for the third out.
Quinsigamond’s Brandon Hart of Spencer ground out to the shortstop Campbell for the first out of the next inning. Tringale strike out Benjamin Borrero of Worcester looking for the second out of the inning. Tringale then struck out Jordan Molina of Webster.
In the third inning Matos De La Cruz got a base hit. Campbell got hit and stole second. Berube hit the ball under the glove of the third baseman that scored 2 more Knights runs and the Knights were up 8-0. Berube went to third on a wild pitch. Hsu scored the ninth run of the game, he hit a double as Rodriguez was up and he hit a fly ball to first for the first out of the inning. Bear made it 10-0 with a double down the third base line. White hit a 2 run home run to make it 12-0. Coppola got a base hit. Settle hit into a fielders choice. Matos De la Cruz struck out looking for the third out at the top of the 3rd inning.
Quinsigamond’s Mick Sullivan of Dudley bunted on the third base line. Coppola didn’t have a great grip when he was going to pick it up and the runner was safe without a throw as it was a error on the third baseman Coppola. Sullivan stole second. He struck out the next two batters. He issued a walk to Stephen Thomas of Worcester and Colin Fitzgerald of Auburn ground out to Campbell for the final out of the third.
In the fourth inning Campbell was at the plate when he groundout to the shortstop for the first out of the inning. Berube flied out to right and Hsu singled to right field. Rodriguez on the first pitch that he saw hit a double that scored Hsu from first. The Knights were up 13-0 when he hit a ground ball to
shortstop. The shortstop dove to catch the ball but he threw to first wild and the Knights had first and third with 2 out when White scored a 3 run home run to make it 16-0.
“I made a little adjustment between games, fouled, got into my legs more and definitely off the bat I knew it was gone…,” White said after the game.
Coppola flied out to the first baseman to end the inning top of the 4th. Tringale strike out the side.
In the fifth inning Settle hit a line drive to the third baseman for the first out of the inning. Matos De La Cruz doubled off the wall. Campbell hit a groundball to second over the leaping try of the Quinsigamond player and on to right field for a hit. Hsu hit a fly ball to the right field for the third out as.
In the bottom of the fifth, Tringale was on the mound. He was on his way pitching a no hitter in just six days apart from his last start. Tringale struck out Molina. He walked Sullivan and Jeremy Rodriguez of Worcester hit a ground ball to first for the second out of the inning Tringale complete dhis no hitter by Jose Curet of Worcester grounding out to short to end the game.
“Throughout the whole game I had a feeling but my main goal is just to stay on my pitches and execute every pitch,” Tringale said after the game. “I think the biggest thing that been working for me is just trusting my pitches just making sure I hit my spots trusting my catcher when he makes the call and then execute the pitch.
On April 2 the Knights traveled to Worcester for a double header against Qunsigamond Community College.
The first pitch was at 11:55 a.m. The Knights won game 1 of the doubleheader 5-2.
The Knights also won the first game of the series on Friday.
“It is always important to get off to a good start. Whenever you can win game 1 it puts you in a driver’s seat of a series. Certainly it was good to get game 1 in,” Coach Jeff Mejia said.
Steven Thomas of Worcester for Quinsigamond was on the mound. The Knights Nick Panzini of Methuen led off the game with a walk. Chris Bear of Boston ground out for a double play. Nicholas White of Townsend ground out to shortstop. The Knights went quiet in the first.
Knights in action against Quinsigamond Community College Photo by Editor-in-Chief/ Sports Editor Jose Rodriguez
The Knights had Alex Sweeney of Raymond, N.H., on the mound. Jose Curet of Worcester groundout to Clay Campbell of Goffstown, N.H., for the first out of the inning. Neyffi Sanchez of Worcester hit a single to right field. Thomas hit a fly ball to the center fielder Joseph Settle of Melbourne, Fla., for the second out. Sanchez stole second. Colin Fitzgerald of Auburn hit the ball to the opposite field to right field to end the inning. Both teams were scoreless in the first.
In the second inning Jared Coppola of Lynn struck out looking for the first out of the inning. Joseph Settle flew out to center for the second out. Richard Matos De La Cruz of Boston in his first at bat of the game after missing a few games due to an injury hit an opposite field double off the wall on a 3-2 count.
“Great great just having him back let’s see how he feels tomorrow and if he feels good tomorrow he will be hitting BP (batting practice) on Monday and he will be good to go,” Mejia said.
The Knights had runners in scoring position for Campbell flied out to the left fielder for the third out of the inning. Sweeney walked the first two batters and struck out the next two batters. Sweeney escaped out of trouble as Quinsigamond did not score.
In the third inning Luis Colon of Lawrence ground out to the pitcher for the first out of the inning. Kyle Hsu of Brookline hit a double off the wall and the Knights had a runner in scoring position with one out.
A few pitches later Hsu got caught stealing at third. Panzini walked and stole second. Bear was at the plate when there was an error by the shortstop. He didn’t grab the ball cleanly and he saw Panzini was heading home. Panzini stopped and the shortstop threw the ball at third and Panzini was in a run down. He managed to score on a throwing error by the third baseman.
Bear went to third. White hit an RBI single and he stole second while Coppola was at the plate. The left fielder misread the ball because of the sun and White scored from second and Coppola was on second when Settle flied out to the second baseman. The Knights scored 3 runs and they were up 3-0.
Sweeney walked Jose Curet of Worcester. Curet stole second and Sweeney walked Sanchez, leading off the 3rd inning walking the first two batters he faced. Mejia went to the mound to control his pitcher.
Thomas was batting when Sanchez stole second. Quinsigamond had runners in scoring positions on second and third when Sweeney left a pitch up and Thomas hit a single to left that scored two runs. An error by Panzini in left field allowed the bases to be loaded for Quinsigamond. Sweeney struck out Luis
Rodriguez of Maynard swinging. Brandon Hart of Spencer was at the plate when he hit a ground ball to first that Quinsigamond traded an out for a run.
Quinsigamond reloaded the bases when Benjamin Borrero of Worcester walk edand Jordan Molina of Webster struck out and Quinsigamond left the bases loaded. The Knights were up 3-2 heading to the fourth inning.
In the fourth inning Matos De La Cruz struck out looking, Campbell hit an opposite field single in front of the left fielder. The pitcher had really close eyes on Campbell as he was threatening to steal. The Knights had the hit and run. Campbell was going to second while Colon hit a ground ball to the shortstop. The shortstop threw the ball to first for the first out of the inning. A throwing error by the catcher when he throw the ball to third while Campbell was going allowed him to score and the Knights were up 4-2 when Hsu hit a line drive up the middle. Panzini grounded out to first to end the top of the inning.
The Knights had a new pitcher Tristan Ciampa of Wilmington. Ciampa struck out Mick Sullivan of Dudley in three pitches. Curet hit a ground ball to the pitcher. Ciampa under handed threw the ball to first for the second out of the inning. He walked Sanchez and he stole second. Thomas ground out to White for the third out.
In the fifth inning, Bear was at the plate when he hit a line drive to the first baseman for the first out. White doubled between right center field. Coppola flied out to the left fielder for the second out. Settle ground out to third. The third baseman didn’t come up cleanly and everyone was safe. The Knights had runners in the corners when Matos De La Cruz strike out.
When Quinsigamond was up, Firtzgerald struck out. With one out in the inning, Luis Rodriguez was batting. He hit the a ground ball over the leaping Coppola and the ball went to centerfield. Brandon Hart of Spencer walked and Benjamin Borrero of Worcester struck out looking. Ciampa struck out Molina to end the inning.
In the sixth inning Campbell struck out looking. Kevin Rodriguez of Manchester, N.H., was in to pinch hit when he struck out looking Kyle Hsu flied out to the left fielder.
The Knights had a new pitcher to pitch the sixth inning Jack Swarbrick of Haverhill came in to pitch. Sullivan got hit by a pitch Curet bunted with one out in the inning. Sanchez hit a double down the corner and Quinsigamond had runners on second and third. Thomas ground out to the pitcher. Swarbrick checked the runner at third before throwing to first for the second out of the inning. It was a passed ball on the catcher. Berube run to get the ball he throw it to the pitcher and the runner was out at home and Quinsigamond did not score in that inning.
In the seventh inning Panzini was at the plate when he singled the first pitch that he saw. Bear was at the plate when Panzini stole the base. It was a productive out for Bear as he fly out to right field and Panzini taged up to third. White scored the fifth run of the game on the sac fly as the Knights traded an out for a run. Campbell was out on a slow roller on the first base line. The Knights had a 3 run lead and were 3 outs away from a win. Swarbrick was in for his second inning of work. Fitzgerald flied out to left field for the first out. Rodriguez flied out straight to Settle in center field for the second out of the inning. The Knights were one out away from winning game 1. Swarbrick pitched a 1,2,3 inning as the Knights defeated Quinsigamond 5-2.
