St. Mary’s baseball punches ticket to North quarterfinals

LYNN – Saturday’s Division 3 North first-round game between St. Mary’s and Winthrop had just about everything under the sun in terms of wackiness.From Winthrop protesting the game on account of the St. Mary’s coaches not wearing uniform shirts to two runs scoring on a wild pitch, this game had all the twists and turns of a roller-coaster.Despite being held to three hits, two by Nick Day that did not help the Spartans score runs, and losing first baseman Anthony Disciscio to an injury in the first inning, St. Mary’s overcame an early 2-0 deficit to take a 5-2 win and earn a date with Swampscott tonight (7) at Fraser Field in the quarterfinal round.Click here for a photo gallery.”We had to create a few things, and we did,” St. Mary’s coach Derek Dana said. “We didn’t hit the ball that well, but all the kids did the job and got it done.”St. Mary’s (16-6) owed a lot of the win to the stellar pitching of senior Joe Kasabuski. The Catholic Central League Large MVP held the Vikings (8-14) to two earned runs with seven strikeouts and gave his team a chance to come back in a game in which the Spartans struggled immensely.”Joey is a great senior leader, and that’s why he is the league MVP,” Dana said.The Vikings also weren’t exactly tearing the cover off the ball on Saturday but led 2-0 through three innings before making some mistakes that opened the door for St. Mary’s.Winthrop jumped in front in the second when Will Milano singled, went to second on a passed ball and scored on a pair of wild pitches by Kasabuski. An inning later, they manufactured another run as Matt Moore singled, stole second and came around on fly balls from Nick McCarthy and Paul Finn for a 2-0 lead.The Spartans, meanwhile, were struggling to solve left-hander Rob Swanson. The breaking-ball specialist pitched out of second- and third-inning jams by getting inning-ending double plays to Joe Boudrow at short.Desperately in need of some momentum, St. Mary’s used a stellar defensive play to get a boost. The Vikings looked to be ready to put them in an even deeper hole in the fourth when Jimmy Evans singled with Mike Paulson at second with two outs.Centerfielder Alex Glover threw a strike to catcher Angelo Codispoti, who expertly blocked the plate to retire Paulson and keep it a 2-0 game.That play allowed the Spartans to begin to rattle Swanson in the bottom of the inning. A leadoff walk to Alex Fiste and a Matt Turmenne sacrifice were followed by an error at second on Ryan Beliveau’s blooper to put runners on the corners.Codispoti went down looking for the second out and Swanson looked to be out of the inning when Yano Petruzzelli hit a grounder to third. But the ball hit off the heel of Milano’s glove, allowing Fiste to score from third.The mistake proved to be even bigger when Justin Sharkey muscled a fastball into center to bring Beliveau around and tie the game.In the bottom of the fifth, the Spartans took the lead for good without getting a base hit. Swanson walked Kasabuski to lead things off. He then stole second and went to third on a balk call that was vehemently protested by the Winthrop coaches. Glover followed with a sacrifice fly to left that brought in Kasabuski for a 3-2 lead.Fiste was next and was hit by a pitch. He went to second on a wild pitch before Swanson walked Turmenne, spelling the end of his outing as Moore came on in relief.Moore promptly walked Beliveau to load the bases for Codispoti. Yet before Codispoti could even swing the bat, Moore threw a wild pitch that allowed both Fiste and Turmenne to score for a 5-2 lead.”They are trained to do things like that,” Dana said. “That’s what we practice every day.”That margin was more than enough for Kasabuski, who got nine of the last 10 men he faced, allowing only a leadoff single to Paulson in the seventh before striking out the side to end the game.”It’s never easy in the tournament,” Dana said. “But we’ve got an opportunity to play the next game, and that’s all we’re looking for.”