Peabody eyes series of improvements

The Peabody manager gathered his team for a fairly intense practice a little before 10 a.m. yesterday at one of the practice fields down the hill from Lamade Stadium.

For the next two hours, they worked almost exclusively on defensive fundamentals - one of the glaring problems in their 10-1 loss to San Antonio in pool play Friday night.

Among other things, he reiterated what he said the previous night.

“I told them, ‘It’s one game. We still have a chance,’ ’’ Batchelor said. “It’s the only bad game we’ve had since we started. It happens. It happens to everybody.’’

Batchelor suggested nerves may have played a factor in a loss that was marred by errors. But heading into tonight’s game with Chula Vista, Calif., confidence seemed to be returning.

“Definitely,’’ Batchelor said. “We went hard, it was a good practice. I think the kids felt better after they worked out.’’

The defense committed three errors, blunders that kept San Antonio rallies alive. San Antonio got all of its runs in the third and fourth innings.

There were some positives, such as Matt Correale’s play in the bottom of the first that caught Drew Brooks at the plate.

Correale had misplayed a deep hit to center, the ball landing behind him, but he quickly fired to cutoff man Matt Hosman, who relayed home to Traverse Briana in time to get Brooks.

But those hustle plays were outweighed by key blunders.

An error at second base with two outs kept San Antonio’s third inning alive. Three batters later, Steven Cardone blasted a bases-clearing double for a 3-0 lead. Cardone took the final two bases on wild pitches to make it 4-0.

Peabody registered another error in San Antonio’s six-run fourth.

“We worked on [defense] a lot today, it was a big problem for us last night,’’ Batchelor said. “That’s the first time that’s happened to us.’’

Aggressive baserunning has been one of the calling cards of Batchelor’s team this year. That mind-set didn’t change Friday and will likely continue tonight in Peabody’s second game of pool play.

Peabody’s run Friday came in the top of the fourth as the team trailed, 4-0. It was manufactured by Michael Petrosino’s smart baserunning.

With one out, Petrosino on second and Nick Bona waiting at first, A.J. DiFillipo hit would could have been a double play grounder, but he beat the throw to first.

While that was going on, Petrosino kept coming from second. He slid underneath the catcher, and was ruled safe when the ball was dropped.

Tonight’s opponent is hardly a relief - it outscored opponents, 98-15, in the West Regionals. And in its first game at the series, Chula Vista hit seven home runs in a 15-0 rout of Russellville, Ky., last night.

With that in mind, expect Peabody to keep up that intensity on the basepaths.

“That’s the way we play. That’s what we’ve always done,’’ Batchelor said Friday. “We get guys on, we try to move them. Whether it’s a passed ball, or the ball hits the catcher, we’ll run.

“We just fell behind tonight, so we didn’t really get a chance to do it.’’

Hosman figures to get the start tonight, but Batchelor may end up giving the nod to Correale.

Both Hosman and Correale saw limited action Friday, staying under the 20-pitch limit to remain eligible tonight.