Cusick’s ninth-inning hit gives Gloucester a North title over Prep

LOWELL – It was the dream situation for the Gloucester baseball team and head coach Joe Orlando late in Saturday’s Division 1 North final at LeLacheur Park: Ryan Cusick at the plate with a chance to give the program its first title in history.And with one swing of his bat, the face of Gloucester’s resurgence completed the program’s climb into the upper echelon of Division 1 teams as Cusick’s walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth scored Brett Cahill to give the Fishermen an 8-7 win over St. John’s Prep in one of the wackiest North finals in recent memory.”Ryan has just been so clutch for his entire career,” Orlando said. “I really thought they were going to walk him there. But it is so fitting that he gets the hit to give us this trophy finally.”Gloucester (20-4) had done everything in its power to hand the title to the Eagles, issuing an astounding 14 walks and hitting two other batters. St. John’s, though, couldn’t take advantage of these gifts as it left 13 runners on base, including the bases loaded in the top of the ninth after tying the game.”We just couldn’t get a hit when we needed it,” St. John’s coach Pat Yanchus said. “And Gloucester played tough. They found the holes and made the pitches when they had to.”The Eagles were down to their final three outs in the ninth, trailing 7-5 and facing a pitcher in Dylan Maki that had exited in the seventh only to come back in the eighth to stuff a Prep rally that had tied the game at 5-5.Gloucester had rallied to take the lead back in the bottom of the eighth before things turned dramatic. Pat Connaughton started the ninth for the Prep with a single to right and Maki walked Kevin Barry to put the tying runs on base.Pete Castoldi hit into a fielder’s choice that erased Connaughton at second before pinch hitter Cam Davey was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Dillon Gonzalez went down looking for the second out before Derek Dubois milked every bit of drama, working the count full before earning a walk that scored Connaughton to make it 7-6.Maki then got the Fishermen within a strike of claiming the title again before losing Mike Yastrzemski on a 3-2 fastball to force in Castoldi with the tying run. MacKenzie Quinn came in to relieve and got Chris Carmain to line out to Connor Ressel in left to end the inning.”Dylan is a horse, and he wanted to be out there at the end,” Orlando said. “He was tired and just missed on a couple of those pitches.”Having seen the title slip from its grasp, Gloucester turned to the heart of its order in the bottom of the ninth to get it back against reliever Nick Fabrizio. Cahill started the inning with a double just inside the third-base bag. Cusick then took Fabrizio’s first pitch for a ball, giving Yanchus a thought of walking the dangerous second baseman.”If Nick had thrown another ball on the next pitch, I would have walked him,” Yanchus said.Cusick never gave the Prep a chance to get that far as he laced a fastball up the gap in left to score Cahill and start a wild celebration in the middle of the diamond.”We came out a little tight and were playing on our heels,” Orlando said. “Then we started to hit and things settled down.”The teams exchanged runs in the second inning before Gloucester took a 4-1 lead in the fourth on RBI from Trevor Curley, Ross Carlson and Colin Rogers. The Eagles chipped away, cutting the lead to 4-3 in the sixth before Gloucester made it 5-3 on Cusick’s sacrifice fly.St. John’s battled back in the eighth to tie the game on a Gonzalez single that scored John Vigliotti and a wild pitch that brought Gonzalez in. The Fishermen responded as Mark Alves was hit by a pitch and scored on Carlson’s triple to right. Rogers, who was 3-for-4, singled home Carlson for a 7-5 lead.