St. Mary’s baseball keeps tourney hopes alive with win over Marblehead

LYNN – The St. Mary’s baseball team entered last night’s game with Marblehead with its back against the wall. The Spartans needed to win three of their remaining four games to qualify for the state tournament.St. Mary’s took care of the first step, scoring three runs in the bottom of the fourth to offset the Headers, 5-3, at Fraser Field. The victory boosts the Spartans to 8-9, while Marblehead has dropped eight of its last nine, and is 5-12.The score was deadlocked at 1-1 headed into the bottom of the fourth, but with one down, third baseman Yano Petruzzelli and first baseman Nick Conti each singled just inside the third base bag off lefty Kurt Grossman.An infield out eliminated Conti from the basepaths, but Petruzzelli moved over to third on the play. Designated hitter Tade Ogunbona, who had reached on the forceout, then stole second. Grossman issued a walk to shortstop Joe Kasabuski, then walked outfielder John McDonald to bring in Petruzzelli with the go-ahead run.Outfielder Angel Rodriguez then lashed a 1-2 offering right up the middle to score Ogunbona and Kasabuski to lift the Spartans to a 4-1 edge.”That was our biggest inning in quite a while,” said St. Mary’s coach Derek Dana. “It’s been very tough for us to score runs all year. We were able to get some good swings on the bat all night, as well as good defensive play.”St. Mary’s added a run in the fifth. Pitcher Ryan Beliveau led the inning with a walk, stole second, and took third on an infield out.Conti blooped a single over the head of second baseman Nick Haller, plating Beliveau for a 5-1 Spartans edge.Yet the Headers cut the deficit in half in the top of the sixth. Pinch hitter Nick Freddo singled to begin the frame, and reached second on an infield error. Freddo would be erased at third, when Beliveau fielded a grounder, and threw the ball to Petruzelli. Marblehead loaded the bases on another foceout and a walk, and catcher Ian McKinley lashed Beliveau’s first pitch to center to score right fielder Dan Comeau and third baseman Dan Glabicky. McKinley was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a double on a great thrown by catcher AJ Capano, ending the threat.”We stayed in the game with that rally,” Marblehead coach Jason Tarasuik mentioned. “But we’ve lost a lot of close games all year, and that’s how it’s been for us. Usually, we’ve had one bad inning, and that’s what happened tonight.”Beliveau set Marblehead down in order in the seventh, keeping the Spartans tourney hopes alive.”Ryan’s been pitching very well for us,” said Dana of his righty, who notched his third win. “He threw strikes, and he threw to spots, letting the other guys make plays behind him. And he got tougher as the game went along, not giving in to the batters.”The Headers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Center fielder Brandon Lee drilled the game’s first pitch to deep center for a triple. Haller then singled him in for a 1-0 Marblehead favor.St. Mary’s took advantage of Marblehead mistakes in the second to tie the score. Grossman retired the first batter, then fanned Conti. However, the ball bounced away from McKinley, putting Conti at first on the missed third strike. Moments later, Conti appeared to have been out at second on an attempted stolen base. Yet the ball was dropped by Haller, and Ogunbona made the Headers pay with a run-scoring double off the left-center fence.