Krouse, Powers lead South to Agganis triumph

Jun. 27—LYNN — Donning a blue cap adorned by the white "P" of Peabody High one more time in a meaningful game meant a lot to recent graduate Michael Krouse, who showed off all five of his tools in an MVP effort in the 27th Agganis All-Star baseball game Sunday afternoon at Fraser Field.

Krouse went 4-for-4 at the dish, banging out three singles and clubbing a double. He showed off his speed by stealing four bases and scoring twice, then flashed the leather with a run-saving belly play in the sixth plus two outstanding line drive catches at shortstop — the latter of which was the final out of the South all-stars' 7-5 victory over the North.

"It's a final hurrah and it feels really good play to play one last time for Peabody, and with my teammate," Krouse said, pointing at fellow Tanner and Agganis all-star Justin Powers.

A full-time pitcher, Powers only needed seven pitches to throw a perfect fifth inning with two strikeouts. Hitting cleanup for admittedly the first time since Little League, Powers chipped in with two hits, a run scored and three RBI, which had Krouse tease him that it was about time he knocked some runs home.

"I guess I only RBI in all-star games," Powers quipped. "It was a lot of fun playing out here and a great honor to play in this game."

It was a similar experience in the other dugout, where Swampscott High teammates John Cuttle, Matt Schroeder and Pierce Friedman shared the field with North coach Joe Caponigro and his assistants one last time. Each one made some positive contributions to this annual all-star classic: Friedman (who will pitch at Stonehill) tossed a scoreless seventh; Schroeder struck out the side in the fourth and reached base twice; and Cuttle walked twice and threw one scoreless frame.

"We hated to think the (state) tournament game might be our last time with Coach Cap. We loved being able to play for him one last time," said Schroder, who made a couple of outstanding defensive plays on hops off the Fraser Field turf.

"It's such an honor to play. We had fun and we had a good showing," said Cuttle. "It's even more fun when you're the only kid from your team. To have some of your teammates and even your coaches behind you, plus getting to play with guys we know from other teams, was awesome."

Played in honor of former Red Sox player and North Shore schoolboy legend Harry Agganis, the game features some of the top senior talent from the Greater North Shore area and beyond.

The North had an early 2-0 lead when their MVP, Joey Abt from Triton, doubled and scored on a double by Andover's Tyler Walles. Gloucester's Dan Hafey added an RBI single, but Lynn English pitcher Victor Calderon stopped the bleeding there.

Calderon threw two more frames before four pitchers combined to hold the North to only one hit the rest of the way.

South took the lead right away when Krouse — who will walk on to the defending MASCAC champs at Bridgewater State — led off with a single. English's Ray Contreras beat out an infield single, Powers delivered a bloop RBI single, Northeast's Brody McNair worked a bases loaded walk, and Powers scored on a dropped third strike.

It remained a 3-2 game until the fifth when Krouse again led off with a single. Contreras doubled him home, Greater Boston League MVP Tyler Wilson followed with a hard single, and Powers dropped in a 2-run single to make it 6-3.

Dom Giordano of Lynn Tech had the loudest hit of the day, a solo homer well over the left field fence in the bottom of the sixth. The bomb was one of 11 hits for the South, which had an 11-4 edge over North in that department.

"It was a hot day, so I was surprised there were so many hits. I figured we'd tire out," said Krouse. "I was seeing the pitches today and the ball was coming off the bat pretty well."

Abt (2-for-3) added an RBI single for North, which put the tying run on base in the top of the seventh by taking advantage of three walks and an error. Andover's Evan Brenner had an RBI fielder's choice and Gloucester's Zach Oliver scored on a wild pitch, but English's Contreras stranded the tying run in scoring position with a nasty off-speed offering.

"I think we missed each other, " Friedman said of getting back together with his Big Blue teammates. "It was a team mentality in the dugout, even though it was more low key and more chill. We had a lot of fun today."