Baseball: Beverly breezes for a Spartan sweep

They have quietly been the best team, record wise, in the Northeastern Conference this season. For the Beverly baseball team and coach Dave Wilbur, Sunday night’s 8-1 win over St. Mary’s at Fraser Field gave them a season sweep of the Spartans and moved them to 16-2 for the year.”Beverly is a very good team,” St. Mary’s coach Derek Dana said. “They are well coached by Dave and they made the routine plays and some great ones.”The Panthers (16-2) are currently tied for first in the Northeastern Conference’s North Division with Peabody and will be back at Fraser tonight (7) for a game against Lynn English.”We’ve always had good games with (St. Mary’s),” Wilbur said. “We played very well (Sunday) against a good team.”Kyle Johnson got his second start for the Panthers, going the distance for his first varsity win. He struck out four, walked two and scattered six hits.St. Mary’s (12-5) found itself in a 3-0 hole early and despite having plenty of chances, couldn’t come up with a critical hit when it needed one. Beverly then tacked on a run in the third and three more in the fifth.”To get three runs early and give your pitcher a cushion helps,” Wilbur said. “It allows you to relax a little bit.”Joe Kasabuski was 3-for-4 with a double and two stolen bases for the Spartans. Austin Butler was 3-for-3 to lead the Beverly attack with Felix Zamot and Mark Hannable having two hits each.”We got some timely hitting with guys on base,” Wilbur said. “And our infield defense was the key. It was sharp.”St. John’s 6, Arlington 3At Arlington, Nick Fabrizio got the win and Dan Eisenberg the save as the Eagles (13-5) had to hold off a late rally by the Spy Ponders.Greg Donahue and Pat Connaughton each were 2-for-4 to lead the Prep’s offense. Tyler Coppola, Derek DuBois, Chris Carmain and Cameron Davey each drove home a run.Marblehead 3, Winthrop 1At Winthrop, Eric Steen came up with a gem on the mound when the Magicians (8-9, 8-6 NEC South) desperately needed one. Steen twirled a two-hitter, striking out eight and not walking a batter.”Eric really threw well and came up big for us,” Marblehead coach Jason Tarasuik said.Steen also had the game’s biggest hit, an RBI double that broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the fifth inning. The two teams play again today (4) at Seaside Park in Marblehead.