Leathersich’s 16 strikeouts lead Beverly past Rams

No moment on Wednesday epitomized the way the season has gone for the Classical baseball team than what happened in the bottom of the seventh inning against Beverly.Trailing 4-3, Dan Richard stole second base but overslid the bag and was tagged out by Sam Cohen. Panther pitcher Jack Leathersich then struck out Brian Kolodziej for his 16th whiff of the game to seal the 4-3 Beverly win and the team’s sixth tourney berth in seven years.”Danny just went too far on the slide,” Classical coach Mike Zukowski said. “There was just no luck there.”Leathersich, who improved to 5-1, was on his game most of the way as his 16 strikeouts increased his total to 88 for the season. But he had to survive Randy Pichardo’s 2-run homer in the seventh to get the win.”Classical is a tough, gritty team,” Beverly coach Dave Wilbur said. “Jack really stepped it up (Wednesday). He gets the big hit and was so tough with men on base. He really bears down at that point.”Across the diamond, Tyler Gauthier was just as good as Leathersich on the mound. For the second time this season, he kept the Panthers in check but got nothing to show for it, finishing with seven strikeouts and two earned runs.”Tyler threw very well. He got ahead in counts and his curveball was on,” Zukowski said. “Both pitchers threw well.”Beverly (10-7, 7-6 Northeastern Conference) opened the scoring in the third. One-out walks to Frank Messina and Andy Brown preceded a Conor Walsh fielder’s choice, which retired Messina at third.A double steal moved the runners up for Leathersich, who tattooed a single up the middle to give Beverly a 2-0 lead.The Rams (4-10) got one back in the bottom of the inning when Richard walked and stole second with one out. Wilson Mercado’s two-out single cut the gap to 2-1.Beverly struck for an unearned run in the fourth. Joe Wioncek reached on catcher’s interference and looked to be scoring easily on Chris Freni’s double to the right-field corner. But Richard’s relay throw to Bobby Adams was on the money for the out.Gauthier then struck out Cohen and got Brian Skerry to ground to third, but the throw was wide of the mark, scoring Freni.Leathersich then began to settle into a groove, striking out the side in the second, third and fourth innings. He then dodged trouble in the fifth, stranding Richard at third with his 12th strikeout.The Panthers tacked on what turned out to be an important run in the seventh when Cohen singled and took second on a botched pickoff attempt. Skerry then hit a one-hop double to the fence in left to make it 4-1.That run proved to be big as Leathersich plunked Gauthier and gave up the homer to Pichardo before surviving.”You’ve got to give Classical a lot of credit. It’s always a tough game against them,” Wilbur said.The improvements to Fraser Field in time for the start of the North Shore Navigators season continued on Wednesday as the new scoreboard was installed in centerfield and worked to perfection when tested over the final four innings.