Baseball: English holds off late Marblehead surge to win

The Lynn English and Marblehead baseball teams have played some entertaining games in recent years and Monday’s meeting between the two at Seaside Park was another in that line.The Bulldogs led most of the way and then had to come up with the play of the game as Eric Bransfield threw out Ryan Stanojev at the plate with one out in the bottom of the seventh to preserve a lead and a 5-4 win over the Magicians.”That was an absolute hose Bransfield threw on that play,” English coach Joe Caponigro said. “We feel very fortunate to get out with a win.”English led 5-3 entering the bottom of the seventh with Sam Hill looking for the complete game. The Magicians weren’t about to go easily, though, as they knocked Hill out of the game with one down.Reliever Gabe Smith walked the first batter he faced before Jake Kulevich slapped a single to right that scored Chris McLeod. Bransfield came up firing and gunned down Stanojev at the plate.Smith then got Evan Comeau to ground into a fielder’s choice to polish off the dramatic win.”Marblehead has a very good team and coach (Jason) Tarasuik does a great job,” Caponigro said.English scored three times in the third on a Brian Maynard single, a sacrifice fly from Ben Bowden and a throwing error. The Bulldogs added two more in the fifth on a Brendan Carritte base hit.Arl. Cath. 5, St. Mary’s 2At Fraser Field, the Spartans (2-1) couldn’t get around a shaky defensive effort against the Cougars.”You can’t win many games playing defense like we did,” St. Mary’s coach Derek Dana said.Matt Turmenne had a solid game for the Spartans, throwing five innings of scoreless relief while going 2-for-3 at the plate with two runs scored.No. Reading 6, Salem 3At North Reading, the Witches (0-1) carried a 3-2 lead into the sixth before the Hornets rallied for four runs to steal the win.Brett Remon had a pair of hits and an RBI for Salem.