Swampscott ace is headed to BC

The plan was to play American Legion ball and let the chips fall where they may.

Hunter Gordon (inset), Swampscott High's top pitcher, had a number of options for his baseball future and wanted to make sure he made the right move.

He pitched for Swampscott Post 150 at the start of the summer, but on the days when he wasn't on the mound, he was racking up a lot of miles, looking at colleges, going to tryouts, and playing in all-star games.

One day he was in Rhode Island. A few days later he'd be in New York. He looked at Brown, Fordham, the University of Rhode Island, the University of Vermont, the University of Massachusetts.

Then, there was the outside chance that he could make the jump to the pros.

So he went to an Orioles tryout in New Jersey and a Rockies tryout at Babson, then participated in the Perfect Game showcase in Wareham.

Ultimately, he decided his next move would only take him a few miles down the road.

The right-handed hurler made a verbal commitment to Boston College.

"I'm just excited I made my decision," he said. "It's a lot of pressure off my back. It was a very stressful summer."

The decision to play at the Heights had nothing to do with anything he did over the summer. He paid a visit to Chestnut Hill this past winter for the team's baseball junior day.

Not long after, he received a phone call from assistant coach Jesse Woods. Then he talked with head coach Mikio Aoki, who seemed "very interested," as Gordon recalled. It was just a matter of making the scholarship money work.

"I loved the campus," he said. "They're building a whole new field. The coaching staff is great. They play unbelievable competition. There was just nothing I didn't like about it."

All spring the buzz was that Gordon would head south to play college ball and that Clemson was the Atlantic Coast Conference school keeping an eye on Gordon. But ultimately, he decided to stay nearby and help the local team that went 26-27 last season, 9-21 in the ACC.

"My parents absolutely loved it," he said. "Especially the fact that I'm going to be close to home. They can come up and watch games if they want."

The decision makes the next few months easy. He has until Jan. 1 to send Boston College an application, making his verbal commitment final.

"It's to a point where nothing's going to change; it's just not in writing. "

He played in a last Perfect Game showcase this past Friday and will play for a team at Middleton's Extra Innings this fall.

"They know me pretty well," he said. "So all my mechanics I have to get down, everything that I have to work on I'll do that during the fall, they just pick me apart."

The relief is that he knows his future.

"It feels good to get it off my back and just know that I'm all set," he said, "especially going into my senior year. I can just enjoy it."

Matt Curtis (inset), the former Lynn English standout and current Harvard football captain, will represent his half of the Ivy League's deepest rivalry when the Red Sox invite Curtis and Yale senior captain and former Acton-Boxborough stalwart Bobby Abare to throw out the first pitch Wednesday when the Sox play the Orioles.

This is the 125th anniversary of the Ivy's annual gridiron epic, and this year Harvard and Yale also share the top spot in preseason polling.

Curtis, a two-time all-Ivy League defensive tackle from Peabody, helped Harvard win the league championship and "The Game" last season.

The Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center in Newburyport has organized a marathon-qualifying 5K race to go alongside the 17th annual Walk Against Violence.

The race, Dorothy's 5K, will be run Oct. 19 and offer a gathering of the area's top runners for a shot at the Boston Marathon. It will also raise awareness about the crisis center's services to families on the North Shore affected by domestic violence. Visit www.jeannegeigercrisiscenter.org.